Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-05-06

q
Chicase: 3sS nm Ave-. New YORK
CITY: 0uu1bel Bi<tw., Kansas City. MO.
oNtALLpox coNouERED.
Reports from various cities within
several hundred miles Of here indi'
cate that mild epidemic of smallpox
EXISTS. The cases are not very serl-
ous and 90 far % has been reported,
no deaths have resulted. Ottumwa has
Jared about like the other cities and
has fts share of the cases.
Authorities everywhere complain
that the epidemic Is due to careless
ness and negligence on the part OF
the people. They are careless in ex-
posing themselves to the disease and
negligent about being vaccinated.
There is every reason to believe the
assertion Of physicians that vaccina-
ton is 4 certain shield against small
pox. Modern medical practice has
robbed the disease, even for those
who take it, OF it's power to kill, but
vaccination prevents the disease it.
SELF
One local physician has boldly pro
claimed that the discovery Of vaccine
and vaccination is the greatest boon
ever given to mankind. Many others
have ascribed to this belief.
4 The wonderful results of vaccina-
ton have been amply demonstrated in
the Philippine islands where there
was a systematic vaccination cam
paign. In an article on this subject
in Harper's magazine for April, Bur
ton ]. Hendrick says:
Smallpox had ravaged the islands
for centuries and pitted Filipino faces
were as numerous as in England be-
fore the days Of Jenner. On an aver
age forty thousand died each year
from this disease; as many as six
thousand had died in one year in Man
lila alone. Yet the Filipino people did
not regard this ~ extraordinary; at
nrst they resisted violently all at
tempts OF the Americans to destroy
the disease. On, the approach Of the
early vaccinators, the natives would
hide in the woods and conceal their
children in boxes, cupboards and 9th
or convenient receptacles.
But the Filipino is observant and
not without logic and one circum-
stance began soon to make an impress
sion. When smallpox swept particu-
lar village the people with scars on
a
sickness This fact and the conciliar
tory methods adopted under the
Heiser regime produced more recep-
tive attitude. F1lipinos were trained
as vaccinatoYs, the assistance Of local
dixnttaries enlisted and complete
and orderly campaign was outlined.
After vaccinating Manila the health
service canvassed the whole island,
district by district The vaccinators,
starting on one edge of province,
would march over the whole section
Matchmaking every man, woman and
child. Each village and tribe had
fair warning. The priests, mayors
and influential leaders would collect
their people, lecture them on the bles.
sings OF vaccination, and enjo1n them
to submit themselves and their chill.
dren to the visitors. Even the chiefs
Of the wild tribes would painstakingly
bring their people from the noun.
tains. For there is one place in the
world where there are no anti-vac-
cination societies; there II not a max
ed savage or head hunter in the Phil
ippfnes who does not joyously believe
in the practice. Not since Jenner's
immortal discovery has the world had
SO complete an Illustration. OF IT'S USE
fulness.
Dr.. Hsdser has vacctnated ten mil.
lion Nnptnos without one single death,
record that surpasses anything that
even the Germans have done. Man
liza, where thousands died each year,
has not had single death from small.
pox since 1906 The mortality In all
the islands has dropped from 10000
q year to 600 or 700. These compare
lively few deaths occur in the interior
points that are so inaccessible for
lack OF roads that. the vaccinators can
not reach them in time to preserve the
strength of the vaccine virus.