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PROTECTION OF MATERNITY.
The Chairman. And how much of a force do you have in your
office ?
Mr. Burnstead. We have three men, two men in the office and
one man as the occasion requires, and any stenographer as occasion
requires. Our president is Rev. Dayton W. Lyman, the editor for
many years of the Fall River Daily News. We have in our organ
ization men whom I will not name, for they stand high in their com
munity, and it has never been our purpose to give notoriety to the
names of the men we represent, because from time to time it is the
duty of the members to favor or to oppose legislation, and we do not
wish to make it at any time unpleasant for any of our members.
Then, in addition you have had a telegram from the Civic Federation
in Chicago, another one of which I have here, and I will show you
their letterhead, which will help to show the extent and the standing
of that Civic Federation of Chicago, and the letter itself contains
interesting matter upon this bill from them.
The Chairman. What is the Civic Federation of Chicago? Is
that a branch
Mr. Burnstead. No; it is a local organization that has been fight
ing measures that would tend to increase the burden of the taxpayers.
The Chairman. Many of these have very large names, and we like
to find out about them. Does that cover the civic associations of
Chicago, or is it a letterhead organization? We can not find out
whether some of these societies are real bona fide societies or whether
they are letterhead societies. Do you know anything about the
Civic Federation of Chicago?
Mr. Burnstead. I could not tell you as to that.
The Chairman. Did they send you a copy of the telegram that
they sent to the committee ?
Mr. Burnstead. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. How did they happen to do that ? Are they con
nected with you in any way ?
Mr. Burnstead. Well, we have been working together.
The Chairman. Did you wire them about the bill ?
Mr. Burnstead. I notified them of the hearing by telegram, and
they wired me as to the name of the committee, and 1 had a telegram
sent back to them with the chairman of the committee’s name.
Then I have filed with the committee, for what it may be worth, the
editorial already referred to by the preceding speaker in the Journal
of the American Medical Association, the highest medical authority
in the United States. I have in my pocket a letter which was re
ceived at the beginning of 1920 upon the subject of obstetrical care
by the Government, from the Boston Obstetrical Society. The
president, Dr. Franklin 8. Newell—this is from the letter—
At the recent meeting of the Obstetrical Society of Boston, the president, Dr.
Franklin 8. Newell, authorized me to forward you the following extract from our
minutes. January 27, 1920, the following resolution was passed by a majority vote
of the society: “That the Obstetrical Society of Boston is opposed to the proposed
legislation in regard to maternity benefits, as not calculated to improve obstetrical
practice in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”
James Lincoln Huntingdon,
Secretary.