PROTECTION OF MATERNITY.
41
Then comes the question of personal taxation. You say that the
incomes are low. They are low. They are altogether too low for
the people to he taxed so heavily. And the people understand that.
I think that the last election showed how much they resented this
taxation and this interference. And it will have a very serious
influence on these people. We see thousands and millions of for
eigners coming here because they hated their Government. Are we
going to have a Government that will be hated because of the op
pressive taxation and because of the interference and the investiga
tions i And we know the cost of this, and we know that the Gov
ernment does not reach out and get the money from nowhere. I
can not see why we can not keep our money and spend it on our
selves. We can work out something.
It seems to me in this whole thing the average man and the
physician have been too busy to go into it. They are not pro
fessionals in legislation, but they have sent you gentlemen here to
help them to protect themselves and use your force and your judg
ment, which they feel is superior to theirs, in staying the tide of this
over-centralisation. It seems to me that you certainly ought to
delay this matter in order that you may get the very, very best
advice possible of the people in this country. In the Johns Hopkins
Hospital you will find a lot of men who can give you splendid advice,
and you can find them in the American Child Hygiene and the
American Medical Association and in a great many other places.
I think that finishes everything that I have to say. Any questions
that you may care to ask me I will be glad to answer.
The Chairman. If there are no questions, we are very much olbiged
to you, Mrs. Gibbs.
STATEMENT OF EBEN W. BURNSTEAD, SECRETARY OF THE
MASSACHUSETTS CIVIC ALLIANCE.
The Chairman. You are Eben W. Burnstead, and you are secre
tary of the Massachusetts Civic Alliance ?
Mr. Burnstead. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. Will you please let us know what the Massa
chusetts Civic Alliance is ?
Mr. Burnstead. I shall have to ask your courtesy and leniency,
as I am only here at the permission of my doctor yesterday, and got
out of my bed on Monday. For that reason I shall detain you as
briefly as I can.
The Massachusetts Civic Alliance does not boast a large member
ship and never has. It was organized in 1901. It has a nucleus of
a few hundred members, and it represents from time to time numbers
of citizens, sometimes thousands of citizens of Massachusetts, and
other times hundreds, and so on. At the present time I received a
telegram, or a long distance, from the Worcester North District
Medical Society, stating that they had sent you a resolution, and I
can say that I represent the officials of that society, with whom our
society has worked, also the Fitchburg District Medical Society , and
we have worked with various other district societies of medical men
throughout Massachusetts.
The Chairman. Where is your office ?
Mr. Burnstead. Our office is at 50 Bromfield Street, Boston.