The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-03-23
COMMUNICATED


for the compulsory medical examna'
tion Of all school children. is evident !,
ly intended to be an improvement onl
House Bill No. 40S, measure that
has come in for great deal OF.
criticism during the last few weeks.
The only concession 10 the popular'
Is to be found in II. B. No. 472, is
the permission, very graciously grant
ed to parents, to have their chlldrelt
examined by physician of their
choice instead of making 1t compul-
sorry to employ the school physician.
The question that will be asked by
all interested persons. taxpayers ant
parents is this: Why must the hun.
dreds of thousands Of school children
In the state, who enjoy the averag,
good health, month in and month out.
be put TO discomfort and annoyance
of submitting to physical examina.
tion, whether they need it or not, be-
fore they can present themselves q,
the opening of the school term?
The question that still remains un
answered i'm the minds of the general
public Is this: What alarming condi-
tions have appeared of late among
the school children of Ohio to make
these elaborate protective measures n
crying necessity? The need must b,
urgent, and the situation serious.
which would call for such n bill as II
j. No 472 which practically takes
from the parents the control of the
health OF their children, and. transfers
it to some physician. The situation
must be serious indeed which would
warrant a bill that will necessitate
hundreds of thousands of medical
examinations annually and the COM
pulsory employment of thousands Of
physicians to examine perfectly
healthy children; the payment of fees
in thousands of cases that might be
avoided, and n total cost to the
parents of Ohio or hundreds of
thousands of dollars.
AS matter. of fact the people of
the state are very well aware that
no such urgent demand exists that
no such serious conditions of health
prevails among the school CHILDREN ofI
Ohio. II Is matter of general know.
ledge that the conditions of tho
health of our school children is up toI
the average; that there have been no
instances of serious epidemcs; and
that the present requirements and
safeguards are sufficient, ana have
proved themselves to be equal to any
emergency that has thus far arisen.
II. B. No. 472 declares itself to be a
measure "to promote the health o'I
school children and to protect them
from contagious and infectious diseas-
es:' but it is difficult to see how tho
initial examination of all school child
ren, before the beginning of scho-l
year. can be of any great service,
either in promoting the health of child
rem or in protecting them during the
rest of the term "frum contagious ana
Infectious diseases" no create in child
rem fear OF disease and to foster in
them continual expectation of i'll
ness, Is not a wise or a humane policy
and few modern educators are in fa-
vor of such policy. Many expedients
might be adopted whereby the health
of school children would be protected
hut compelling healthy children to be
examined and scrut nized and catechlz-
ed and frightened will do nobody and
good, except the medical man who
gets a fee for this unscientihc anj
unethical practice.
There are n great many people to
day, who do not believe in the various
drugging systems for the relief OF
disease. heseT peopie belong to diff
ferent religious organizations, and
many of them to no organization al
all. The number of persons who be-
lieve in drugless healing, of one kind
or another have been rapidly on the
increase during the last decade, and
these people form today no inconsider
able portion of the population of this
and of other states. An inquiry into
the character and quality of these
classes reveals the fact that there are
many people of culture and profes
sional and business prominence, whp
are counted among the adherents o.
these medically unorthodox doctrines
on that account these classes are not
a negligible factor in the affairs OF
our cities and our state, In would be
a distinct hardship to all of this class
of persons to compel them arbitrarily
to have their children examined py
an alien physician, who may have no
sympathy with their views. and who
may even be actively opposed to
them and to their ideas
! There is not the slightest doubt
/ that wise regulation or public health
! Is an excellent thing, and that with
1 I'M certain limits, there should b.
sanitary and quarantine regulations
but this thing can be carried too far
Under the guise of protecting the