Article May 20, 1905 Issue

Selected Articles

Sioux Falls (S. D.) Argus-Leader

We give below a few representative editorial comments on the late veto of the Nebraska Medical Bill, by Governor Mickey of that State.—Ed.

Governor Mickey of Nebraska has vetoed the bill passed the legislature of that State, forbidding Christian Science healers from engaging to heal the sick in that State unless they had taken a four-years medical course and had a license to practise medicine in Nebraska. In vetoing the bill Governor Mickey seems to be in pretty good company, for thirty-eight States in the Union have, since 1898, undertaken legislation along this same line, and in each of them the measure has either been defeated, or amended so as to exclude Christian Scientists, or vetoed by the governor. In most cases the enactment of these laws has not been demanded by public sentiment, but has been inspired by the medical fraternity, and it is interesting to note that legislators, governors, and courts have stood between the medical fraternity and the constitutional rights of the Christian Scientist.

There are all sorts of views of the Christian Science sect—from the one which declares the doctrine a mild sort of insanity to that which believes it competent to cure every ill to which the flesh is heir. It is not for the Argus-Leader to enter this controversy. It would be an invitation to an interminable controversy which could do no good, and in which we candidly confess we might easily get worsted. It may be said, however, that Christian Science is not a system of medicine, but is a religion, and it is not the business of the State to interfere with the practices of religion so long as these practices do not harm the State or injure innocent persons. The law does not compel a Methodist or a Congregationalist to call a surgeon when some one else thinks a surgeon is needed. It allows the individual to pick out his own kind of medical treatment. It simply says that men who profess to have studied medicine shall have actually done so and shall be able to pass a competent examination. This is to protect the public against imposition. The man who believes in medicine wants a practitioner who understands it, and the law tries to protect him from imposition.

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