The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 1, 1904, Page 12

the cha famil 1imous r parents and tea be done for then insp. n' to me ca ection e question, ‘Does’ medical in- spection t a8 a ‘check upon. the spread of contagious-disease Does it arising. Does it' pro- f others? can be e affirmative -’ by . the t msde in: the. report just that in one year: 5217 cases of contagious diseases’ were de excluded. In‘c city—Chicagc were detected for harm Health hardly possible to estiinate. the amount of good that has been, accomplished in eliminating cases.that were in an.fn- cases of -epidemics d°rendered ineffectual e Commissioner of, - ¢ Milwaukee Stites -that it-is nd thus placing them e and under proper medi- ision. As an aid in discov- source of an epidemic, or en- these diseases, this system ewhat unique features, as rlier and without it, the cases found it can be en, in v locality they are most rous. thus following the disease v Medical inspec- field not s ‘to keep the sur- iduals s, which by bri me or str with commu t as a foc infeetion « the I r fac- r which determine: nation cable .diseases ne- .cessity of bringing the pupils into close ntact with a comparaiively 1 results have be in* detecting infectious mes of school chil- nd by preventing its- en- ir > school, by having the report to the inspector all > been absent from o school in is contagio regard to of iilne 1 the “school inspector proceeds as mentioned, kv : dmulate v that® fhis" been of conside value in elimin- ting such diseases-and in nearl ry place where. such measures -have bes enforced epidemics have been preve ed”. from ise. of those re g-a foothold.. In the furning to school after illnéss,. the. problem ‘is a little inore Acult, as many children af with . the on theif mutous ‘mem- 3 tér measles while ' apable of ‘communicating it to othérs, fever béfore ' des- ed. . Where quar- igidly ‘enforced such reduced - to a’ minimum, a _small number: of children urn ‘before all .danger has. passed, hile’ where sich'laws are lax, e in rural districts, the dangers of propagating the _ dis s . mentioned e correspondingly énhanced: Where the medical inspector agts as an agent of the -Health Board it-becomes . kis duty to examine the -child or certify to a negative culture if possible - in cases of diphtheria,and until he has certified that all danger of infecting others has ceased to exist the child should nét-be allowed to return to school, ‘while the children who have returned after unknown illness should not be allowed to errter the classroem until it has been definitely ‘ascertained that they or.amny one in their family haxe not suffergd -from a, cable disease, or.in ¢ase mich-is found to have exisfed; the propef precautions should be ‘enforced antil the ingpeetor - has decided that. it is' perfectly 'gafe. -Practically. of the contagious. dis- éases -diphtheria "is” the. one frequently encountered.and is:re- spomsible” for . miany deaths among . chilldren “of scliool age. .During the ommuni- - nost serfous THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. census Year de s ‘alone, the great jority cHildren ‘of school 2 vhile, the numbeér of casex it fs impossible to defermine, although they were. indoubtedly over. 100,000, No dise is more 1 in the héme and in N diph- the Vi power of those tly diminish the also’ to -de- crease t s by adding, additior tlier sanitary measures commonly force, the medical "in- spection of. schools, 'so that incipient cases will be detected and early:treat- ment, especially the administration of antitox will greatly reduce the mor-" tality; same time also diminish- ing the lepcy to the infection of s.. That diphtheria in recogniz: mparatively . common ily be shown by found t e.” Duting:four mpnths in Chicago 1417 theria were-logated. and as the result of this work ‘the statistics' of theria- for the year preceding medical the™ first "year of its st an’important lesson. During 18; ar preceding medi- cal inspection,.thére were 3931 cases of diphtheria .with 8§43 deaths, while ases -of diph: & Wwere 1647E: diph- . cases and 797 deiths, a of 628, with 46 feiven deaths..-From Jaruary to May; 1900, 170 cagés of this “diseass were found in the schools’ of Chicago, whil§’ for the year ending June 30, Last Sunday there ap- peared. in this .magazine an article . written-~ by Archhishop George Mont- | gomery, coadjutor of San Francisco, describing the | Catholic plan for the join- | ing of church and state in’ | the public sthools, which | | created such wide discus-. sion that the following commentaries have bheen received from three prom- inent divines of differen | denominations: - - .. = Lo SRS Rev. G. A. Bernthal Pastor of St. Paulns: Church HILE I do 1ot prestnie to_ speak for’ the. Lutheran church as:a whole,” ‘said Rev. G. A" Bernthal, pas- tor of St. Paulus Church; on the cornér of Eddy.and Gough sireets, “as that could.only be done by a-fonference of the ‘whole church, I may say that per- sonally 1 would not faver recelying " see -fit. * teachers that we may choose and to R STA" Y ’ 1901, 193 cases round, .surely enough, to indicate ‘to any thinking mind that this is a serious problem in preventive. medicine. o S . Whiile scarlet fever is not near as frequent as diphtheria, yet ‘in the last ceisus year it was the cause of 6333 deaths, while in those who re- cover it is the most frequent cause of suppurative otitis and its sequelae may be seen wherever any consider- able group af children are gathered together. While in comparison with other affections its numbers in the school seem small, yet on account of its extreme virulency each casé exists as a serious focus -of contagion and represents the basis of a formida epidemic. Yet such cases have been found in school—306 were discovered in Chicago, while a comparison af the wer “tending school. - do not officially . eases, although measles and whooping Yeeks after the - term " of "schoal. 'pox were found, both measles wumber of cases for the years preced- Ing and following inspection showed a decrease of 2325.cases. with 307 fewer deaths following-the first year of in- spection. The danger from this dis- ease-in" the schqols is dependent to a great extent upon those.pupils who have retutned before desquamation has been completed. Such cases, how- ever, ‘should be detected by the in- spector and immediately returned te quarantine, no case of. scarlet fever, under. any circumstances, being al- lowed to return until. desquamation has entirely ceased. Measles, chicken-pox and whnop‘:ng ‘cough are all considered by. the laity to be of little moment and as a result it is of daily occurrence to find chii- dren with thesé diseases regularly at- This.-is ‘especial 0 in measles and chicken-pox, where the eruption s slight and not detected on : casual examinationi, while In whooping cough, - wheré the. spasmodic out- bursts-are infrequent, the child is kept at school until he has a paroxysm in thé .classroom, which usually leads to his . detection. . Many - health boards recognize- these dis- cough-.are responsible ~ annually 12,866 and 9958 -deaths. respectively a greater mortality in-each instance than from scarlet fever. These three affecfions undoubtedly form a large majority of the acute communicable diseases found in the:school and the first two should receive sufficient re- spect from the authorities, both health and educational, to prevent the annual outbreaks - which are initiated a .few beginning of each That these diseases are prevalent. and. attend s¢hool dally can ‘readily’ be seen by the following figures.. ' In Boston in 1895 there were found 28. cases of chicken-pox, 116 of measles .and 33 of whooping cough; while for 1900, 121 cases of measles, 108:. of chicken-pox and 62 of whoop- ing cough- were excluded by the-in- spectors. In New York liiy in two weeks six cases -of measles, four of whooping cough d@nd 23 of chicken- and chicken-pox being recognized as csn- tagious diseases by the Board of “Health, quarantined- accordingly and are not allowed to return until reco ery has-ensued and the premises have been disinfected. So few ‘cases of tuberculosis, espe- cialty ‘the pulmonary form, have been “found, that for practical purposes lit- tle attention need be given it here. In carrving out the ideas embodied in a system of medical inspection of schiols, the relation of the individual scholar to the means employed for his education are-considered as bearing upon the physical welfare, and to ob- tain. the best results from the educa- tional point of view the physical strength of the individual as regards his routine work must be taken inte consideration.” In (he majority of pub- li¢c schools little or no efforts are made <9 give ‘instructions toward conserving haaith and detecting the early stages of the common and often fatal dis- eases. Michigan ‘has, however, recog- nized the necessity for this measure and the so-called “Michigan idea” will for 'E CONTROL P eny’ éui&port at aH -from the State for . our:sehqols. ¥ ‘we received any mofey’ “from the State we would be obliged.. and rightly, to allow the: State to inter- “ fere.w|th the management of our schools more ar less. If the State helped to support’ them_ it" would have a right tp direct what booke we used, for in- stance.. We bave a school connected with St. Paulus Church, It has about - sevenpty -puplls, and we use, as a matter - of fact, the State textbeoks, but we are free to use any others that we may ‘We -are free 'to engage any regulate the school exactly as we may prefer and as. Sseems to us best. If we recefved State ald that would be impossible, and I very much fear that sooner or later there would be a con- flict between churchand state over the Thanagement of the schoo)s, which would ‘De ‘deplorable. I think it better 1o keep ‘thém entirely separate. * “The 'Lutheran church does not ob- ject to the present public school system, in fact; niy own children dttend the pub- lic schools far some part of their educa-- tion. . We have a large Sunday school class and - believe that the greatest part .of church education should be done there. " Every year.we have a large. confirination class, and.a vast ° majority of the class have never at- tended the’ parochial school. We had some forty pupils in our last corfirma- tion class and out of that number I do not’ think to exceed three had at- tended our parochial school. “We keep up the school becausé there is always in every Lutheran. congre- gation some members who desire that their children should be educated in church. schools apd under church auspices; for those persons the parish schools are mamtained. But it is sim- ply the. view of the individual, the ‘church has nothing to say on the sub- ject, : o "“No, I do not think it would be wise fo have any connection between the parish schools and the State. It would be impossible to make it appear as any- thing but the support of a religious system by the State and that we would avoid. If any denomination or class want special schools they should be perfectly free to establish them, but they should be obliged to maintain them themselves out of their own pockets. That is my view of the matter, but as I sald before I am only speaking for myself and not for the church, which is only what a con- ference is competent to do.” By Rt. Rev. John W. { Hamilton. Bishop of the Methodist . Episcopal Church HHE State’has the right <o.insist on certain essentials — certain veligious essentials—in = educa- tion. Such,” for instance, as truthfulness, honesty, morality, dnd 1 might go~ on and enumerate & long list of them, all based on re- ligiom; for religion and morality cannot be separatec. It Is useless to talk of morality without religion,” It is true, of course, that some persons endeavor to maintain that morality is the result of ‘human experience, that it is not connected with Christianity and that It arises simply from the result of hu- man observations during the centuries; but the latest and best philosophy maintains no such theory now, and if any philosophy may presume to do so, it is in the face of the teachings of all history. Pagan countries have the same human experiences as we have, yet they lack the same high moral standards. Engiand and the United States are essentially Christian coun- tries. Cliristianity has been the key- note of American progress ever since the Pilgrims landed " and it is the gulding principle of the republic. The state, therefore, has the right to de- mand that all education should be es- sentially ethical as good citizenship must be moral, that the child be brought up to respect and practice the virtues without which it is impossible that the country should progress and prosper. It does not matter what the parents’ faith may be, the interests of the state demand that the child should be taught to observe the general prin- ciples of truth and righteousness not only for hig own good, but in order to conserve the welfare of the community. Ithough we have freedom of religion and freedom of thought In the.United States, yet we find it essential to the well being of ‘the state to limit- liberty to license and bring it within certain moral limits; thus we have legislated to Drohibit anarchists from coming to this country, and the law even forbids those who come here to entertain anarchical jdeas, and punishes them for en- tertaining them. That mey seem -ex- treme legislation, but the cou- tinual murders of eminent men ma, extreme nieasures necessary. Child: must be taught, therefore, that an- archy is wrong; the good of the state demands that they be so taught.” But having taught them the general:-prin- ciples of morality, the state must not go further and teach them any special doctrines of religion or contribute "to such sectarian teachings. This is a country of majorities, and where ma- Jjorities rule. In some countries sys- tems are devised where the majority is represented, and some such schemes are being discussed in the United States, but to-day it is a country where the majority rules, and the minority must abide by the decision of the ma- jority, or else leave the country, or convert the majority to its way of thinking until the minority becomes a majority. If we were to allow the Roman Catholics, or the Episcopalians, or the Methodists to control education the rest of the community would ob- Jeot through fear that its rights would not be respected and that it would not be managed as they thought it ought to be. If a man desires some more re- ligious system of education than that offered by tle state, he should be free to give his children any other educa- tion he desires, whether he be an ag- nostic, a Roman Catholic or a Meth- odist, provided it does fot interfere with the well being of the state; but he should pay for what he desires, and not ask the majority to pay for what he, the minority, wants. . The Methodist church has always held that any system of state aid to & minority of the community in edu- well Dear copying elsewhere. .It con- sists_essential passed seve shall be taug public school pal mo ea gerous communicable spread and the best restriction and preven ea. such diseases.” . The State Board Health sends a School Superintendent as a resu years ago every yea the State such printed 1 will. enable them to « Instructiohs of this w a valuabl medical measures, without enormous financial gai Any meas resisting against b upon as sound a principle -of pre tion as is that whic reason -endeavors- to ease’ from.the individual ing him coming cases of that particular tendency of the school instances to the ph of the pup sanitaria much to make th ings as near ideal as possible, th tor of physical deterioratian necessarily added risk of low sistance, still' remain combated. Quite suggestive fro: aspect is the relation inspection and the estent of to preventable ill-hea There can be no isay preventive - medicine . adds vas national wealth, both in the saving life with Its earning capacity and lessened cost of figh preventive measures more generally adopted and the results be- coimne more apparent. While a low estimate of the value of a human lifs would be $1000, yet should ene-half this sum be taken for such purpos: the saving of lives by properly exer- cised medical inspection alone would be the means of placing a vast sum to the credit account.of the nation: Like other measures which have a d@irect bearing upon the preveation and transmission of disease, objec- tions have from time to time been offered, but in. the light of its suc- cessful operation have been found to be groundless. It is a pleasure for me te say that the present Board of Health do not represent a political body, and while they are most grateful to Mayor Schmitz for the unstinted confidence that he has rested with them, they are bound to no creed other than the upbullding of a stronger city and a better community through.the intre- duction of wholesome and modern sanitary 1deas. We. belleve: that you ‘will undertake and perform your part in the creation of a better San Fran- ciscd through the various means sug- gested for school .inspection, which ultimately will lead to a larger and healthier community. by — UBLIC SCHOOLS | catienal matters was impracticable and would only tend to disorder. Natur- ally the Roman Catholic and Episco- palian churches, which are in Europe stete churches, would like to see the state aid their efforts, but I do mnot think it could be done fairly and equit- ably unless only the Roman Catholics were taxed to support Roman Catholic schools, the Methodists to support Methodist schools and so on through the whole list of denominations and sects. That, of course, would be an impossible system in a country like this with seventy-five or a krundred dif- ferent denominations all possessing equal rights. What tax gatherer could find the respective creeds and how abgut the people who have no creeds? It would cause endless trouble and con- flicts, so the only practical way would seem to be to devise some general ethi- cal and exer plary system and let the state maintain schools in which the general principles of honesty, truthful- ness and morality are taught; then those who want anything more are free to go down in.their pockets and estab- ish schools such as they prefer. I do not think any system of state inspection or examinations to determine if the puplls of a given sectarian school are -entitled to receive state aid is prac- tical either. Something more than oc- casional inspection is needed or an ex- amination. The schools alded and sup- porfed by the state should be under its own control and supervision at all times. The state should be responsible for ‘their management: and direction and should h no divided authority with any one or other sect in their management. To entrust the total edt- cation of the child to sects under some state inspection would be to give a. bias to the education which would savor of state control by the church. The Methodist ckurch would favor some change in the present system by which a general ethical basis could be secured for a -better state education All the laws of the state, including organic and statutory, now rest upon the Christlan claim, ana there would be no more partiality in such direction of the schools than in such direction of the legislative, judic; and executive departments of the Government. By Rt. Rev. William Nichols, D. D. Bishop Episcopal Diocese of California PEAKING for myself, I that all fair-minded ecitizens must recognize that the question of the relation of our public school system to religious instruetion is one of our most serious national problems. Without suggesting a key to that problem, for I believe it can- not be done .in an offhand way, I ven- ture to think that any attempt to golve it by any sort of pro rata appropria- tions from the State to our various re ligious bodies, any equations with all the unknown quantities ‘hat would be added by encouraging al) our religious bodies to figure om their .own black- boards, so to speak, for their own shares, would so long as e are hu man, thicken the prublem a thousamd fold. TR - teel