Parents and School Board Fight Against Vaccinations – 1907

Gerrie Schipske

By 1907, more than 2300 children were enrolled in Long Beach schools. For years, parents had been ordered to vaccinate their children. This year, several parents and Dr. W. L. Woodruff fought the order.

Woodruff was a local homeopathic doctor, who utilized electric lights to “heal” his patients. He and his wife operated a sanitarium in Long Beach.

City public health officer Dr. Harriman Jones, stepped in and ordered the vaccinations. Two members of the school board fought back and said children did not have to be “scratched” to attend school.

Dr. Jones also required that the school system have a “nurse” to assist with the examination – weighing and measuring – of children. A move that was also fought by other health professionals and some parents.

Long Beach was seen as the leader in the anti-vaccination movement. The governor vetoed bills that would have prevented mandatory vaccinations.

In 1909, a San Francisco publication said this about Long Beach: “Nearly 400 children were dismissed from public schools here today because they had not been vaccinated. The parents of most of the children will not permit them to be vaccinated. Several families will leave town on account of the trouble. A public mass meeting has been called for tomorrow night by the anti-vaccinationists to consider the subject. So; they are beginning to wake up at Long Beach! “

When it was clear that vaccinations were required, two members of the Long Beach Board of Education resigned and were replaced by David Hughes and George Marshal.

In 1920, a statewide initiative (Constitutional Amendment Number 6) against mandatory vaccination was defeated. But in Long Beach, a considerable vote in favor was led by Dr. L.P. Crutcher of the Long Beach Public School Protective League, whose purpose was to protect students from “medical and ecclesiastical exploitation.” Members argued that “there is a serious menace to use public schools as channels for propaganda of a medical, religious, and political nature.” Crutcher and the League also fought Federal grants for mandatory physical education.

Crutcher, also a homeopathic doctor, originally from Kansas City, also fought the medical establishment on a number of issues and also led the Citizens Medical Rights Alliance, which objected to “compulsory medical enactments.” He served on the California State Board of Education for 10 years and on the Long Beach Board of Education as its president for two years.

In 1920, a small pox epidemic broke out at Lincoln Elementary School and spread through the community. The argument against vaccinations weakened.

gerrie@beachcomber.news

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