The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1911-12-22
A FEDERAL HEALTH BOARD.

for the creation OF a federal health
board will not be allowed to pass With
out a protest Reports OF organized
resistance come from all parts OF Tie
country. and Il may be that the opp0-
sition will soon be sufficiently soldl-
fed 20 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 to controvert II federal health
board were TO cor cne its activities 20
the PRONUNCIATION OF salutary advice
upon hygienic matters. TO the abate-
ment of Quackery. and 10 the purity %
drugs, II might be possible 10 say
much I'm It's favor. although II would
still be difficult TO say that such an
organization is needed. But We know
that IL will attempt to do far more
than this. seeing that its adherenis
have loudly proclaimed their inten-
lions. 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 a
whole would be stultified by It's 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. ecleciics
and osteopaths could be In unison.
any board that could be devised by
the wit OF man must be composed ot
representatives OF one school only,
and this means that all other schools
are branded as OF an inferior caste
even though nothing worse happened
10 them. And something worse would
| happen to them II We are TO establish
a school OF medicine. II We are 20 as
sert that the government OF the Unit
ed States favors one variety OF prac-
tice more than others. why not estab-
lish also sect OF religion and be
/ EAON cHtNldl Al14 AfN
lists. Methodists and Episcopal!ansF
An established school OF religious
conjecture seems somewhat less OBJ
jectionable than an established sect
OF pseudoscientific conjecture.
Those who suppose that federal
board OF health would have no concern
with individual rights are likely 70
A. t.vIa.afvaA II Ia Tor
the purpose OF interfering with indl-
vidual rights that the proposal has
been made We need no special
knowledge OF conditions to be aware
that what may be called unorthocoS
methods OF healing have made sad in
roads into the orthodox. Homeopathy
claims vast number OF adhereni
who are just as well educated and JUS
as intelligent as those who adhere (,
the older school Osteopathy. eclecil
cism, and half a dozen other methocl
, OF practice are certainly not losini
, ground. Beyond them Is the vast an
+. increasing army OF those who may b
, classed under the general and yagu
I name O, mental healers. Those VII
: are addicted TO any of these forms
q unorthodoxy need have no doubt q
z to the purposes OF the federal heat
!. board. Those purposes are TO max
$ Il difficult for them TO follow the
particular fads and fancies. TO lea
them, and II necessary to drive then
from medical unorthodoxy to medic
orthodoxy.
Now the Argonaut holds no brie
&c for any OF the excuses and the supe
y stitions connected with the care OF 70
Il body In which this age Is so rife. Bl
II does feel concerned for the prese
walton of human liberty and for 10
rights of the individual TO doctor bin
self in any way he pleases so long
he does not Individually threaten u
= health OF the community. He ma
| take large doses or small ones or
| doses at all: he may be massage
anointed with oil. or prayed over. lu
as the within Of the moment may 81
tate, and probably IL makes no "a
ticle Of difference which be does. III
be has the right to choose, Just as
chooses the color Of his necktie or U
character OF his undertaking IL
not a matter In which any wise 90
eminent will seek 10 interfere. To
is precisely the liberty that the heal
board intends TO take from hil
Orthodox medicine. conscious OF
losses, is trying TO buttress Itself
federal statute. TO exalt allopathy
the status OF a privileged caste. al
to create an established school
medicine just as some other countri
have allowed themselves to create
Il established school OF religion. II
for the common sense Of the CONN
nifty to rebuke that effort and to
pei an unwarranted invasion upon
mentary human rights.--SoH Fo