The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-07-16
INDIA IS MUCH
 VACClNATED BUT
 SMALL P0X RACES

Editor of The Farmer: Sir:-
 The sincerity of the lady who ad- dressed your readers on the subject of vaccination in India is evident but her zeal blinds her to the facts. She contrasts Bridgeport where we have an efficient sanitary staff, good sew age and water systems and even the poorest people dwelling in houses re- plete with bathroom accommodations to the jungle villages of India where the sewage is allowed to soak into the ground. This good lady must req lize that if the people of Bridgeport were only half fed and lived in the filthy native huts of the India jungle amid swamps and stagnant pools, they too who die by the thousands from smallpox, as well as plague and chol- era which latter diseases have work ed more havoc in India than the one which inspired her descriptive pow CTS. There is much more need for crusade to provide India natives with three good meals a day, some pure water. soap, and dwellings fit for hu man beings than advocating vaccina- tion to the people of Bridgeport.
 It is accepted as a truiSm that filth causes disease. Anti-vaccinators work for the welfare of mankind by urg- ing the removal of the conditions that produce smallpox rather than the inn
 
 cry child born into this troubled world. A child is fashioned and de- livered to us from the hands of an all-wise Creator. Modern science holds that the child must be perfected by mand and proceeds to inoculate the disease of vaccinia at a time when the unhappy little infant should be spared all it's health and vitality and strength to battle against all the dan- gers that beset the path of early childhood. Vaccination is nothing more or less than a disease transplant ed from calf into human blood.
 Mrs. Guernsey is believer in vac cination. On the other hand men of great intellectual achievements like Prof Crookshank, Prof. Alfred Rus sel Wallace, Prof. Carlo Ruata (of Perugia University, Tolstoy Herbert Spencer, Drs. Tebb, Hadwen and host of others who devoted part of their lives to study of this ques- tion have rejected vaccination as base delusion. a fraud, a snare, and "the most gigantic imposture ever foisted upon a credulous people" Be it understood they studied it much more deeply than this good lady who in a laudable cause SOjOurned so long in the India jungles away from civ ilization.
 May ask you reader to visit our admirable Public Library on Main St. and consult that premier work of ref erence-the Encyclopedia Brittan- ica"? The article on Smallpox and Vaccination" was the work of years and it devolved upon Dr. Chas. Creighton the foremost authority to prepare it. Collecting and arranging much data he a firm believer in vac- cination found that smallpox was not controlled by vaccination but by sani- tary measures such as isolation, quar-
 rir nd 0tn to the publishers to be relieved of his task he stated his change of attitude and scruples about continuing with the preparation of a standard article. They replied he had been chosen to write it as the first epidemologist in Europe and it was incumbent on him fo continue his studies. The article when published had the effect of a bombshell in the medical school of Europe and of this country. Profes- sor Crookshank, Emeritus Lecturer al Cambridge University was chosen by the medical profession to make a re- ply. In traversing Creighton's ma terial he also turned against vaccina- ton and declared 'I maintain there is no scientific foundation for it,. the practice is bound to fall into desuetude."
 As to India the official statistics issued by the British military author ities bear out the anti-vaccinationist claims in toto. The regiments are all vaccinated and re-vaccinated and yet show a heavy smallpox incidence and mortality rate. This estimable lady who writes of her own limited per sonal experience rashly claims for h. dia that vaccination gives 99 per cent of absolute protection and 1 per cent of mitigation Will she ex- plain why these absolutely protect ed" soldiers take smallpox and die of it? Does she hold they die "mitigat- ed'' deaths? An official return white paper 45-was laid on the ta- ble of the House of Commons in No vember last at the request of Sir Will liam Collins, M. D. another active an- ti-vaccinator. 1t shows all the cases and deaths from smallpox in the per- iod 1900 to 1908 inclusive. The death rate per thousand from smallpox in the troops in India was GA per cent the native regiments.
 Approximately there is double the number of native troops and one would assume approximately larg- CT liability or risk of infection. It will be also remembered many of the native soldiers refuse vaccination.
 The following appeared as an edi- torial footnote in the August issue of the Calcutta Journal of Medicine" We have written many times with regard to the unsuccessful efforts 10 prevent smallpox by vaccination. The Bengal Vaccination Act was introduc- ed in 1880 and after years of work ing it is futile. Vaccination is com pulsory against the wish of many sober thinkers and the Government as pretended guardian of health un- knowingly seeks to undermine it."
 Tn the interest of truth I am writ ing to continue either a public or pri- vate discussion with your lady cor respondent and I have forwarded copy of the issue of your paper con taining the letter to MT. K. J. Tara chand, B. A. of Bombay who has made a deep study of this question and whose conclusions are diametrically opposed to those of Mrs. Guernsey. Trusting your readers will realize there are two sides to every case and will examine the anti-vaccination ar guments, I remain your,
 F. GREENE,