Editorial November 28, 1903 Issue

A Profound and Delicate Question

The question of the extent and constitutional limits of the judicial authority has received an unusual amount of attention in late years, and in a recent editorial a leading American journal has referred to some aspects of the subject which are of especial interest to Christian Scientists.

In commenting upon the matter of state supervision of parental conduct in caring for children when sick, the editor reminds us that the question raised is of profound import, and intimates that it should be handled with a care and breadth of vision which, as it seems to us, he does not display in a part of his own discussion of the subject.

He assures us that medical science has made great "progress in the mastery of bodily afflictions," and that the state must recognize this fact; and he adds, "Having assumed a protection over the child against the parent in cases, for example, of cruel and abusive treatment, . . . how can the state well fail to interfere where neglect is suffering the child to go to its death for want of treatment which science has demonstrated to be possibly or certainly effective?"

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