New Britain herald., 1928-01-10
THE SMALLPOX SCARE AT MlDDI.ETOWN


 chamber of commerce to realize thai
 all the papers of the state and per. haps many throughout other ,'"c- lions of New England are forced to give that town rather unNv.cu...,
 publicity. For Middletown, as by this time everyone knows. is shak- ing with fear over the smallpox sit nation within its walls.
 Connecticut IS one Of the states where enlightened control, or pre- ventions Of smallpox is the rule. Outbreaks such as that worrying Middletown at present are rare. Such an outbreak occurs in the state on 1 an average of only three or four years. And let ii be nderstood that statistics will bear out the assertion ! that this is a very low average com | pared with certain other sections ot 1 the country.
 Connecticut, New York, New Jcr- sey. Maryland and Massachusetts | are states which enforce vaccination laws. In California all vaccination laws were repealed in 1921. In Cali 1 lornia, from that time on till 1924 i the last year for which figures are availablc0 there were oG,C51 cases of ! smallpox. During the same period l there were only 1aG cases in Mas 1 sachGsetts.
 | In the two states of Washington and Oregon, where no vaccination ! laws arc enforced. there have been i ?,f31 deaths from smallpox. In Con- i necticut. Maryland, New York and : New Jersey, with four times the ! population of Washington and Orc- son. there have been 6SS deaths since records were kept.
 Smallpox ragged in Detroit in 1924. After the epidemic had been eliminated the health department reported the following findings: That of those who had successfully been vaccinated within five years not one had contracted smallpox. Of 194 cases of black smallpox-thc hemorrhagic form-123- had died, and not one of them had been sue cessfully vaccinated.
 "' The legal aspect of vaccination has been decided through G3 de- cisions of state courts and three de- eisions by the L. s. Supreme Court ;these during almost century, or from 1S3o to 1923. The Supreme Court has decided: That under it's police power state can order com pulsory vaccination of children; tha, it is for the legislature to determine whether vaccination is the last pre- .ventive of smallpox: that state may delegate to i1 municipality the power 10 exclude an unvaccinated child from school. s.,..-. It can be seen from the decisions that the final arbiter of whether there shall be vaccination is the legislature; if the legislature of a state comes to. the conclusion that vaccination is not a preventive of slnallpoN-or more accurately, whether it is dominated in it's action by objections that vaccination is an invasion of personal liberty-then there arc no compulsory vaccination laws within that state. California, Washington and Oregon are ex- amples. Incidentally, they furnish many more smallpox cases and deaths than any others.
 We live in times where the menace of smallpox is slight com pared with olden days. A condensed historical sketch of the disease is terrifying. Before 179G, when Ed ward Jenner vaccinated his first pa tient. smallpox was world wide plague. The Spaniards brought it to Mexico in the 16th century and il killed 3,5o",0oo people, leaving scarcely enough to bury the dead" according to- one eommcptator. In the 17th 'ccntury Bcrnouilli estimat- ed that iii Europe alone Go,0vo. .ouo people died Of smallpox In the 18th century Sir Nilbcrt Blanc told q committee of the House of Com mons that ''an adult person who had not had smallpox was scarcely to he met with, or heard of, in the United hinSdom.' When q criminal escaped who was not potmarked, that fact was given to the police as d means of Identification.
 IL is undeniablc that. since .Jen- ncrs day, smallpox has descended from it's pedestal as q universal scourge to something Of slight iln- porance--as diseases so-in ssch states and nations where q vjeilau, battle is constantly carried on to eradicate it.
 For this rrason We have little fear about the 0aro-up ill MiddIetown. Connecticut is among the stat,c here smallpox has nearly been stamped out. \ little extra stalIuine will finish the job.