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will, if he would not himself procure or consent to its vaccination.
It is necessary to bear this distinctly in mind in considering the
modifications of the present law which have been proposed.
There may be some who would consider it both justifiable and
expedient for the State thus to take the matter into its own
hands, and effectually ensure the vaccination of the entire
population. We do not stop to inquire whether it would be
justified in adopt ing such a method, for we are satisfied that no
such measure, if proposed, would have any chance of acceptance;
indeed, few even of the most ardent advocates of vaccination have
hitherto made such a proposal. Nor, again, do we think that a
proposal to substitute for the pecuniary penalty now imposed a
more stringent form of punishment, such as imprisonment, would
have any greater chance of acceptance.
If, then, the only kind of compulsion available is to attach
some pecuniary penalty to the neglect of vaccination, the
question to be determined is what form of law, based on penal
provisions of this description, will secure the largest number of
vaccinated persons. That this is the question to be solved has,
we think, sometimes been lost sight of. In our Fifth Report we
recommended that repeated penalties should no longer be enforced.
Our proposal has been subjected to criticism, on the ground that
it would enable a person to break the law, and to purchase
immunity by the payment of a single penalty. But there is no
difference in principle, whether immunity can be purchased by the
payment of one or of several penalties. If the cases in which
vaccination was omitted would be less in number, supposing one
penalty only were enforced instead of many, the end which the
Legislature sought to accomplish in enacting the compulsory
vaccination law would be better attained. To secure that
vaccination should be as widespread as possible is, we think, the
object to be kept primarily in view. When an answer has been
found to the question, what scheme which is within practicable
limits would best conduce to that end, the form which legislation
should take will, in our opinion, have been ascertained.