West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1901-05-16

ting, and very inexpensive, abou,
ten dollars would supply Baltimore
year and the people could and
would use it themselves, and no sala.
ries to be paid.
The anti -vaccinationists don't have
the peoples money to use in their
arguments, while the other side
levies taxes to get the money. Peo-
pie, look to your own interest.
w. l.. MORGAN.
The Grafton Sentinel last week
comes back at us with about a
column editorial trying to reply to
the characterization articles pub
lished in this paper. AS one of the
editors of the Sentinel is a physi
clan, the paper should be able. to
get up an article on such a common
and well known medical matter.
containing some facts and argument,
but the only pretense in this line is
to republish an old chestnut from n
Parkersburg paper written by the
President of the Wood county
Board OF Health, an official who
has been making big fees out of the
vaccination business during the
smallpox scare in that city and like
other interested officials, is loud in
proclaiming the virtues of vaccina
ton. He works off that old ches-
nut about the German and French
armies during the Franco-Prussian
war, when the French soldiers were
penned up in Paris during the long
siege, with very poor rations, and
little of that, and the smallpox broke
out in camp and there were many
deaths from it, which was all true
and perfectly natural. This report
goes on to say that the re were but
few deaths from it in the German
army, because they had ali been
vacclnated. 1t was proven after
wards that the French soldiers had
all been vaccinated same as the
Germans and that vaccination cut
NO figure either way in the matter,
and had the positions been reversed
and the Germans penned up for
months in besieged city, full of
all kinds of foul odors and eating
horse meat and any old thing pos
sible to keep soul and body together
and with no way to isolate the
smallpox cases or treat them pro.
perly they would have had as many
deaths as the French and the vac
cination had nothing whatever to do
with it since both armies had been
vaccinated.
The Senti lel declares that we
have been charging everybody with
ignorance who attempts to defend
the vaccination practice. This is
not true, but we did and do vet
charge some Of the Sentinel's mis-
statements to ignorance. 1t is the
only charitable explanation we can
make. For instance, the Sentinel
declared that vaccination was an
absolute preventive of smallpox,
when we published extracts from
the official report of the Surgeon
General of the United States army,
giving the number Of deaths (run-
ming up into the hundreds) of
soldiers from smallpox and the
number Of cases drumming up into
the thousands) and every one of
them had been officially vaccinated
al least once, and most OF them
oftener. The Sentinel, for lack Of
argument goes soaring off into the
realms OF astronomy, and we will
leave it up in the clouds. As for
us, we have been simply trying to
take a plain, practical, common
sense view Of the subject without
allowing ourself to be bamboozled
by any old time out Of date fossil
ferrous relics Of medical and surqic.
al barbarity and superstition. IN
spite Of all the facts and figures we
have published from eminent mcdi-
cal authority physicians, official
reports, medical journals etc. the
Sentinel still declares our "object
ions TO vaccination as mere talk
without the support of authentic
facts" We could say much more
in this article, but will refer Tie
reader 20 the one in this issue from
Dr. Morgan, who is much more
able TO handle The subject than we
arc and We arc crowded for space
this week ANYHOW.