Rural Retreat times. [volume] (Rural Retreat, Va.) 1892-1918, 1912-01-19
FEDERAL HEALTH BOARD.

A. 10 6IatAAJA A5 ~ EOSO She~S 49, ~--~
for the creation Of a federal health
board will not be allowed to pass with
out protest. Reports OF organized
resistance come from all parts OF the
country and it may be that the oppo-
sition will soon be sufficiently solidi-
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 VIGOROUSLY
hard to controvert If federal health
board were to confne its activities to
the PRONUNCIATION of salutary advice
upon hygienic matters, to the abate-
mentlof quackery, and to the purity OF
drugs, 1t might be possible to say
much in its favor. although it would
stll 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-
lions. Indeed, there Is no secrecy
about them. 1t 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 Hot only recommended, but
enforced Upon the nation. Indeed
board thatwa in any way representa-.
tive of the medical profession as a
whole would be stultified by its own
disagreemehts Outside the domain
of simple hygiene, for which we need
no federal board at all, there is no
single pointIof medical practice upon
which allopaths, homeopaths. eclectics
and osteopa,hs 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 ss of an inferior caste,
even though npthing worse happened
to them. And something worse would
happen to them If we are to establish
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 ssctl OF religion and be-
stow special authorities upon Bap-
lists, Methodists land Ep:scopalians?
An established school of religious
conjecture seems lsomewhat less OBJ
jectionable than In established sect
of pseudo-scientifid conjecture
Those who supLpse that federal
board of health would have no concern
with individual rights are likely to
find themselves undeceiyed. 1t Is for
the. purpose OF interfering with indi-
vidual rights that The proposal has
been made. We need no spe&las
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 adherents
who are just as we'll educated ard just
as intelligent as thosn who adhere to
the older school OsfAopathy, eclecti-
cism, and half dozen other methods
of practice are certainly not losing
ground. Beyond them Ia 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 mo doubt as
to the purposes of the federal health
board Those purposes hre to make
it difficult for them to follow their
particular fads and fandes. to lead
them, and If necessary toldrive them,
from medical unorthodoxyI to medical
orthodoxy.
Now the Argonaut holds no brief
for any Of the excuses and the super
stitions connected with thelcare of the
body in which this age Is SO rife. But
1t does feel concerned for the preser-
walton of human liberty and for the
rights of the individual to doctor him
self in any way he pleases SD long as
he does not Individually 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, lust as he
chooses the color of his necktie or the
character of his underclothing 1t is
not matter in which any wiss gov
eminent will seek to interfere. This
Is precisely the liberty that the health
board intends TO take from him.
Orthodox medicine. conscious Oh It's
losses, is trying to but1ress itself by
federal statute, to exalt allopatht to
the status of a privileged caste, and
to. create an established school of
medicine just as some other counties
have allowed themselves to create an
established school of religion. 1t lie
for the common sense of the comnil-
nifty to rebuke that effort and to re-
pei an unwarranted invasion upon ell
mentary human rights.-San Fran
cisco Argondut.