Statement of the Case.

lished no system of classification or inspection of the articles of interstate commerce, coming from the city of New Orleans, to determine whether they are, or may be, infected, or whether they are capable, or not, of conveying infection, no period of detention for such articles, no place or method of disinfection thereof; his only method being absolute and unconditional prohibition of such interstate commerce; that it is a notorious fact, and well known to said Blunt, that all of the interstate commerce between New Orleans and Texas is carried on by railroads, and none by water communication between the port of New Orleans and the Texas ports, and that the effect of his orders is to destroy all such commerce, to take away the trade of the merchants and business men of the city of New Orleans, and to transfer that trade to rival business cities in the State of Texas.

"That while Joseph D. Sayers, Governor of the State of Texas, has issued no formal proclamation of quarantine, as provided by law, to wit, Art. 4324 of the Revised Civil Statutes, defining the rules and regulations of such quarantine so declared by said Blunt, your orator charges that the rules and regulations established by said Blunt have the full force of law until modified or changed by the proclamation of the Governor, and that the Governor knows all these facts and approves and adopts the same, and permits these rules and regulations to stand and to be executed in full force and effect as established by said Blunt.

"Now your orator recognizes the right and power of the State of Texas and the public officials thereof to take prudent and reasonable measures to protect the people of said State from infection, to establish quarantine and reasonable inspection laws, but your orator denies that said State, or its officials, acting under its laws, under the cover of exercising its police powers, can prohibit or so burden interstate commerce as to make such commerce impossible.

"Your orator avers that it is a recognized and acknowledged fact by all the sanitarians and health officials of the various States exposed to infection by yellow fever and by the health officials of the United States, and by all scientific

Statement of the Case.

students of infection and sanitation, that commerce can be conducted between infected and non-infected points, with small inconvenience and without any danger of infection, by classifying the articles of commerce and by pursuing certain well-recognized rules and precautions with reference to the articles and vehicles of commerce.

"That after the yellow fever outbreak of 1897 a quarantine convention was held in Mobile, Ala., and, on the advice of that convention, a conference of the health officials of Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri and the United States Marine Hospital Service met at Atlanta, Ga., and formulated such regulations which were adopted by the Boards of Health of all said States, and, as subsequently revised, are now in full force and effect between the said States; that additional experience having been gained by the reappearance of yellow fever in the fall of 1898, a revising conference was held in the city of New Orleans on February 9, 1899, at which conference the Atlanta regulations were in some respects modified. A copy of the said regulations, original and as modified, are hereto annexed and made part of this bill and marked Exhibit 'B.'

"Your orator avers that said William F. Blunt, or his predecessor in office, was health officer of the State of Texas at the time these conferences were held, that he and his predecessor in office refused or neglected to attend them in person or by representative, and he has continually refused to adopt the Atlanta regulations, or any of them, or any regulations similar to them, and insists, as his predecessor in office insisted, upon being a law to himself, and upon using no means of dealing with yellow fever infection in the city of New Orleans, or elsewhere in the State of Louisiana, real or imaginary, except an absolute embargo upon interstate commerce to be established at his pleasure and to last as long as he chooses to maintain it.

"That in pursuance of this policy, in the year 1897, his predecessor in office established a similar embargo on interstate commerce between New Orleans and other points in Louisiana, supposed by him to be infected, and the State of

Statement of the Case.

Texas, on the 10th day of September; and refused to remove or to modify said embargo until the day of December, 1897, during which period he even refused to permit railroad cars that had been in the city of New Orleans to enter or even pass through the State of Texas, on their way to the countries, States and Territories beyond.

A

"That in pursuance of the same policy, in the year 1898, the said William F. Blunt, health officer, and the Governor of the State of Texas, established a similar embargo on all interstate commerce between the State of Louisiana and the State of Texas, on the 18th day of September, and refused to remove or modify the same until the 1st day of November.

"That in pursuance of the same policy, the said William F. Blunt, because a single case of yellow fever was declared in the city of New Orleans, did on May 30, 1899, establish a similar embargo on interstate commerce between the city of New Orleans and the State of Texas, which he refused to modify or to remove until June 9, 1899, and then only under great pressure, although he was advised on June 2, 1899, by the representatives of the health authorities of the States of Alabama and Mississippi, of the United States Marine Hospital Service, and of the Louisiana state board of health, who had been for some days in the city of New Orleans, making a personal inspection of her sanitary and health conditions, that they deemed it unnecessary and unwise for any State or city to quarantine against New Orleans under present conditions.'

"Your orator avers that the State of Texas, her Governor and her health officer, as shown by the rules and regulations established by them in the proclamation aforesaid for the quarantine on the Gulf coast, admit the truthfulness of the claim of your orator that commerce can be carried on with infected places and ports, under reasonable rules and regulations as to inspection, fumigation and detention, and admit that there are articles of commerce incapable of conveying infection, and actually permit such commerce in all articles to be so carried on to the advantage and benefit of the commerce of the ports of Texas and her merchants engaged in commerce in said ports.

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"Your orator avers that the effect of the embargoes imposed by the State of Texas upon the commerce of the city of New Orleans with Texas is to build up and benefit the commerce of the city of Galveston, in Texas, and the commerce of other cities in Texas, all of which are commercial rivals of the city of New Orleans for the large commerce of the State of Texas and the adjoining States and Territories.

"That prior to the embargoes aforesaid of the years 1897 and 1898 the city of New Orleans was the greatest cotton exporting port of the United States, and a very large portion of the cotton grown in Texas was exported through the port of New Orleans; for instance, for the season of 1894-5 more than 31 per cent thereof; for the season 1895-6 more than 30 per cent thereof; for the season 1896-7, 25 per cent thereof.

"That as consequence of the two trade embargoes aforesaid the percentage of the Texas cotton crop exported through the port of New Orleans for the season of 1897-8 was only 19 per cent; and for the season of 1898-9 was only 15 per cent; and for the season of 1898-9, ending September 1, 1899, the city of Galveston handled more export cotton than the city of New Orleans.

"That the effect of said embargoes is all the more disastrous to the commerce of your orator, and of her cities and towns, because declared and made operative during the months of September, October, November and the early part of December, the period of the greatest activity and the largest movement of commerce among the States of the South, and between the State of Louisiana, the city of New Orleans and the State of Texas.

"Now your orator avers that in view of the unreasonable, harsh, prohibitive and discriminating character of the pretended quarantines, declared and maintained by the State of Texas and her health officer, against the city of New Orleans and other localities in the State of Louisiana, is nothing less than a commercial war declared against your orator, her ports, cities and citizens; not for the bona fide purpose of protecting the health of the State of Texas, but for the purpose of in

Statement of the Case.

creasing the trade and commerce of the State of Texas and of her ports, cities and citizens, to the great damage and injury of your orator and her citizens; that such embargoes on interstate commerce injure and impoverish your orator's citizens, reduce the value of her taxable property, diminish her revenues, retard immigration, reduce the value of her public lands, and deprive her citizens of their rights and privileges as citizens of the United States.

"Your orator avers that the embargo upon interstate commerce between the city of New Orleans, in the State of Louisiana, and the State of Texas, established by said Blunt on or about the first day of September, 1899, and now maintained by him and the other officials of the State of Texas, will be continued by them for an indefinite period, to the great damage and injury of your orator's ports, commerce and revenues, and to the commerce of her citizens and to the rights of her citizens under the Constitution of the United States, unless they be enjoined and restrained by order of this court.

"Your orator avers that, from the past conduct of the State of Texas, and of her Governors and health officers, your orator is justified in averring and charging, and does aver and charge, that it is the fixed purpose and intention of the said State, and of her Governors and health officers, whenever in the future any case of yellow fever, or other infectious disease, occurs in any parish, city or town within your orator's borders, to immediately declare, set up and maintain an absolute prohibition of interstate commerce between said supposed infected parish, city or town, and the State of Texas, and to keep the same in force during the pleasure of such officials, or to make and establish discriminative rules and regulations covering quarantines on such interstate commerce, different from and more burdensome than the rules and regulations concerning quarantines on interstate commerce with other States and foreign commerce with countries also infected with yellow fever, or other infectious diseases, and thereby to injure and oppress your orator and her citizens.

"Now your orator avers that the absolute prohibition