PROTECTION OF MATERNITY.
35
Senator Jones. And don’t you think that with one general
organization, is it not more reasonable to believe that with one
creneral organization, which would be in touch with all of the States,
that they would get the benefits of experiences everywhere rather
than in a haphazard way, one State getting into contact with another ?
Now, would that not be the natural result, rather than in the way
you indicate ? . ,
Mr. Anderson. By centralizing the work in the hands ot a fed
eral Bureau and leaving it to a few men to decide as to the course
they can pursue, there is less danger- there is more danger of bu
reaucracy and carrying on propaganda in favor of certain things that
are really harmful.
Senator Jones. That is an assumption I think on your part.
Mr. Anderson. Well, I have read the Journal •
Senator Jones. In the first place, if this hill provides that this
bureau can have absolute control of the situation and enforce its
policies, it it should provide that, it would enforce its policies on
the various States, but it does not do that.
Mr. Anderson. But it requires plans to be submitted and that
would be the natural result that would follow.
Senator Warren. Where is the provision of the hill which con
templates that?
Mr. Anderson. There will be other speakers who will discuss the
The Chairman. How is your society supported, this Medical Refer
ence Bureau ?
Mr. Anderson. Why, the way—the way it was started—1 was
secretary of the former organization, the National League for Medical
Freedom, and I simply communicated with the larger subscribers to
that other organization in getting support for this work.
Senator McKellar. Of whom is your society composed ? Are they
all doctors, or what ? ....
Mr. Anderson. No, these people go into this society as citizens.
They may be doctors and there may be others who are not doctors.
The Chairman. Now, we will hear the next one.
STATEMENT OF MRS. RUFUS M. GIBBS, BALTIMORE, MD
Mrs. Gibbs. I am coming before this committee, Mr. Chairman and
gentlemen, to speak as a private citizen and one who has always been
interested in this particular kind of work and in this particular ques
tion. I have been a member of the American Child Hygiene Asso
ciation, formerly the Association for the Prevention of In,ant Mor
tality, and a director of the board of the association formerly the
Association for the Prevention of Infant Mortality, and a director ot
the board of the association, the babies’ milk fund, before the time
the American Hygiene Association came into being, and 1 reallv o:ia e
followed their work with a great deal of care. I can not speak iioma
medical standpoint, but there is so much of this which concerns the
general hygiene and good sense that I do feel that 1 can point out
some things along that line. I feel that it is a very grave question,
this added Federal control that we are giving to the bureau. We all
watch with a great deal of fear the encroachment of the bureaus,
and some of the members, we think, sit like the proverbial camel
which found room for his head and not his whole body under the tent.