The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-03-28
CONN. BRANCH OF CONN. LEAGUE FOR MEDICAL FREEDOM

OOUNl DbbVSOu VI OOIvVD
 LEAGUE FOR MEDICAL FREEDOM
 Facts That Should Be Known About the Compulsory Medical Inspection of Schools
 THE ADVENT OF
 MEDICAL INSPECTION
 The school teacher in all ages has been held responsible for the physical welfare of his pupils during school hours, a. logical responsibility that has never been gainsaid-
 From this have come various regu- lations and laws protecting school children from infectious and conta- giouS diseases, legislation that, on the whole, has been necessary and com mendable
 This acknowledged responsibility has also led to the scientific study of school sanitation and hygiene, which simply means surrounding the child with healthful conditions while it is removed from the care of its parents
 Medical inspection" formerly meant the vigilance exercised tH the teacher in detecting diseases likely to prove contagious In the same sense employ CTS are medical inspectors and so are hotel keepers and ship captains
 
 School teachers have been medical inspectors in this sense from remote times, just as they have been sani- tarians and fire inspectors"
 With the recent over-specialization Of science, however, came a host of experts, including the professional medical inspector or school doctor. UNITED STATES. This modern yet essentially medic val idea came from the Latin coun- tries of Europe where it's growth has been co-extensive with what the late William James calls ''the Gallic spirit of regulation and reglementatiOn." Let us see how it has fared in America. The first regular medical inspector of schools in the United States was appointed by the city of New York in 1892. Mark the date
 Boston in 1894 inaugurated com plete system of school inspection, d1- viding it's public schools into fifty d1s- 1 tricts, to each of which a doctor was assigned. This, however, was intend l ed solely as a protection from epi- l denies.
 Connecticut in 1899 was the first State to pass a medical inspection law when it authorized the testing of chil- dren's eyesight by the teachers every l three years. This act, harmless as ii seemed at the time, meant the en- | tering wedge for the pernicious prac- | tices that were so soon to follow. l New Jersey in 1903 advanced to a l "permissive'' law allowing the muni- l cipalities to establish a complete med ical inspection with examinations fol the detection of physical defects. Then came Massachusetts in 190s act, a law that has been revised sev' eral times and is now heralded by the advocates of enforced inspection as a model for the whole country What irony of fate that the very State to initiate the conflict that re suited in our political independence
 should a century and a quarter latel inaugurate an entirely exotic system of oppression.
 From this small beginning medica inspection has increased to the fol lowing enormous proportions:
 Seven States to-day have manda tory laws, that is, laws making schoo
 medical inspection compulsory in mu nicfpalities: ten States have perms sive laws, and, two States and tn, District of Columbia have Board O. Health regulations which are officiall,
 described as having the force O. laws" In all the other States thert is vigorous effort being made tt have similar laws enacted.
 The statistics of the cities are ever
 more alarming. Beginning with on. city in 1892 and only II in 1900, there
 were last year Q91D no less than fl
 cities enforcing a system of schoo medical inspection more or less dras' tic, and wholly arbitrary, if not ac'
 tually brutal. in it's application. CHIEF ExPONENTS AND BENE l FTCIARIES
 It is an undeniable fact that the fvoI. ~1 l. &~<vc originated with the so-called regular or Allopathic school of medicine. 1 To doctors or lay assistants of this | school without any known exception have been awarded the positions an6 emoluments resulting from medical in- Spection laws.
 l There is also overwhelming proof that compulsory inspection has long been definite professional policy, ad- 1 vocated with increasing zeal as the i possibilities of State medicine have loomed larger on the political horizon | The chief advocates of such laws in the United States are the American Medical Association and affiliated bod ies, notably, the State and municipal boards of health.
 l To the champions of a national med | ical monopoly the control of the school points to the ultimate control of the i home, the store, the factory, the entire | | fact, are plainly on record to this eff l feet. A I In securing allies the political doc l tors have shown a resourcefulnesS | worthy of noble cause. For several years they have received the active support of a number of prominent agencies, such as the Committee of 1 One Hundred, the Russell Sage Foun- dation and various economic and so- biological societies, including Women's Clubs. Misguided philanthropy has 1 always been the unwilling tool of op- pression.
 1 THE RISING TIDE OF OPPOSITION l All intelligent citizens imbued with democratic ideals are naturally suspi- cious of routine medical inspection, those who have seen, with disinter- ested eyes, it's operation in our schools, declare it to be a gross infringement upon the liberty of the individual | Since medical inspection is wholly Allopathic, except as it includes den tistry, it ignores and often wantonly violates the teachings of other schools. To force any therapeutic measure upon a subject who holds such measure harmful is directly opposed to the principle of sympathetic treatment universally acknowledged to be the first essential of the healing art. Since medical inspection frequently leads to morbid introspection it re- ceives the condemnation of a large