The Irish standard., 1901-05-18
COMPULSORY VACCINATION.
see Health Oncers in Stamp
ing Out Smallpox.

tOlmcuitles encountered ny Ienne6o
see Health Oncers in Stamp
ing Out Smallpox.
A health officer in New York de.
tailed to vaccinate the occupants Of
a suspected tenement sometimes
feels as if he had a labor of Hercules
in his hands, before he makes tho
sullen man, protesting woman or
wriggling baby; but his task is an
the joy of summer picnic come
pared with that Of the vaccinating
officer in Tennessee. There he takes
his life in his hand with his scarifer,
and needs the wisdom of Solomon
and the pluck of a cowboy if he ID
to do his task thoroughly, says tho
New York Sun.
Smallpox has occurred in certain
districts of Tennessee ever since last
spring. The chief source of the dis.
ease has been among the negroes and
the lowest class of whites who boz
lieve that vaccination and the Day Of
Judgment coincide in some mysteri-
Gus way. In Columbia the local
health board made progress in vac.
cination until the officers reached the
cotton mills. There they were met
with blank refusal, enforced by q
loaded shotgun. This logic proved
convincing to the local board. Meta
phorically speaking it threw up its
hands and passed its virus over to
the county board. This board began
| it's work at the mines near Mount
Pleasant. The first nine victims STAN.
peded, and rebellious negroes were
so free with their shots that the
county board retired, angry and dis
comfitcd. concluding that vaccination
| under the circumstances was impose
sible.
! In the meantime, however, the dis.
ease was spreading in every direction.
The local board and the county board
had both been foiled and only the
state board was left to cope with the
problem. The miners, emboldened BY
their repulsc of the county board,
sent word to the state board that
they were prepared to hang any
health officer who came near them.
This was the prospect which COM
frontcd the doctor appointed by the
state on the same afternoon to take
charge of the matter. lie realized
that only the most vigorous meas.
urcs would be effective. In spite Of
the miners defiance he started fo1
Columbia without delay. The coun.
ty was declared to be in a state Of
quarantine. Train inspectors were
appointed to turn back people NOT
vaccinatcd, and much to the surprise
of the Inhabitants of the county they
found that no amount of coaXinG
would get them beyond its borders
unless they could present an official
certificate of vaccination. The same
requirement. was made of those on
incoming trains. Tt was mo vaccina.
ton, no entry" and passengers knew
by the set of the train inspectors
jaws that they meant what they said.
Freight and express, outgoing OF
incoming, were detained, and mutt.
nous merchants began to understand
that the state board was not Joking.
When the officer in charge offered
freedom from the shipping restric'
tion to such merchants rs submitted
to the vaccination of every one in
their employ who even in the most
remote way came in contact with the
goods shipped the terms were ae-
cepted. In day and half city
full of working people had good virus
in their left arms. Ono or two re-
tail merchants whom the shipping
restriction did not Immediately af-
feet held out longer, but they also
came to terms in time.
But the work of the state board
was by no means accomplished. The
mines still remained and they were
filed with miners longing to hang
the health officers. When the time
came, however, their courage seemed
to oozc, perhaps because tho health
officers were accompanied by 25 dep.
uty sheriffs sworn in for the occa-
sion, who surrounded the mines. The
doctors went inside, pulled the min-
ers out of their holes, set the marh
of vaccination in their arms and then
sent them outside of the lines. Some
of the mine owners woke up to tho
Importance Of the work and re.
Il CCIGllCutC ol pC.
fore they paid their men. Thirty.
nine or 40 cnses of smallpox wero
found in the town and among the
camps and sent to the pcsthouse.
With these 40 centers of contagion,
! there is no telling where the epidem-
ic would have ended if vigorous meas-
ures had been much longer delayed.
On one Saturday the doctor in
charge issued 1,1oo certificates Of
vaccination and during the stamping
out period it was necessary for him
sometimes to remain 4s hours in the
saddle with no sleep and little to eat.
The task of the doctor dealing with
the smallpox problem in Tennessee
II not snap, by any means.
The last achievement of the state
board was the cleaning up Of Black
Bottom, district where desperate
people congregate. The locaf police
% q rule do not dare to pass within
gunshot of the place at night, but IL
was a regular breeding place for
smallpox and no safety was possible
until the purifying measure of vac.
sination had been introduced. There.
fore the doctors in charge set theiF
teeth and went to work. With theiy
assistants, they surrounded half q
dozen houses at once, and vaccinated
the occupants straight through. No