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conferred power upon the United States Marine Hospital Service to carry 
out the quarantine laws, and to ensure by means of frequent inspection that 
the separate States and Municipalities carried ’them out properly. At a 
certain number of ports the carrying out of quarantine was handed over by 
the State to the central machinery of the Federal Government, that is, the 
United States Marine Hospital Service, whilst in certain instances the national 
Government assumed charge because of non-compliance of the local authority 
with the Law. But a number of States still conduct their own quarantine, 
and whilst the Federal Government takes care that the quarantine law is 
administered, it has no right to prevent a State or Local Authority adding 
additional and often onerous quarantine measures to the minimum standard 
which they regard as efficient. This has been made very prominent this 
year during the epidemic of Yellow fever in New Orleans, and the opinion 
has been freely expressed that, in the interests of safety and commerce, there 
should be an exclusive national control. The present dual system is complex, 
and, moreover, as the Local Authority may exact fees, whilst the Federal 
Government does not, commerce would gain by the change. 
The object of the laws are to protect the entry of infectious disease into 
the United States, not only by quarantine regulations at the port of arrival 
of ships into the States, but also by the exercise of vigilance and precautionary 
measures at the port of departure in the infected foreign country and during 
the voyage of the vessel. 
To attain this object the United States Marine Hospital Service has 
promulgated a series of regulations and undertaken work which has already 
done much to protect the United States from the entrance of infection. It 
helps to instruct local Sanitary Authorities in Central American and other 
States, and it undertakes investigations to throw light upon quarantinable 
diseases in order that accurate and simple regulations may from time to time 
be issued to ensure maximum safety with as little inconvenience to trade as 
possible. Recognising that with increasing knowledge regulations which are 
enforced to-day may at any time require alteration to come into line with 
the progress made in medical science. 
The machinery whereby the United States Marine Hospital Service 
attains the main object of the quarantine laws, namely, to keep out disease 
requires careful consideration, because British Honduras shares with the 
United States the danger of trading with countries in which Yellow fever is 
endemic or of frequent occurrence, and in which, recently, cases of plague 
have occurred. 
Method of Inspection . — In the first place Bills of Health must be procured 
from the United States Consul or Vice-Consul or from a United States Marine 
Hospital Service Officer especially appointed by the President. In practice the 
most satisfactory method is found to be the appointment of medical officers 
to the various Consulates in suspected ports. The duty of these medical 
officers is to become acquainted with the health conditions of the port and 
to be on the look-out for any suspicious cases, and to visit other places along 
the coast or in the interior if suspicion attaches to them. Not only do these 
medical officers succeed in obtaining this information, but their opinion on 
sanitary matters is often fully sought by the local Sanitary Authority ; moreover, 
