The San Francisco call., 1907-02-09
VACCINATION LAW
STILL STANDS
Those Who Would End
Compulsory Use of Small
pox Preventative Beaten
FIGHT IN ASSEMBLY
CALL HEADQUARTERS,
1907 EIGHTH STREET.

repeal the compulsory vaccination law,
but after a hard battle fell short
of the forty-one votes necessary to put
a bill through the lower house. Tran
sue OF Los Angeles, who opposed the
repeal, graciously gave notice of mo-
tion to reconsider, and another test of
will take place Monday. The
House meets again tomorrow, but by
consent the motion to reconsider will
be postponed.
Sackett of Ventura, chairman of the
committee on education and author of
the bill at issue, led the fight for re-
peal Eshleman of Berkeley, who left
a sickbed to take part in the struggle
and Strobridge of Hayward gave
Sackett able assistance. DR.. Campbell
of Point Richmond. chairman of the
committee on public health and quar-
antine, fired the first gun for the vac
and Grove Johnson helped
him out by touching a match to a
whole magazine of explosives.
CALIFORNIA; EPIDEMIC
The object of the bill, as stated by
Sackett, was to remove a great bar
rier against the education of children.
per cent of the children
of the State were not enrolled in the
public schools, he said, and 102, 900 chill
dren do not go to any school He
blamed the compulsory vaccination law
for this condition of affairs.
Make refusal to be vaccinated
if you WILL" he argued,
but place the responsibility on the
not on the children"
DR.. Campbell spoke of the horrors of
smallpox, told of the epidemic that in
the early days of California almost
cleaned out the Indians" and declared
that viccination had proved an untold
blessing.
Strobridge thought the present law
badly administered. 1t required the
of the child, but omitted
of the teacher.
Eshlennan declared the law bur-
den which should no longer be borne
by the public school system. In some
like Orange County it
was never enforced. but in Berkeley,
where vaccination was compulsory, a
third of the children were kept out of
the schools.
Grove Johnson blamed the Anti
Vaccination Society of Alameda County
for all the agitation against vaccination
and accused the advocates of repeal of
hiding their real motive behind elo-
quent pleas in behalf of the schools.
JOHN Is CONVERTED
Pyle of Santa Barbara said that in
sons had died from the effects of vac
than from smallpox. He re-
called his own repeal bill of 1.-TWO years
ago, which died of executive disap-
proval, and referred to the. Governor
who vetoed it as "a medical man as
narrow in his views as he was full of
egotism."
Drew of Fresno opposed repeal and
called on history to justify his stand.
Kelly of San Francisco told of per-
sonal experience that had set him
against vaccination. Percival of Lodi
began his speech by admitting himself
a Christian Scientist and ended it by
asking the doctors to let him choose
his own remedies for his own family.
DR.. Case of Pasadena confessed that
in his sailor days long ago he
murdered" three of his shipmates by
going aboard ship after he had con-
tracted smallpox ashore Cutten of
Eureka did not propose to take dope"
on medical matters from the committee
on education. John of San Luis Obispo
admitted conversion since the last ses-
sion of the Legislature, when he voted
for repeal Wyatt of Salinas banked
on the consensus of medical opinion
Otis of Alameda and Thompson and
Pierce of Los Angeles also opposed re-
peal
SACKETT ASKS FAIR PLAY
Sackett closed the debate by ex-
pressing regret that so many of the
speakers had wandered so far from the
text All he wanted was fair play for
the school children.
Then came the rollcall, which left
the record standing as follows: For re-
peal-Baxter, Bebah, Berry, Birdsall.
Boyle. Butler, Collister, Cornish, Cullen,
Davis Eshleman, Fisher, Forbes. Ham
mon, Johnson of San Diego, Jury, Kelly,
Lucas, Ludington, Mcconnell, Mcguire,
McKeon, McMuilin, Percival, Pyle, Root,
Sackett, Strobridge, Vogel, Walsh,
Weske. Wessling, Whitmore, Wilson
and Speaker Beardslee-35.
Against repeal-Bishop, Bush, Camp
bell. Case. Cogswell, Cutten, Devlin,
Drew, Estudillo, Finney. Hans, Held,
John, Johnson of Sacramento, Lynch,
OBrien, Otis, Pierce, Snyder,
Spaulding, Stanton, Stetson, Strohl.
of Los Angeles, Transue and
Eight San Franciscans were. absent.
OF the ten present all save Stroll of the
Forty fifth District voted for repeal.
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so drawn that it will become operative
after the conclusion of the term for
which Gillett was elected.
TOO SMALL FOR GILLETT
The basic principle of the proposed
legislation is not Objectionable to Gill
lett and it is the possible practice of it
within his term that he will not stand
for. And incidentally his stand marks
him much more the man than the poll
tician. 1t would have been ridiculously
easy for the Governor to sit tight while
the machine and the legislator opened
a door through which to drive out
Pardee's appointees and let in men Of
his own selection. 1t was too small for
Gillett, and in this connection it is by
no means an improbable prediction that
those of the men whose places will be
wiped out If Gillett can pass his engi-
neering department bill, who can quali-
" for places under the new system, will
be retained.
The Senate decided today to COM
nence the regular evening session work
on Monday. For several causes, not all
of them apparent to the naked and
initiated eye. the Senate has permitted