The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-09-04

The following letter touchlng the
smallpox situation in Georgia. and the
State Board of Health has been writ
ten to DR.. Howard J. Williams of Ma
con by Health officer William F.
Drummer of Savannah:
Sept 8, 19O4-Dr. Howard J.. Will
iiams. Macon, Ga: Dear Doctor: AS
stated in my letter to you of Aug. %.
I would have been glad if some other
gentlemen of the State Board Of Health
besides yourself would have answered
my paper which was read before the
State Municipal League at it's last
meeting but as you were the only one
to answer me. 1 take this opportunity
to reply to your letter.
You will find that life is not too
short nor the weather too warm to
make me indulge in any blackguard-
ism. I am not a bully and being a
temperate man, I shall not use any in
decent language which would cause
any reputable paper either to refuse
10 publish my letter or censor it.
regret very much that some mem
Der Of your board was not present when
my paper was read, in order that he
could have answered il at the time,
also my remarks which followed the
paper A substitute could hardly
have given you a correct statement of
what / said. II was said that a kinder
garten lecture was given by me. AS
your board is in that class some of you
should have attended. I said then, and
En INn FrrfV1 ~ he mi
demic disease which has existed in ev-
cry section of Georgia and every sec
ton of every state in the Union, is due
to volunteer soldiers who served in the
Spanish-American War
With a thorough knowledge of the
smallpox situation in this country. for
over twenty years. I know that small
poX existed before the year 1899 and
so stated to the meeting of the NUM-
cipal League, but that infection of the
whole country started in 1899. On your
own statement. the Legislature OF
Georgia Clipped your wings" when
they refused to pass an efficient vacci-
nation law. This alone precludes in
telligent work on the part of the State
Board Of Health Perhaps you were
right when you stated that this was
because of political fear of it's members
or for a want of time, although I feel
that I am not as well informed about
the action Of the Legislature as you
are, not being a political doctor. You
really do not believe you could have
enforced the law had you passed 1t.
If you do believe it, note what your ex-
ecutive officer says on this subject.
Money for the Work.
I state. as 1 stated before. that a
state board of health that is inefficient
v4-h fnV- -
form work that it knows it could not
do it is getting money under false pre-
lenses, but il is not, nor was 1t, in
tended to be an insult to the gentle
men of the State Board of Health I
believe that you knew that you could
not get enough money to do efficient
work and you thought that you would
get as much as you could and take
chances on smallpox dying out. as it
did after the Civil War, as it will do
if given sufficient time.
You know, and everybody knows
that If you spent the entire appro-
priation you asked for. $40, 000--and 1t
is said that you only received ST. 800
that you could not do intelligent, eff
cient work i'm a state where smallpox
is epidemic i'm every section, and has
been for years. That amount of
money would not have paid for the
vaccine lymph necessary to vaccinate
the non-immune population, not to
mention the cost of isolation of cases
and suspects and for the proper disin-
lection, of infected houses and ma
terial. Look the issue squarely in
the face and be guided by the history
of every state board of health in the
Southern states
In regard to A letter press. I would
state here at this point that the exec
utive officer who does not keep a rec
ord of the communications sent out,
or of letters received, must necessarily
carry the business of the health of
the state in his head, and this marks
him as man who, to put it mildly,
has no practical knowledge of con-
Quoting his business Later on in this
card l will show you two practical
illustrations of what value the letter
press would have been to at least two
persons connected with the State
Board of Health, and ! think you will
agree with me when you read the two
communications to which refer. that
II would have been better for your side
of the controversy had these two COM
munications been copied before being
Sent. A man may deny what he said,
but he cannot deny what he wrote
Ito mel.
Received No Reply.
In regard to my misquoting the
statement Of the president of the State
Board of Health, on July IL. / present
these facts for your consideration. ]
wrote to the president Of the State
Board of Health (and you must have
seen the letter., and in reply he said land