The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1902-08-21


vestigation will be acted upon, and the
killed by public executioner
appointed for the purpose:
"To the Legislature of the State Of.
........... Your petitioners.
and. husband and wife, residents
OF the town of. State of Of.......
respectfully represent that one of their six
children, daughter aged twenty years, is
hopeless imbecile, a grovelling idiot, not sus-
ceptible of any education and not possessed
of any knowledge of right or wrong or of
cause and effect; that her existence has been
burden to all her relatives; her presence
in the family has been blight upon an
otherwise happy home and great discour-
agement and positive injury to the lives of
her brothers and sisters.
"YOur petitioners further represent that
they believe this affiiction was caused by
fright of the mother; that while no blame is
attached to this creatures parents for her
being. the laws of the State do not recognize
the right of her parents nor is it the duty of
any one in authority to have her life taken
that this worse than useless existence may
be brought to an end (by such painless, and
by her undetected means as gradual suffOca-
tiOn by carbOnc acid gas).
"YOur petitioners, therefore, believing the
State to be responsible under these circum-
stances, humbly ask your honorable body
to take this matter in hand, to have a COM
mission appointed to examine into the true
state of this creatures mind and body, and
If the within facts and statements are there
by verified. to carry out said painless exter.
mination of this defective life."
Such proposition as this sounds
rather nasty. 1t does not jibe with all
our pre-conceived ideas, and it strikes
one as bordering on the inhuman. But
perhaps familiarity would make it
seem less offensive, so let US look into
the merits of the scheme.
We will admit, for the sake of argu-
ment, that the parent has no obliga-
tions towards defective child and
that because said child is a "burden to
its relatives" the latter should be per-
mitted to exterminate it tsOhepa the time
orrices that aecooery is impossible.
Certainly no one will admit that the
state or a child's parents have any
moral right to kill that child because it
is ill while there is a possibility for it's
recovery. But who can say what is
possible or impossible in medicine in
this age of discovery? Diphtheria
was scourge only yesterday; today
anti-toxin has made it comparatively
harmless disease. And it is only one
case in a score. Medicine has worn
seven-league boots during the past ten
years. Fortunately for suffering hu.
manity, all the physicians in the world
are not like DR.. Denison. Many of
them are-shall we say better occupied ?
At any rate, while he is proposing dras-
tic legislative measures for the elimi-
nation of disease, they are studying
the malady and seeking a cure for it.
And until the time comes when it is
known positively that no cure, no relief,
will ever be discovered, neither parent
nor legislature has the least semblance
OF moral right to take the life of the
patient. That such an idea should
even receive consideration is outra-
geous
The tendency to cure all ills by
means of restrictive laws is a feature
of the age. 1t is species of coward
Ice resulting from the wide nromnIua
lion of socialistic doctrines. The state
mas ceased to be the servant of the in
lividual and the individual is becoming
;he slave of the state. Demagogues
thrive and medico-legal authorities"
tatten. Let loud-mouthed humbug
'ay 'the state will be benefited" and
le can do about what ne chooses. How
ong will it be before the pendulum
its arc and reacts to sanity
,nce more? MEMO.