Part 7

These figures, considering the vaccinal conditions existing in Japan, under most rigid compulsory laws, are surely terribly significant, to say the least, and fully shatter the fallacious vaccine doctrine that vaccination is the only effective remedy against smallpox and that it always lowers the mortality in epidemics! Per contra, here we see from these official U. S. Health Reports that in this much-vaccinated population there was not only a series of severe epidemics with a very high mortality, but a constantly ascending mortality from 27½ per cent. in 1898 to 31½ per cent. in 1905 and 32½ per cent. in 1908! Whereas the usual mortality given by good authorities in old times before the days of vaccination was only 15 to 20 per cent.! See “History of Smallpox” by Dr. James Moore, Jenner’s chief assistant, London, 1815, page 243.

Now I believe that there is no country in modern times, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, which has shown worse epidemics of smallpox than much-vaccinated Japan, as above shown from official data, whereas the epidemics within the same period in the poorly vaccinated countries of England and the United States have been small in comparison. Surely, therefore, our “Yankees of the Orient” seem to have copied some of our antique medical barbarisms even more fully than they have copied our real modern improvements. And, surely, poorly vaccinated England is much better off with less vaccination and more sanitation when its Minister of Health, Hon. John Burns, can publicly declare in Parliament on April 12, 1911, that, “Just in proportion as, in recent years, exemptions from vaccination have gone up from 4 per cent. to 30 per cent., so deaths from smallpox have declined.” This also is the experience of Leicester, the sanitary English city, unvaccinated for the past 30 years, as previously shown at page 22; and such, I believe, will be the result wherever that irrational system of inflicting disease to produce health is abandoned and the rational system of sanitation and hygiene is adopted in its place.

JAPANESE VIRUS CAUSES EPIDEMICS OF CATTLE PLAGUE IN MANKIND AND ANIMALS

Not only, therefore, has general compulsory vaccination failed to protect Japan from some of the worst smallpox epidemics known in modern or olden times, as just shown, but, what is perhaps still more damning, it is proved by U. S. Government Reports, quoted on pages 95 and 99, that Japanese vaccination was the source of the deadly epidemics of Cattle Plague, known as “Foot and Mouth Disease,” which afflicted both animals and mankind in the United States in 1902 and 1908, this dangerous infection being imported in vaccine virus from Japan and used by two of the largest makers of virus in the United States. See Year Book, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1914, page 21. See also page 99 in Supplement. These epidemics raged in several of our States, as previously shown, and caused the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of animals, an unknown amount of human mortality, and a loss of millions of dollars to the Government and people of this country. Surely such awful results from Japanese vaccination are a shocking mockery and a stinging rebuke to all vaccination as an alleged “health” remedy and call loudly for the abolishment of all compulsory vaccination as a most dangerous public evil and a flagrant violation of vital human rights to Medical Freedom, Sanity and Safety.

MEDICAL FREEDOM NECESSARY FOR MEDICAL PROGRESS, MEDICAL TRUTH AND HUMAN SAFETY

As we now enjoy the great Democratic Institution of a Free Church in a Free State, with all church control of government and all compulsory or forced religion prohibited, so, in the near future, we must bring about an equally important reform for human welfare in preventing all medical control of our departments of government, in securing true medical freedom and prohibiting all compulsory medicine as effectually as all compulsory religion and church control of government is now prohibited. And as full freedom for all religious sects, in religious matters, has surely brought about an undoubted advance in religious progress and in true religion and morality throughout the world, so it is sure that full medical freedom will bring about a similar increase in true medical progress and efficiency throughout the world.

Now in this most important reform of Medical Freedom I want to say at this point that I hold no brief for any school of medicine or religion, but what I contend for, as an American citizen, is something broader, more inclusive, more American, and more important for public right, health and safety than any one religious or medical doctrine, and that is a full Medical Freedom for all the people to adopt any honest or sincere doctrine or system of medicine which they may prefer, and a free public field for the exercise of this doctrine or system without any harassment or oppression from any other system of medicine which may falsely and foolishly think itself specially ordained to control the whole field of medicine. And just as we now enjoy a full constitutional guarantee for Religious Freedom, which prevents any one sect from infringing on the conscientious liberty of another, so we must have a full Medical Freedom with an equal guarantee which will give all honest or reasonable medical doctrines free scope and prevent any medical doctrine or practice whatever from being forced on any person against free will and consent, and which will recognize the full right of the individual to adopt any preferred system of medical treatment, whether with or without prayer and faith, with or without drugs and medicines, or with or without vaccines or serums.

This broad medical freedom for all systems of medicine is absolutely necessary for true medical progress itself, for only by testing these different medical theories and practices side by side freely in every-day experience and on a wide scale can the real truth and virtue of any particular doctrine or practice be determined. A great modern doctor uttered a most important truth on this head when he said that “He is the best doctor who knows the uselessness and dangers of the greatest number of remedies.” And the best way of finding out the uselessness, danger or virtue of any remedies is to try them carefully and freely side by side. And this free use and disuse of alleged remedies side by side in contrast or competition will ultimately sift out and condemn whatever is really evil or useless more effectually and justly than any drastic compulsion or dogmatic suppression could possibly do, thus making the best and surest contribution to true medical progress, safety and efficiency.

On the same principle, if all compulsory vaccination is abolished and each person left free to adopt or refuse vaccination, as he sees fit--which is his positive legal right--a true test of the virtue and safety or uselessness and danger of general vaccination will soon be arrived at. And if it can be shown in such a large and free test that the unvaccinated part of the population or the unvaccinated part of the Army and Navy is no more liable, on the average, to catch smallpox or typhoid fever than the vaccinated part, and is entirely free from the grave dangers of vaccination itself, surely a great lesson in medical sanity and progress will be learned. As a matter of fact, this test has already proved in the case of the U. S. Army in France that typhoid vaccination is useless as a preventive where sanitation is grossly neglected. See pages 207 and 210. It has also proved in the case of poorly vaccinated but sanitary England and particularly in the unvaccinated and very sanitary City of Leicester, as compared with much vaccinated Japan, Germany and Berlin, that good sanitation, isolation and hygiene without vaccination give the best result in reducing and preventing smallpox in the population and also in greatly reducing the general death-rate and infant death-rate as compared to the same rates in the heavily vaccinated communities named. On this point see one of the latest medical works on this subject by a pro-vaccinator, “The Vaccination Question,” by Dr. Millard, London, 1914.

Now, as medical freedom is absolutely necessary for true medical progress, as just shown, so it is equally necessary for medical truth and human safety. At this point I am sure it will be readily admitted that even if an alleged medical remedy were absolutely effective and sure, and absolutely safe, harmless, and beneficial, it would not be ethically or legally proper to force it upon any patient against free will and consent. But when an alleged remedy is very uncertain, doubtful or irregular in its action, or very dangerous and frequently fatal in its effects, such as vaccination has been proved to be, surely the forcing of such a doubtful and dangerous remedy on any person under pretense of its necessity and harmlessness is not only unethical but it is a question whether this is not also a gross act of sheer criminal malpractice.

When, therefore, any doctor forces such a doubtful and dangerous remedy as vaccination upon any patient under the pretense that it is necessary for public health and is perfectly safe and harmless, the doctor is obviously under a most vicious moral and professional bias and interest to conceal, deny or falsify any unfavorable facts that may arise in the case, such as the failure of the alleged remedy or its injurious or possibly fatal effects on the patient, which bias and falsification is of course the greatest enemy to medical truth, safety and progress. And it is obvious that this concealment and denial of the injurious or fatal effects of medical remedies forced on the people by doctors is not only against true public policy but is a gross violation of true medical ethics and a crime upon the people in the falsification of this most important point of vital statistics, viz., the nature and effects of alleged medical remedies on human health and life, which facts should surely be fully disclosed to the public, not only for the sake of medical truth and progress but for the greater reason of human right and safety.

And it must be here remembered that our vaccinating doctors and our dominant vaccinating medical sect have now such full control of our death certificates, our departments of health and vital statistics that they can deny or conceal the effect of their medical operations with the greatest ease and safety, which is obviously a very sinister fact, against the most vital interest of the people, in public health, medical truth and safety and accurate vital statistics, and this evil surely calls for an immediate reform.

On the other hand, where medical practice is perfectly free and voluntary, the practitioner has no bias or interest whatever to make false claims of alleged efficiency or to conceal facts as to failures, dangers and fatalities, so that it is therefore obvious that for both medical truth and progress and human right and safety, Medical Freedom is an absolute public necessity, and that, per contra, Medical Compulsion is a most dangerous public evil which must be abolished as completely as the less dangerous evil of religious compulsion has been abolished.

MEDICAL DOMINATION AND COMPULSION MOST DANGEROUS POWER IN BODY POLITIC AND MUST BE SUPPRESSED

The most dangerous power in the body politic of the past age was formed by the organized intolerant and oppressive Doctors of Divinity, who had a great State Church and political organization behind them through which they dominated and coerced the people and by which they were enabled legally to force upon them the horrible, but now obsolete, evil of compulsory religion, as well illustrated in some of our early New England Colonies and in many other places throughout the Old and New Worlds, during the past centuries. And so, in a similar way, it is the Doctors of Medicine and the Medical Societies of one great dominating school or sect, the vaccine sect, which form the most dangerous power in the body politic to-day, and are almost wholly responsible for originating and forcing upon the people the barbarous evil of compulsory medicine and compulsory disease, in violation of the most fundamental, inherent, natural, and constitutional rights of the people.

President Lincoln--who was one of our greatest Americans--has told us that no man, however good, is fit to govern another man without the latter’s consent, and I think it will be generally admitted, as a sound Democratic and American doctrine, that no one class or profession of men--not even the great clerical or medical profession--is quite perfect enough to be trusted with exclusive, unlimited or dangerous power over our fellow men. Nevertheless it is a fact that the medical profession, as now organized and possessed of political and official power, and in control of some of our most important departments of government, such as Public Health, Vital Statistics and Medical Legislation, has already a most dangerous power over the people, perhaps more dangerous and unlimited than any other class of men, and this dangerous power must be curbed as soon and as much as possible in the interest of true Medical Freedom and Progress and public right and safety.

My late esteemed friend and neighbor, the illustrious Judge Gaynor, New York’s greatest mayor, uttered one of his best sayings, which we may well note and apply here, when he said: “Beware of the men or the class who are too anxious to exert power.” And this warning we can now apply most pertinently to our dominating medical societies and vaccine companies, which together form a most gigantic medical interest which is the chief influence that has forced compulsory medicine and inflicted disease upon the people and controls our Departments of Health, and which should be fully investigated by the Executive and Legislative Departments of our State and National governments, which should adopt some radical reforms to curb this dangerous medical power and safeguard the rights of the people, as suggested in the next paragraph.

THE GIGANTIC MEDICAL AND VACCINE INTEREST SUPPORTING COMPULSORY VACCINATION A MENACE TO PUBLIC RIGHT AND SAFETY WHICH SHOULD BE CURBED

The latest official reports show that there are now _ninety-nine_ concerns licensed by the U. S. Government to manufacture vaccines and serums for both human and animal uses! These ninety-nine concerns have a capitalization of about fifty millions or more. One of the largest of these manufacturers, located in Detroit, has a capital of ten millions, while another large concern located in Philadelphia has a capital of two millions.

The two great epidemics of Foot and Mouth Disease, or virulent cowpox, in this country in 1902 and 1908 were caused by the vaccine virus of two of these ninety-nine vaccine manufacturers; and these epidemics resulted in great mortality to animals and mankind, as already shown, with a loss of millions of dollars to the Government and people of the United States; but no recompense has ever yet been made, so far as I know, to the Government or People by these vaccine companies for this great damage, and I ask your particular attention, Mr. President, to this important point.

Now, to give a list of all the medical societies in the United States and their membership figures would take too much space here, as their names and numbers are “legion”; but I can give some figures which will include the chief National Society and the chief State societies in the leading State of New York, as follows:

American Medical Association 43,000 members Medical Society, State of N. Y. 8,000 ” Associated Physicians of Long Island 503 ” Brooklyn Medical Association 200 ” Medical Society of Kings County 950 ” Harlem Medical Association 400 ” Medical Association, Greater City of N. Y. 750 ” Medical Society of County of N. Y. 2,709 ” N. Y. Academy of Medicine 1,400 ”

This table, while including only a partial list of medical societies in the United States, comprises some of the largest and most influential societies of the dominant or allopathic school, active in the national field and in our own local field of New York State. Now each State in the Union has a similar group of local or State societies and these several State societies combined with the big National societies and with the _ninety-nine vaccine companies_ form, obviously, a most gigantic medical, political and commercial interest behind the medical evil of compulsory vaccination. Of course, a great many doctors of this dominant school are advanced and progressive enough to oppose all compulsory vaccination; but doctors of this type unfortunately seem to be a minority, at present, in the dominant vaccine school of medicine. On the other hand, a large majority in almost all of the other schools of medicine are strongly opposed to vaccination, particularly to all forms of compulsion.

A glance at this list of medical societies already given, with its startling membership figures, combined with the _ninety-nine vaccine companies_, must convince any thoughtful man of the dangerous size and organization of these medical and vaccine interests, which obviously have more or less of a joint interest to force their vaccine operations and products upon the people as much as possible by compulsory laws, and otherwise, and whose joint profits are obviously in direct proportion to this use.

Now, no other profession has anything like the large and well organized membership and corresponding political power and influence of the medical profession in the body politic. Indeed, few, if any, trade or business organizations can compare with the medical profession in this respect, and this medical power is further greatly increased beyond that of any other profession, trade or business in being in practical control of our most important Departments of Public Health and Vital Statistics all over the country, so that in advocating and practising the dangerous barbarism of compulsory medicine this medical power can easily deny and conceal the actual effects of this dangerous medication on human health and life in our vital statistics. This is surely too much power and a power too dangerous to be left in the hands of one class or profession of men, and it would surely be an act of public wisdom to take this control of our Departments of Health and Vital Statistics out of the hands of this one medical class and entrust it to doctors of various schools or to some other professions, such as sanitary engineers, expert lay statisticians, life insurance actuaries, or even to able laymen, who would have no professional bias or interest to deny or conceal any medical mistakes or disasters, but who would honestly give to the public the true record, not only of deaths from natural diseases, but--what is even more important for public information, public health, and medical progress--the true record of disease and death from all _artificial or inflicted diseases_ and medical operations in general.

REFORMED SYSTEM LONG USED IN ENGLAND

As a matter of fact, the reformed system here suggested has long been in use in England, where the Minister of Health and the Registrar General have been both eminent laymen, and not doctors, but with honest doctors under them, and where the record for sanitation and public health is one of the highest and the death-rate one of the lowest in the world, while vaccination is constantly declining. Under this system the English vital statistics are also known to be the most full and reliable in the world, and deaths from vaccination and other medical practices are not denied and concealed, as in our doctor-controlled Departments, but are reported honestly and regularly every year, showing in many years a greater mortality from vaccination than from smallpox.

This medical and statistical reform should be immediately adopted in this country to abolish the dangerous medical domination and monopoly which now controls our Departments and which has long been an abuse of public power by one medical sect, a great enemy to Medical Truth, Freedom and Progress and an arbitrary power in our body politic which should be no longer tolerated under our American institutions.[4]

PROPOSED NATIONAL BOARD OF PUBLIC HEALTH, CONTROLLED BY ONE SCHOOL OF DOCTORS, CONDEMNED

A typical instance of the dangerous tendency of the medical profession to extend its power over the people is shown in the recent scheme of the proposed National Department of Public Health, to be composed chiefly of doctors of one sect, with a head doctor having a seat in the President’s Cabinet.

Now, a National Department of Public Health, properly organized and conducted, may be a very good thing for the public welfare, but such a Department should by no means be controlled by doctors of one dominating sect or by the big vaccine interests in alliance with it, but all schools of medicine should be properly and fairly represented in such a Department, and its head member, having a seat in the Cabinet, should be an able and eminent layman and not a medical doctor, so that the head of the Department would thus represent the interests of the whole people and not chiefly the professional ideas and interests of one school of medicine.

MEDICAL ETHICS OF THE VACCINE AND OTHER SCHOOLS COMPARED AND CRITICIZED. THE “BEAM” _VERSUS_ THE “MOTE”

What would be thought of the “medical ethics” of an imaginary or hypothetical doctor who might invent some medical remedy and then have laws passed to force this alleged remedy upon his patients against free will and consent, but to his own profit, and who might at the same time get control of the Departments of Health and Vital Statistics so that he could safely and successfully deny and conceal the failures, dangers and fatalities of his alleged remedy or invention? Could there be conceived a medical policy or practice of greater professional effrontery, impudence and wicked presumption than this? Could there be a medical practice of greater danger to human right and safety and more shocking and destructive to all true medical ethics and progress? Could there be any practice more violative of the inalienable rights of the American citizen? And yet this hypothetical picture illustrates, substantially, the medical policy which the people now suffer from in every community oppressed with the evil of compulsory vaccination, and which would be greatly aggravated if we were to have a National Department of Health controlled by vaccinating doctors.

We have heard a good deal from the medical societies as to the evils of the “Quack” doctor, the “Patent Medicine” man and the Christian Scientist, who are severely frowned upon by the regular doctor and pro-vaccinator; but these men, much abused by their alleged superiors, have never been guilty of anything so violative of true medical ethics and of public right and safety as the practice of forcing medical remedies and operations upon their patients against free will and consent, or the practice of representing remedies as absolutely necessary and perfectly safe and harmless which are in fact not necessary and are highly dangerous, and not only frequently kill the patient but actually cause great epidemics of fatal diseases in animals and mankind, such as the deadly epidemics of foot and mouth disease in 1902 and 1908, already described, which were caused by inoculations with the vaccine virus from two of the biggest vaccine factories in the United States.