Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-10-15
pr. Goodenough and L. W. An@l
 derson Have Hot Argument
ANDERSON WANTS TO DEBATE.

Has Documents to Prove That vacci nation is Injurious Says it Has Been Tried on the Mule-Dr Good enough. on the Other Hand, Says Vaccination is All Right.
 L. W. Anderson, one of the most prominent and persistent opponents of vaccination, was an interested specfa- tor at the meeting of the board of education last night. Yesterday he received word from Dr Goodenough
 that he would introduce a motion modlTy1ng the objectionable rule which stated that no child could att tend school unless he was vaccinated IoWard the end of the meeting after Dr Goodenough's motion to modify the rules had been referred to the l committee on rules, Mr Anderson wns asked If he desired to address the Doard. He stated that he did not | since Dr Goodenough had introduced a motion conforming somewhat to the views held by him and hundreds of | people in the city. But" he contfn- ued. T don't agree with what Dr Good enough said in regard to the value of vaccination and I challenge him to meet me in public debate on the question. will pay all expenses. Z
 MT Anderson was politely told that such debate was matter to be dis cussed privately with the doctor and not before the board.
 | After the meeting MT Anderson cone graduated the doctor upon introducing the vote, modifying the compulsory vaccination rule. After mutual con- gratulations had been exchanged the two gentlemen indulged in very in- teresting discussion of the merits of vaccination. The genial doctor was firm in his conviction that vaccination was very beneficial while MT Ander- son was just as firmly convinced that it was of no use and very injurious. l MT Anderson quoted the case of the 1 child in Waterville who died of lock- l jaw as a result of vaccination. ssDoc- tors claimed that the mother didn't properly attend to the child, but that was untrue. She devoted all her time
 to him. Another child had bad open
 sores on the hip. She received no at- tention because the mother was busy
 in caring for the other child. Yet this child didn't receive any tetanus gerrna Z in her sores. She did not die from l lockjaw."
 ,. Tn reply the doctor stated sat he himself had vaccinated 91O persofi&sy Not one had died. Not one had con- tracted a serious disease from vaccina- tion. If he could vaccinate 900 per-
 sons so successfully he could vaccinate
 99,999. Furthermore the doctor said that he had known where vaccination l. !. ,r- 14 <ls
 which they had and improved their
 health very much.
 tsWhy. then, don't you use yaccina. tions for all diseases, if it Is such a
 wonderful cure?' MT Anderson queri-
 ed The reply was to the effect that
 such reasoning would be about as sen sible as some reasons given by the nti-vaccinationists.
 Asked what good had vaccination
 ever done, the doctor told MT Ander-
 son if he went down to Washington
 and entered the office of the surgeon
 general of the army he would he
 shown volume after volume of statisz
 tics showing what great benefit vaQ
 cination was. MT Anderson theI
 upon produced a pamphlet sent to Id
 from England which contains tlf
 opinions of many men prominent as
 physicians, statesmen, scientists, phil-
 anthropists etc all of whom were op posed to vaccination
 I "Oh, I place little stock in such
 opinions of eminent men," the doctor
 replied: Take any newspaper for
 the past twenty years and you will
 read of men of prominence stating
 that such patent medicine will cure
 such a disease. But what foundation
 is there to it. What do they know about medicine?"
 MT Andrews wanted to know why England. which was the first country to adopt the compulsory vaccination law had repealed it. Because of hu. man nature,' said the doctor. "Also. because the doctors were careless in lvaccinating and there were many seri.
 ous results from it. The people con-
 seqEently became much opposed to it.'' The doctor incidentally remarkeds ~If I believed in vaccination just be- cause of the money it brings me,
 would not have vaccfnated myself, my wife and child For every dollaR ' made in vaccination Last year I lost two. People who were not opposed to vaccination went to some other doc tor than me because was member
 of the board who compelled them to have their children vaccinated. "
 MT Anderson was asking the doctor to show where vaccination had over prevented a case of smallpox and alsc
 asking why those persons who were vaccinated and therefore believed
 themselves to be proof against small pox should care whether or not other people were vaccinated, when the Democrat reporter made his depart
 ure. The doctor and his friendly op ponent may still be discussing yacci- nation. They showed no signs of
 stopping when the reporter left. It
 would be capital idea for the doctor
 to accept MT Anderson's challenge tdl a public debate. The debate would no doubt attract large audience.