The Advocate and news., 1899-02-15
The Law and the Christian Scientist,

Hon. @. b. Hoffman, Enterprise, Kans.
The millennium is coming,-it's here,-
the rumble Of its band wagon is even now
echoing through the halls OF our capitol!
Our "hired hands" at Topeka, our law
givers, the Solons of our great state,
having settled all such minor matters OF
legislation as OK butter, railroads, insur-
anee and resubmission, address them
selves seriously, earnestly, enthusiastic
ally, to the practice Of suppressing Illicit
dOctoring. Hereafter the Christian Sci
enlist, should he be found practicing his
uncanny cult without due license, which
Of course he cannot get, Is to be fined,
mulct, decapitated. The people need pro
lection, and since our lawmakers cannot
cope with corporations they propose to
take something Of their size and protect
the dear people anyway.
Did the regular M. DIS instigate this
bill? Perish the thought They are too
busy attending to their patients, who
when last heard from were as sick as
usual. No, it's our representatives,
those wise men and good whom we sent
to Topeka to take care Of our morals;
protect us against OK butter; maintain for
us the dear privilege of paying high
freights and affixing revenue stamps to
our telegrams,-it is they who have dis
covered the dire dangers threatening us
from Christian Scientists, mental heal
ers and bone rubbers. A bas the villain or
the villainess who would cure my head
ache by giving me kindly thought in
stead of box of Anti-Kamnia! People
of Kansas alarum! We are betrayed!
We are about to be cured against our will
by folks who are no Irregular curers, who
cannot tell the difference between a ses-
simoid bone and the rouget!
@. Most wise men, o, superior intelli-
gence, who write Hon. in front Of your
names, protect us against ourselves.
Tell us by law duly enacted, whom we
may call when our first-born has stubbed
his big toe or when the baby has the
collie. A bas Mother Winslow's soothing
syrup If it has not been prescribed by
regular" at a dollar per prescribe. A
bas the old granny across the street who
suggests catnip tea. To jail with her!
Have we only escaped Populism to be de-
voured by the unlicensed Christian Sci
enlist, the diabolical mental healer, the
insldious follower Of Jesus who would
cure you by the laying on Of hands?
Who is clamoring for the passage Of
this law? Are the masses, the people,
sending in petitions. Do they really con-
fess themselves incapable to decide what
kind Of a doctor they want or whether
they want any at all? Kansas prides it.
self urOn its intelligence claims to be
Ahn .ck fy,fO cd ivo hn TTnfAt,
but we do not know enough to select our
own saw-bones if he is not regularly la
beled and duly registered.
But If the people are unable to decide
between sugar pills and calomel, be-
tween mind cure and blue mass, how can
they be entrusted to decide what to read
and what to think?
Lately there has been no great clamor
to suppress all men who write for public
instruction, or to put in jail those who
speak on stump, pulpit, stage and plat
FORM against what the majority are for. |
Some Of the legislators who are for this
law would be against that. But censor
ship providing that the minds Of men
shall not be poisoned is quite as reason
able as one which demands that you shall
OuACu OnlJ dCSOLhlhG "
methods. The logic is the same. 1t is
the old, old story. Crafts, professions,
seeking monopoly through law, trying to
secure for themselves the sole right to
make money in given field. And some
of our representatives do not seem to
perceive the fundamental difference be-
tween a law restricting a commercial or
natural monopoly like that enjoyed by
the transportation companies Of the
owners Of coal mines, and the creation Of
a new monopoly by giving special class
Of men the sole right to perform one Of
the important functions Of social life.
Were the Christian Scientists in the
majority, and were they as narrow as the
supporters Of this bill, they would de-
mand law suppressing all doctors who
do not subscribe to the doctrine and hold
diplomas from Mary Baker G. Eddy.