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217
its enforcement on the police under the direction of inspectors of
the Local Government Board. There is too much reason, however,
to fear that even this would not be sufficient without a
material increase in the severity of the law. The evidence
received as to the prevalence and strength of conscientious
objections on the part of parents convinces us that a considerable
number could not be compelled by any penalties of fine or
imprisonment to bring their children for vaccination or to allow
the operation at their own homes. People who show this spirit are
considered martyrs by their neighbours, and a few such cases soon
create a local agitation against the law. The only way of enforcing
the law without prosecution of parents would be to empower public
vaccinators to seize children by the aid of the police and vaccinate
them by force. But the attempt would probably create an
agitation such as no Government could withstand.
The difficulty of compulsion is greatly enhanced by the
undeniable fact that vaccination is attended by an appreciable
amount of danger. The constitution of a child is always more or
less disturbed by it; and though the number of cases in which this
disturbance assumes a painful or fatal form bears small proportion
to the number f infants vaccinated, yet a certain amount of risk
remains undeniable: and the question whether this risk should be
encountered or not is naturally regarded as a matter of parental
responsibility. We are unable to report that this risk is
infinitesimal or unimportant.
The degree of risk which parental feeling may justly be compelled
to encounter is scarcely susceptible of statistical statement.
If we were in a position to affirm that there is absolutely no
danger, our task might be simplified. But when once the
reality of appreciable danger is proved, as we hold it to be, it
becomes a very delicate question how far the law is morally
justified in interfering with the discretion of parents. It may be
urged that a very great danger to the community might justify
the enforcement of a proved and indispensable safeguard even at