The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-01-22
WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK
Vaccination and Smallpox.
,Ed;+or IF The Jo1rna1:

10 the Editor Oh lu0 JOuAAnA'
Under the caption 1.-The Handling of the
Smallpox Epidemic in Cleveland, etc. in
r h e J ourna 1 Of Jan. 10, appears the
statement that I gave dlslnfectlon the
credit for Cleve1and's freedom from small
Dox during the fall and winter of 1907
This is a mistake. I have never made
such a claim; nor has any well-informed
hygienist or anti-vaccinist. DR.. Friedrich
himself laid great stress upon disinfection
and seemed to overlook the really import
ant factors in the case The viewpoint
Of a drug giving physician, however. is
never that Of the hygienist. The former
believes in the beneficient action Of nox-
ious agents because he was educated that
way while the latter looks to natural
wholesome causes to maintain the natural
Wilderness of health. Distinction did, in
directly, serve a good purpose as I shall
show later
About April 1, 1902, Dr. Friedrich pub
| licly stated that not one case OF smallpox
had originated in Cleveland since Aug. %,
| 1901 The Marine Hospital Service re-
ports give Cleveland but thirty one cases
all told from Dec. %, 1901, to May 10,
| 1902. In the same period Hennepin coun-
| ty, MINI, had a total of 444 cases and the
| disease prevailed all over the country. Will
| some vaccinist explain CleVeland's i'm
munity in this long period?
| A knowledge of the facts suggests the
obvious ana only TedSO1ldUl6 cApldudllOu.
Santa ton was the cause. -
All sanitation has as it's end individual
cleanness and health Of body. Clean
streets would be of little avail if the homes
of the people were made receptacles for
garbage. Clean streets and clean houses
| both cannot count for much when pollu-
| ton is practiced at the source and CEN
ter of life, when the very essence of dis
ease is forced into the lfe-blood. So. 1t
| is reasonable to claim that the most vital
of all the sanitary measures adopted by
| DR.. Friedrich was the cessation of vaccin-
| alton. But sanitation did not stop here.
The health department Quoting DR..
! Fredrich) entered upon a house-to-
house crusade against dirt of any descrip-
ton Yards, barns. dumps, puddles and
closets were all made clean. Sewer con-
nection was enforced wherever there was
a sewer in the street. Especial attention
was given to street cleaning, and during
the same summer many unpayed streets
! were severed and paved.
| What the people spend in cleaning
the streets they save in Doctors bills
averred Dr. Friedrich in his simple Ger
man way. No wonder the doctors made
a stand against the inroads of such a sys-
tenn upon medical revenues.
The real value of the disinfection prac-
ticed may be seen from the following
considerations In sections of the city
fumigated, whether smallpox had existed
in the house or not. This resulted in the
most thorough airing and summing of an
immense number Of houses, together with
their contents. in order to get rid of the
fumes of fornaldehyde. The germ theory
of disease finds no place in the creed of
the enlightened anti-vaccinist. Sun and
air alone, If as freely admitted, are every
whit as sanitary as formaldehyde. gas plus
sun and air, besides being vastly cheaper.
If all the people Of Cleveland had taken
the hint and co-operated with DR.. Fried
rich by admitting sunshine and fresh air
into their houses freely and habitually
land If all the other sanitation undertaken
had been continued and persisted in, there
would have been there to this day Moth
ing which the widest stretch of magma
ton could have made into an epidemic
of smallpox. -Lora Z. Little.
This is somewhat different statement
from that made recently in this paper ON
the authority of our own board of health
and DR. Friedrichs' pamphlet, and it seems
as If the claims of this writer We're not
we'll founded. DR.. Friedrichs himself. in
his own report Aug. s. 1902. says that 1.-The
measures used to suppress the disease