The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-03-16
PUBLIC OPiNIUN
Major Boudren Derides
Claim of Vaccinationists

| To the Editor of the Evening Far
mer:
Sir-In your issue of March 1st and
in as many other papers throughout
the country as could be induced to
print it, a silly fairy tale is being
circulated of the wonderful virtue of
vaccination in stamping out small
pox among a lot of filthy, ignorant
South American Indians; and this is
given to the public with a view to
prepare them for a concentrated eff
fort on the part of Health Boards
throughout the country to enforce
vaccination upon the whole people.
ment and hygienic habits of these
people it was no wonder that they
should have smallpox or many other
kinds of contagious diseases that
might be floating around. The fun
ny part of this story consists in the
statement that vaccination stopped
smallpox. Now if vaccination could
protect anyone in that locality it
should be able to do it elsewhere and
everywhere, but we know for a fact
that it does nothing of the kind. For
instance, Japan, which is known to
be the best vaccinated country in the
world and has trusted to vaccination
for its protection, yet when every
so-called epidemic appears the people
Gle of smallpox to an extent I'M
known before in the history of the
world. If vaccination was SO eff
cient in South America why did it not
prove effective to our soldiers in the
Philippines who were admitted to be
the best vaccinated army in the world
yet they died from smallpox at the
rate of So per cent. of cases. Why
did we have so many cases of small
Dox breaking out on board naval YES
sells where every man is most thor
oughly vaccinated. The gentlemen
of no Ay,oo TO-
have no interest in acquainting the
public with such facts.
A friend Of mine who has just re-
turned from Mexico gives me the fol-
lowing: He says that smallpox IS
very prevalent there. Also that the
mothers subject their children to the
chances of getting smallpox with the
idea that it is necessary and a safe
guard, the same as people think that
their children must of necessity have
the measles and whooping cough.
The publishing of this story Of
South American epidemics is a bid 70
have the care of our health entrusted
to the medical fakirs. In the Ar
my and the Marine Hospital Services
during the Spanish War these medi-
cal gentlemen had control Of the fin
est body of men the world ever saw
entrusted to their care, yet they al
lowed 10000 cases Of typhoid fever
with 1,400 deaths in four camps of
Surgeon General states that during
the three years beginning 1901 there
were among the successfully vaccin-
ated in the Army in the Philippines
705 cases of smallpox with 200
deaths.
With such a showing for medical
supervision and efficiency the less
these gentlemen call public attention
to themselves the better. If you
would only publish the report of the
results Of smallpox in Japan during
the past year or two it would be more
enlightening to your readers. There
in one year $500 cases of smallpox
developed and over 5000 died.
The closing sentence of the article
referred to is gem Of medical logic
and should be hung up on every lamp
post:
Evidence Of this description should
be spread far and wide.'
So it should, providing the facts
of vaccination failures the world ov-
er are published alongside of such
of the failures of vaccination to pre-
vent the spread of smallpox in japan,
Switzerland, Italy, Cleveland, Ohio.
and England, it's birthplace, would
people in general, but would not be
much of an aid to fool Health Boards
in soaring the majority of the people
Two being vaccinated.
1.-THE history of medicine, rife IN
decisions, which compress each 9TH
er in grotesque succession, from the
earliest ages to the present time,
supplies no instance comparable to
the absurdity Of vaccination. In
many ways medicine has been grow
ing towards common sense, but into
this inveterate, and now political
question. all the stupidity, blindness,
and recklessness of the medical ages
seem to be gathered says DR.. j.
Garth Wilkinson.
MAJOR THOMAS BOUDREN.