The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1911-12-22
4 FEDERAL HEALTH BOARD.

IL 10 gratifying 70 note that the BILL
for the creation OF q federal health
board will not be allowed TO pass with.
out a protest. Reports OF organized
resistance come from all parts OF tho
country and 1t may be that the oppo-
sition will soon be sufficiently solidt
fed to defeat project that promises
infinite mischief for the community.
and suffering and injustice for the in
dividual.
| The proposal is based upon those
specious claims that are notoriously
hard 10 controvert. II federal health
board were 10 conflne It's activities to
the PRONUNCIATION OF salutary advice
upon hygienic matters. to the abate-
ment Of quackery. and to the purity Of
drugs. II might be possible to say
much In its favor. although 1t would
still be difficult to say that such an
| organization Is needed. But We know
that II will attempt to do far more
than this, seeing that its adherents
have loudly proclaimed their inten-
! tions. Indeed, there is no secrecy
about them. II is confidently expected
that the board will consist OF advo-
Gates OF one school Of medicine only
| and that the methods OF that school
will be not only recommended. but
enforced upon the nation. Indeed q
board that was in any way representa-
tive OF the medical profession as q
whole would be stultified by its own
| disagreements. Outside the domain
OF simple hygiene. for which we need
no federal board at all. there is no
single point Of medical practice upon
| which allopaths. homeopaths, eclectics
and osteopaths could be In unison.
Any board that could be devised by
| the wit OF man must be composed OF
representatives of one school only,
and this means that all other schools
are branded as of an inferior caste,
even though nothing worse happened
TO them. And something worse would
happen to them. If We are to establish
a school of medicine, If We are to as
sert that the government of the Unit
| ed States favors one variety Of prac-
! tice more than others, why not estab-
| lish also a sect OF religion and be-
stow special authorities upon Bap-
lists. Methodists and Episcopaliansr
| An established school of religious
| conjecture seems somewhat less OBJ
| jectionable 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.
| find themselves undeceived 1t is for
the purpose of interfering with indi-
vidual 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 a vast number of adherente
| who are just as we'll educated and just
as intelligent as those who adhere to
the older school Osteopathy, eclectt
| cism, and half a dozen other methods
| OF practice are certainly not losing
| ground. Beyond them is the vast and
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 an
to the purposes of the federal health
board. Those purposes are to make
| IT difficult for them to follow their
particular fads and fancies. to lead
them, and If necessary to drive them,
from medical unorthodoxy to medical
| 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 ii 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. II 10
not matter III 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 its
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. II 10
for the common sense OF the commu-
nifty to rebuke that effort and to re-
pei an unwarranted invasion upon ele-
mentary human rights.-Sdn From
cisco Argondut.
A Drain Of the Company.