Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1914-03-07
SATURDAY MARCH 7 1914.
MEDICAL INSPECTOR IN PUBLIC
SCHOOLS.

Auent that bill before the Legisla-
tire providing for medical Inspection
Of children in the public schools by
physicians at 81. 90 per hour, it must be
admitted that the sole right to care for
the child. 70 seIect-and provide treat
ment of whatever nature. rests with
the parent or guardian.
Compulsory treatment is unthink-
able. under constitutional form Of
government. such as ours. The newt
able conviction follows that the money
spent by the state TO examine school
children. the money spent merely to
discover that many of them are defec-
tive. is wasted, since the state has no
moral or constitutional right to take
the essential step, namely, to.presoribe
the method of graduating these dis
eased effects. The people may, with
propriety, manifest some curiosity as
TO what il costs to maintain medical
inspection
That school inspection is not sue
cess is admitted by some of its most
prominent exponents. DR.. Luther II.
Gulick of New York, formerly with
the Russell Sage Foundation. says :
"A rather careful examination of the
results Of medical inspection Of all
cities reporting in the United States.
makes il clear that the hopes of those
who have been defending medical in
spection have not yet been realized, to
any great extent.
DIR. Gulick says, in this connection
"A large fraction of all the medical
examiners of schools in the United
States are young men recently out of
medical schools. who are doing the
work as stepping stone to medical
practice Their interests is not in
school hygiene. but in the practice of
medicine. :"
Another objection is that all of the
medical inspection now in force, is con-
Quoted by physicians who belong TO one
school of medicine. This has furnish
ed ample ground for protests, from
members of other schools. as we'll as
from the laity.
Naturally. these physicians proceed
with their examinations from the basis
of their particular medical theory, and
this, in the opinion of many, amounts
20 state medicine. There are those
who ask why the state seemingly dis
eliminates against all other medical
methods. and prefers the allop thic
school in all its appointments, and the
inquiry naturally arises as to whether,
by so doing, the commonwealth does
not officially espouse allopathy.
After all is said and done. the whole
business of school inspection comes
down to the practical question, What
does it accomplish When the mex
orable test of results is applied, the
experiment is found to be a failure.
II has not accomplished what was
claimed for il. IL has not decreased
the prevalence of contagious diseases.
as statistics show. Ii has not decreas-
ed the number of defective children,
for the simple reason that nothing has
be 20 done and nothing can be done by
the government 70 treat the conditions
which may be laid bare by the exami-
nation of the children.
Il is very much to be hoped that the
American people will soon come to
take a sane view of this subject of
medical supervision in the public
schools, and put stop to the plague
of hysienics that is devastating the
treasures of the states where it has
been fully accepted.