St. Johnsbury Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1920-1920, 1920-08-18
MEDICAL
INSPECTION
DEFEATED
But Com. Appointed to In.
vestigate and Report at
March Meeting

At the special town meeting in the
Town Hall, Saturday afternoon the
proposition to install medical inspec
ton in the public schools; in St
Johnsbury at the beginning of the
fall term was defeated, it having
been announced that such a vote
must be taken at the annual towr
meeting. Following the vote AT
thur r. Brooks moved that commit
tee be appointed to investigate the
matter and report at the next annu-
al town meeting. David E. Porter
the moderator, appointed James Cos
grove, Charles w. Ruitcr and Mrs,
Walter P. Smith on this committee.
There were a good number of
women at the meeting and their re-
marks w.rc very pertinent. The
men wanted to be "shown" and DR..
Alice E. Wakefield in particular, as
well as several other ladies, explain
ed what medical inspection had ac-
complishcd elsewhere and what it
might do if adopted in ST. Johnsbury.
Immediately after the reading of
the call, Miss Kate Wakefield moved
that the article for medical inspec-
ton in our public schools be adopt
cd and the motion was seconded by
Mrs. George F. Cheney.
J. H. Brooks said he wanted in
formation on the subject and Lyndon
Arnold said that at a recent town
meeting when he happened to be sit
ting by the side of the late Dr.. Ben
cdict the subject came un and Dr..
Benedict told him it was fraud.
E. G. Asselin remarked that he did
not see great many mothers pres
cnt and he wondered if the mothers
were not interested in the health of
their children. This brought re-
ioinder from one of the ladies pres
ent who asked if the fathers were
not as deeply interested in the health
of their children as the mothers.
DR.. Wakefield then took the floor
and made strong plea for the plan.
She said Vermont had the highest
death rate among little children un-
der five years of age of any state in
the country and that medical inspec-
tion was now in force in $50 towns
and cities in the state. She urged the
voters nrescnt not to take the re-
sponsibility deprivinc the little chill
dren of medical inspection. She be-
lieved the voters ought to get to-
gether with the school directors and
give the plan a fair trial.
A letter was read from DR.. Genge,
the public health officer, stating how
medical inspection was carried out
after which Mrs. Arthur F. Stone
said she smoke in behalf of one of
the mothers that had child in the
public schools and urged the PASSAGE
of the resolution. She also quoted
the statement of lady recently in
town from western state who said
that since medical inspection had
been adopted in their public schools
there had been no contagious dis
eases.
James Cosgrove said he was i'm
pressed with the sincerity of DR..
but he came to the meet
ing with an open mind and believed
much good would be accomplished in
discussion. He wanted to know if
inspection was compulsory
and the moderator informed him that
the child could not be examined if
the parents objected, except in case
of contagious diseases. Mr.. Cos
gorvc said he thought the proposition
was centralizing power in the hands
of the state and such a policy if car
ried too far might lead to serious
consequences.
Edgar r. Brown made strong
speech in favor of the plan, saying
that in such matters we looked to the
men to give us the au-
thority. He said he did not know of
a single reputable physician that was
opposed to it. Furthermore our
State Board of Health supported it
and the lawmakers in their wisdom
had provided for it. He then stated
how we'll it had worked in the schools
of the city of Newark and said that
no one would think of abandoning
the method now.
One of tho voters having ques-
toned the legality of the meeting, J
Rolf Scarles read the law on the
subject and stated that inasmuch as
the law provided that action on the
subject must be taken at the annual
town meeting he did not consider
that any action taken today would be
legal. He said he favored discus
sion of the subject and that it might
be advisable to have committee ap-
pointed to take final action at the
next March meeting. .
Mrs. Arthur r. Brooks explained
very clearly what the town of Hart
ford in this state had done along
these lines and was heartily in favor
of having St. Johnsburv take advant-
age of the law providing for medical
Harry H. Carr read from the Pub
lie Statutes the various duties of
the district health officer and said he
did not see how any man could do
all this work and also have charge of
medical inspection in the public
schools of his district.
A. F. Lawrence said the matter
should have been brought up at the
last March meeting b. having an ar
ticle in the warning and that the
blame for the omission was not upon
him but upon the public health off
Ger. He said he tried to bring it up