View report page

80
in respect of the non-vaccination of the same child should no
longer be possible, and should cease to be inflicted altogether."
They state that they have arrived at this conclusion "quite
independently of the question whether vaccination should continue
to be compulsorily enforced," and add that, whatever
be the conclusion they may have to submit on this part of
their inquiry, and even if it should ultimately appear that they
are not able all to agree in the same conclusion, they have no
difficulty in agreeing upon the recommendation that repeated
penalties should not be inflicted. In other words, exemption
from the operation of compulsory vaccination law (and incidentally
the power to spread disease, deformity, and death
among the community), should be purchasable at the cost of
one pound sterling—to be paid doubtless by anti-vaccinating
societies ! The Select Committee of 1871, it may be mentioned,
dealt with this question, and their recommendation
that there should be no repetition of prosecution after two
penalties, or one full penalty, found expression in a clause
passed in the House of Commons, but which the Lords struck
out. It does not follow that the recommendation of the Commission
will be carried out, but the effect of such a recommendation
having been made has already proved mischievous, not
only by giving encouragement to those already predisposed to
disobey the law, but also by inciting Boards of Guardians to
give instructions to their Vaccination Officers not to
prosecute offenders. Whatever the decision of the Government,
or of Parliament acting independently, on this
question, it must surely be felt that the recommendation
of the Commission is ill-timed, and should Small-pox
become epidemic may prove disastrous. There is only one
consolation in view of this contingency, and it is that people
who reject the boon of vaccination when they have no fear of
small-pox, very commonly hasten to secure its protection
when the disease is prevalent. This applies most, perhaps, in
the case of the well-informed among the anti-vaccinators, the
brunt of the epidemic usually falling on the poor and