The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-12-04
The Owen Bill

TO the Editor-An editorial in recent
Issue OF The Tribune makes the following
observation. The great trouble WIN
Senator Owens bill Is that ~ |ou.o
make an establishment Of a medical sys-
TEN. which is about fertile in raising
a ruction as though congress should um
dertake the establishment OF relislon
II is very strange that Tho Tribune.
always among the first to encourage any
lnnoVa ton that seeks the bcttermcnt OF
human kind. should fall into such error
But other newspapers all over the coun-
try are making Just such statements
while some others better Informed evl.
IDENTIFY are daily explaining TO those that
do not or Will not understand.
little and see what It's purpose is and
perhaps before we get through the pro-
posed legislation will appear altogether
beneficcnt and. incidentally. along the
way we may uncover some reasons why
the newspapers generally do not IKE
the owen bin. Now please do not
charge me with being captious or
scod. for it is friendly hand ina,
writes this,
The owen bill authorizes i depart
ment OF sanitation and not law ior
The control OF medical practice, es those
and is TO their great interest 10 MAKE us
90 believe. Why, even the school boy
knows that the practice OF medicine is
entirely function OF the several states.
The Owen bin proposes department.
fashioned after the department OF agri-
culture and the other departments ~
Washington. Rockefeller has already
given some three million dollars for the
endowment OF All institute in New iorN
City for the purpose OF discovering the
cause and the remedy OF certain iaIa.
and intrscuhle diseases that are now
eating out the life Of the nation, among
them cancer and consumption, ctC' -
prize Of one hundred thousand dollars Is
hung up for any one who first makes lhe
Ia q
competition OF the world, be he Hindoo
or Christian. Christian Science or reg
ular. biological wizard with his magic
microscope In a secluded corner OF log
mortal Koch In prlncely endowed
laboratory I'm Berlin The practice or
medicine has no concern In all this.
The Owen bill seeks TO elaborate and
reinforce such laudable undertakings UNI
der the patronage Of the government
with it's boundless means and Influence.
The owen bill authorizes the etab-
lishmcnt OF labora tories and the employ
ease as Koch studied tuberculosis. as
Carroll and Lazear and Agramonts stud
led yellow fever, as Stiles and Ashford
studied hookworm, as Ricketts, studied
mountain fever. as Fiexner is now study
Ing. at the Rockefeller institute: ccre-
brospinal meningitis. and II Is safe
bet that no one in Utah can tell to what
medical 'pathy" any of these men be
long. I say again with emphasis that
The practice OF medicine Is solely a
function of The different states
France undertook 10 dig canal across
the Isthmus OF Panama, bur IL buried
millions OF money and vast army OF
Frenchmen in the deadly slime down
there and finally fled from the pesttlen-
tial swamps and left cholera and yellow
fever their sole occupants. Then the
United States began the hercuean task
Of plownc that mighty furrow with the
shadow of death constant oriflamme,
but Gorgos went along with the pick
ax brigade and, profiting by the discov-
cries OF Carroll and Lazear and Agra
monte, the shadow or death was nftcd'
never again TO obtrude It's awful pres
ence. There has not been death from
yellow fever on the Isthmus In five
years. and the rate per thousand. OF
deaths from all causes down there. is
less than in the state Of New York;
Does anybody know 10 what school OF
medicine Gorgos belongs?
The Owen bill seeks TO create n ma
tional department OF health, but not for
the treatment Of individual patients or
the regulation Of the practice OF medi-
cine. Does the department of agrlcul-
ture seek TO compel anyone TO destroy the
aphis or other pests OF the orchard in
a certain way? Verify IL does not but
1t has discovered certain enemy Of
that parasite and IL is up 10 the different
states 10 say whether its people shall
avail themselves Of the discovery. and
tends along the lines Of human SANTA
ton.
Now let us for a moment examine kind
ly the little fly IN the ointment of those
who are crying, Away with him, let us
cruelty him, the Owen bill. not the
fly, There is an organization I'm tho
United States composed OF advertisers,
manufacturers and jobbers OF patent
medicines, and a glance at a daily or
weekly paper will show the enormous
quantities of patent medicines that arc
daily consumed. and how lucrative the
business Is, This society, and it Is A
society. with headquarters in New York
City, Is composed or very wealthy men.
They have a fund Of one million dollars
TO oppose the owen bill and watch the
newspapers and in an aside let me
whisper that IL is dollars 10 doughnuts
that this communication will never see
the light OF day in any newspaper. un-
less The Tribune. as IL has been known
TO do when il thinks IL is right, catches
new hold, and fights the patent medi
cine takers. The same gang that fought
Wiley and the pure food law is now
fighting the Owen bill. II that
cety. above spoken OF. discovers a news
paper defending the Owen bill. that
newspaper thereafter will have fewer
patent medicine adVcrtise sements In il, In