Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1900-01-08
SCHOOL BOARD LOGIC.

| tlelng physician. IL furnishes n soOd
answer TO the dogmatic assertions OF
a health officer, that vaccination is o
certain preventive OF smallpox" and
that It Is only the ignorant and OBJ
stnate' who oppose vaccination. In
reply TO the latter Bit Of professional
egotlsm, We have to say that the zig
norance' Is on the part Of medical men
who simply float with the current Of
orthodoxy, and take for granted The
statistics quoted or manufactured 10y
the faculty Tor business purposes, with
out investigating the proofs furnished
by opposing physicians and health Of
fcers, who have become thoroughly
convinced that vaccination Is an error
and a fraud.
Passing that By FOR the moment We
wish to direct attention to the course
taken by the Board Of Education IN
this city. The schools are to be closed
for one week-the regularly appointed
vacation having ceased, In order 20 al
lay the panlcky feeling Of a smallpox
epidemic as one member put IT, It was
also decided to exclude from the schools
all children who cannot show signs Of
recent, successful vaccination"
The wisdom and the logic In those
resolutions may be perceptible with a
mental microscopic examination, but
even then a pronounced bias WIN be a
necessary adjunct. II the closing Of
the schools because Of an alleged small
pox epidemic VIII not add to the PAN
icky feeling" and 10 the public adver-
tisement Of the exaggerated rum0rthen
natural causes viii have acquired re.
verse action. The notion Is only equalled
by the dctum, that all healthy children
should be excluded from the public
schools, and only those showing signs
OF recent" disease shall be admitted
Vaccination produces disease; to-wlt,
cow-pox Diseased children and they
only may be admitted Children whose
blood Is In such a pure condition that
even vaccination viii not poison II and
produce lnhamed pustules as evidence OF
disease, are to be kept out Of school
What for? Because they will infect the
diseased children? How can they in
jure anybody If healthy themselves
And why should there be any danger
from the healthy children to the dis
eased ones. II vaccination Is a certain
preventive?
II seems as though some Of our ex-
cited and despotic city would-be mas
tiers have lost their common sense. The
legislature Of The State after discussing
this question decided against compul-
sorry vaccination But a body that has
no legislative powers decides to enforce
II by trick. The law requires children
Of given ages TO attend school. The
board Of education (by a majority Of
one only decides to prevent the opera
ton Of that law TO considerable extent,
by making an unlawful requirement as
condition precedent to admission.
That Is the position OF the five mem
bers who voted for the lawless and ar
bltrary resolution.
We shall see how II works. Will the
sagaclous five take legal action to COM
pei the attendance Of the children who
do not conform to their tyrannical rule? !
We do not believe they will attempt II, |
or II they do that they will meet with
anything but failure. And we are Of the
opinion that II they pursue the present
ridiculous policy, the election for the |
borrowing OF $4,000 for school pur-
poses will not secure an overwhelming
majority. People who are compelled TO
pay school taxes want some of the
school benefits, and they have rights |
which they will take proper steps to
maintain.
Following is the letter on the merits
Of vaccinations;
Salt Lake City, Jan. Z, 1900.
To the Editor:
Dear Slr-slnce we now have COM
pulsory vaccination practically in our
schools | thought il best to give you |
some statistics Of what vaccination has !
done In the past as well as the best |
means Of protection against the dis |
ease.
To begin with, every U. S. soldier that
has been recruited into the Philippine |
service was vaccinated before leaving
home and every death reported coming
from the commander in charge ,here is
evidence that vaccination does not pro-
tcct against smallpox, because many Of
them have died from this disease.
Every man that has served In the
French army for the past thirty years
or more has been yaccnated, and dur
Inc the Franco Prussian war there were
23.i6s cases OF smallpox In the French |
army.
In 1853 England made vaccination
compulsory, and since that time they |
have had three smallpox epldemlcs. |
The first In lS57-5s, when 142i4 vaccine !
ated people died from smallpox. The |
third in 1902, when 1880 people died |
from smallpox. In this last epidemic /
there We're over l22 goo ylcclnated peo- /
pie that had smallpox with a death |
rate OF little more than 33h per cent |
II may be well 10 note that the In |
crease III population between the first |
and second epidemics was only Z per |
cent, while the increase In smallpox |
was 100 per cent Official returns from |
The German government show that dur
inc the period of but fifteen years 1
there were one million people who had /
been vaccinated that died from small /
pOx In that country.
Strict sanitary cleanliness. pure blood |
and right living are a better safeguard !
thousand fold than vaccination. The |
people who live largely on shell fish ana |
butchers meat, drink alcoholic LIQUORS /
beer or wine In any form or quantity, |
have their food highly seasoned ana |
consequently their blood IN an Impure
condition, are the ones 10 look out for
smallpox vaccination or no vaccination;
while those who live plainly. IN clean
surroundings and have pure blood In
clean healthy bodies, are safer thou.
sand fold IN any event than those who
are vacclnated. Parents who have pure
and healthy children should think
twice before having them inoculated
. l.