The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1911-04-27
To the Editor of the Farmer:

To the Editor of the Farmer:
Sir:-In a recent issIle of your val
liable paper I noticed that In the
Monthly Bulletin of the State BOARD
Of Health, for March, the secretary.
DIR. Joseph H Townsend, had again
engaged in a defense of vaccination.
That he should do so, particularly
ct this time. was to be expected, Tor
the opponents of vaccination are JUST
now actively working for the repeal OF
the law which compels this biood,po1-
soning rite upon defenceless little
children. as a condition for admission
to the public schools.
But. that the secretary should al
low himself to make erroneous ana
misleading statements in his effort to
bolster up the practice Is regrettable,
first. because from his official posi-
ton his statements will be consider
ed authoritative by many, and, sec
ond. because it shows the doctor de-
plorably ignorant of the whole sub
iect of vaccination and in no sense
competent to deal with it.
Fortunately, the people of this
State are investigating, thinking and
Judging for themselves and the num-
Der who would swallow the doctors
statements without question are few
er to-day than ever before, and their
number is growing beautifully less
year by year. In fact, through the
continued effort of the medical pro-
fession to maintain their absurdities,
i'm spite of intelligent public opinion.
il has got to the point where few take
the doctors seriously. and how the
laughing at each other is fast becom-
ing a leading question.
DR.. Townsend says that at the re-
cent hearing before the Committee OF
the Legislature, the opponents of vac
cination presented the same argu-
ments as at former hearings on the
subject. namely, that vaccination does
not prevent smallpox, that it causes
other diseases, and that better results
in prevention could be obtained by
quarantine and disinfection.
In these statements he is correct
leads. or Is lead by, can satisfactorily
refute these arguments they will sure
" be maintained and repeated.
DR. Townsend says that it seems
hardly possible that one can read the
history of smallpox before the days
present freedom from the disease is
the result Of vaccination. But, DR.
Townsend forgets to tell us, either
purposely or because he does not
know. that before the introduction OF
waco nation, inoculation with small
practiced. and that it spread small
box to such an extent that laws had
finally to be enacted. making it a
penal offence for any person to inocu-
late another with smallpox matter
That practice, while in vogue, was
sanctioned by the consensus of medi-
cal opinion OF the time, and by them
declared to be: Highly salutary tc
the human race
But. strange to say, the death rate
in smallpox was no greater in pre-
vaccination times, in spite of the vast
propagation of the disease, than il
has been until recent years: and why
smallpox should be so much more ia
tai to-day can only be accounted fol
on the ground of medical incompetent
cy, or the fact that vaccination, now
extensively practised and promoted by
legal compulsion for over one hun
dred years. has gradually reduced the
vitality and resistance powers of the
individual against disease thus rem
dering him less able to pass safely
through, not only smallpox but other
diseases.
DR.. Townsend tells us millions OF
people have been vaccinated in Porto
Rico and the Philippine Islands since
the American occupation, with the re-
suit that there are now few deaths in