Show Federal Supervision The question of Federal supervision of quarantine affairs in New York has caused considerable illfeeling for sometime some-time New York has a quarantine officer who strongly objects to any Federal interference inter-ference with his duties That we presume pre-sume is all right There should be no clash between the officers of the United States and the officers of any state in the Union Their duties can be performed each in their respective spheres without collision or contention The general government however claims the right to regulate immigration and the introduction of anything into the country dan gerous to the public health There are congressional in reference to the influx of paupers criminals and other persons inimical to the public welfare wel-fare and the Treasury Department has authority under which it has i i issued orders to exclude from the country I i rags brought from places abroad where I i the cholera has been prevalent All this appears to be proper and need not clash with any rights of the state of New York I or the duties of its officers Lastsummer there was considerable contention con-tention between the Federal immigration officers and those of the state of New York Afew days ago there was trouble oyer imported im-ported Tags The order from the Treasury Department at Washington was to the J oi k I r r i < > effect that rags gathered in or shipped from any port or place where cholera is known to prevail epidemic form shall be denied entry to the United States About three weeks ago over a thousand bales of rags arrived at New York which were refused a landing Two hours later the New York Health Officer issued his permit and they were landed and stored This conflict resulted in an examination of samples of the rags which were found to be foul in the extreme Filthy bloodstained blood-stained refuse from hospitals were in the batch but they were stored there in Hoboken and no one knows what will become of them The germs of cholera may be lurking in those filthy rags and the consequences may be terrible Supposing they should be washed in a running stream from whiqh people below take their water supply The possible results can be easily imagined imag-ined While THE HERALD would be one of the last papers in the country to favor the establishment of any Federal authority which would infringe upon the rights of a sovereign state it recognizes the necessity neces-sity of national regulations as to immigration immi-gration and quarantine More than the state of New York or any other state which has a port of entry is interested in these matters They affect more or less the entire country People arriving from abroad and goods shipped from other countries are conveyed and scattered throughout the land Thus these become be-come matters of national concern The immigration laws of Congress should be enforced If they conflict with the regulations at any of the ports the national law must be held paramount except ex-cept as to mere local affairs over which the government has no control The same must be held as to necessary quarantine rules affecting the whole country Cholera Chol-era threatens us from afar Every precaution pre-caution possible ought to be taken to prevent its germs from entering and being spread among the people Officers states and cities on the seaboard ought to cooperate with the federal authorities instead of getting up factious opposition and fomenting conflicts Every state rght should be maintained but the national na-tional authority must not be defied There is no need whatever for any such collision |