The Forrest City times., 1911-12-22
A FEDERAL HEALTH BOARD.

II IS gratifying to note that tho b,n ,1 ,o' .ne creation of a federal health board Will not be allowed to pass with. oet protest. Reports of organized iis'stanee come from all parts of the country, and it may be that the oppo. sidoh Will soon be sufficiently seliai- iIed 10 defeat project that promises lHi,hite mischief for the community. ana suffering and injustice for the in. | dividual. e''e HI tue proposal is based upon those specious claims that are notoriousIv na'u 10 controvert If federal health board were to confine it's activities in tue promuigation of salutary advice upon hygienic matters. to the abate- 1 Iieht or quackery, and to the purity of l ufuss, it might be possible to say much In its favor, although 1t would sun De difficult to say that such an 1 organization is needed. Rut we lrnow that 1t will attempt to do far moro .han this, seeing that it's adherepts nave loudly proclaimed their inten- tiohs. Indeed, there is no secrecy aoout them. It is confidently expected that the board will consist of advo- l edtes of one school of medicine only ana that the methods of that school VIII be not only recommended. but ehIorced upon the nation. Indeed A board that was in any way representa- ] ufe ot the medical profession as a MHole would be stultified by it's own dlsagreements. Outside the domain oI simple hygiene, for which We need no ieuerai board at all there is no s4Hele point of medical practice upon "lleh aiiopaths, homeopaths. eclectics una osteopaths could be in unisan
 Any beard that could be devised bv lhe Wit of man must be comDosed of representatives of one school only
 and thls means that all other schools are branded as of an inferior caste l even though nothing worse happened 10 them. And something worse would l hapien to them If We are to establish a school of medicine, if We are to as sert that the government of the Init
 ed states favors one variety of prac- eee more than others, why not estab. fish also sect Of religion and be- stow special authorities upon Bap- tlsts, Methodists and Episcopalians? An established school of religious l conjecture seems somewhat less ob. l )ecuonable than an established sect of pseudo-scientific conjecture.
 Those who suppose that a federal board of health would have no concern | With individual rights are likely to I hnd themselves undeceived. It is for 1 the purpose of interfering with indi. Vlduai rights that the proposal has been made. We need no special Knowledge of conditions to be aware that what may be called unorthodox methods of healing have made sad in. roads into the orthodox. Homeopathy claims vast number of adherents who are just as well educated and just as intelligent as those who adhere to the older school. Osteopathy, eclecti- cism, and half a dozen other methods Of practice are certainly not losing ground. Beyond them is the vast and l increasing army of those who may be ! classed under the general and vague name of mental healers. Those who are addicted to any of these forms of unorthodoXy need have no doubt as to the purposes of the federal health board. Those purposes are to make 1t difficult for them to follow their particular fads and fancies, to lead them. and if necessary to drive them, from medical unorthodoxy to medica, orthodoxy
 Now the Argonaut holds no brief for any of the excesses and the super stitiOns connected with the care of the body in which this age is so rife. But 1t does feel concerned for the preser- vation of human liberty and for the rights of the individual to doctor him. self in any way he pleases so long as he does not indubitably threaten the health of the community. He may take large doses or small ones. or no doses at all, he may be massaged. anointed with oil. or prayed over. just as the whim of the moment may die tate, and probably it makes no par ticle of difference which he does But he has the right to choose, just as he chooses the color of his necktie or the character of his underclothing It is not matter in which any wise gov ernment will seek to interfere This is precisely the liberty that the health board intends to take from him. Orthodox medicine, conscious of it's losses, is trying to buttress itself by federal statute, to exalt allopathy to the status of a privileged caste, and to create an established school of medicine just as some other countries have allowed themselves to create an established school of religion. It is for the common sense of the commu- nifty to rebuke that effort and to re- pei an unwarranted invasion upon ele- mentary human rights.-San FrGn- cisco ArgonGut