The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-12-19

Two-thirds of the members of the state
board Of health met in Dr. Beattys office
IN the Atlas block last evening to take
acuon regarding the appearance of small
pox mere. Those who were present were
Cnairman Bascom. Secretary Beatty. DR..
r. w Taylor of Brigham City. DR.. Matte
hugnes cannon and a. F. Doremus. The
dssehcied phy sfcianS placed themselves
on record as being unanimously in favor
or compulsory vaccination. At the same
ihle they deferred action by ad5ourning
tne needing until tomorrow night when
Dr. Wilcox and Dr. Pike Of Provo will
be enabled to be present
Dr. beatty stated that since the last
meeting pamphlets had been printed and
dispatched TO every county and CITY
heatth officer. relative to the rules and
resuiators governing the various health
precautions within the Jurisdiction OF the
board. Embalmers' licenses mad also been
ISSUED and that out of the nineteen NOR
tlclans VINO had been examined fifteen
mad passed and four failed. The secre-
tary then went on to state that every
county in the state had formed a board
OF health with the exception of Garfield,
f1ute. Morgan. Summit and Utah coun-
ties, ana that he had instructed the coun-
" attorney of the latter to bring an ac-
tlon against the county commissioners
should not oe established according to the
statutes. Prosecutions would also follow
IN the other counties unless the law were
complied with.
Complaint to Be Issued.
Dr. Taylor moved that the secretary Of
the board of health swear out a complaint
against the delinquent commissioners in
these various counties. as he said that the
county attorneys would lake no action
unless an information was laid before
tnem- Ihis motion was promptly second
After the motion was seconded DR..
Beatty volunteered the Information that
over one-half of the towns in Utah had
n hesr h. afalr-
related the circumstances surrounding the
smallpox outbreaks which occurred at
Sterling, when on Nov. 10. DIR. Andrews
OF Gunnison was called to Sterling to at
tend a young man of 10. A letter from
the local medical man was read in which
II was alleged that improper Quarantine
precautions We're taEen. ~-'rh he Ut
that the disease rapidly spread until to-
day there are over l4ty C-s~s ~...-~.- II
various parts of the state. some of which
are well developed cases of continent
smallpox.
Several of the cases. notably the Lind
say troupe at Spanish Fork. were traced
speaking of the Spanish Fork case. Dr.
Beatty said that the young man in the
Lindsay troupe played for I'VE nights on
the stage in the Spanish Fork opera house
with the postules plainly visible on his
face. He is now quarantined in the OPP
era house while another case has broken
out in the hotel and the proprietor
threatens to turn them out OF the place.
despite the quarantine regulations. DR..
Beatty read the report of DR.. Garrison,
who is the special agent of the board Of
health in which he states that after in
vestiSation he finds. particularly in Eph- .
RAIN and Manti. the majority OF the cases
as those who have never been vaccinated.
especially in the case of a family Of
four in Manti. where three are down with
the disease while the fourth, who has
been vaccinated, has escaped In his OBJ
servations Dr. Garrison states that uni
formly the period of incubation of the
disease is two weeks. He further reports
cinated with Alexander points out OF
that number there were % takes.
Held Informal Discussion.
An informal discussion on the merits OF
vaccination followed. In DR.. BeattyS
opinion the mere fact that the disease
was recently stamped out in Porto Rico.
where $4,000 people were vaccinated with
out an accident spoke wonders for the
efficacy of the treatment.
Various similar situations were cited.
The proposed vaccination of the school
children was then discussed
DR.. Beatty said that ne had consulted
Attorney General Bishop on the subject.
and the opinion he had delivered was TO
the effect that the board of health has
power to compel such people to undergo
vaccination. when. in the opinion OF the
board it is necessary to protect the pub
lie health; under the constitution. how
ever, the rule cannot be established in
one place with discrimination as TO loca-
tons.
Mr.. Doremus wanted TO know whether
the board could discriminate as to per-
sons and vaccinate only children and
leave adults untouched. In answer DR..
Beatty said the supreme court had so
ruled in other states
Finally after a spirited discussion. in
which DR.. Taylor took the same stand as
Mr. Doremus. DR.. Cannon said: I am
afraid if we are to be arbitrary we would
be killed or manned as a state board Of
health. In view of the fact that the
board has only been in existence two
years and the fact that there are other
TO follow. l move that we adj
journ this meeting until Wednesday even
ing.
mus after every member mad gone on
record as being in favor of compulsory
VAGINA ton