Alfred Russel Wallace : Alfred Wallace : A. R. Wallace :
Russel Wallace : Alfred Russell Wallace (sic)
Letter to the National Anti-Vaccination League
(S619: 1905)
Editor Charles H. Smith's Note: A letter of support sent to the annual meeting of the National
Anti-Vaccination League, and later printed on page 6 of the 1 April 1905 issue of The
Vaccination Inquirer. To link directly to this page, connect with:
http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/wallace/S619.htm
Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace sent the following:--
I have really nothing to say, except to repeat what I said last year. Your "Appeal to the
Public" is admirable, but it will not influence the right people. Nothing but the fear of an adverse
vote will do that. If our supporters do not unanimously put "measures before men," and loudly
declare that they will vote for no one who is not whole-heartedly against all compulsion and all
Government interference or influence in support of vaccination, then the power and prestige and
influence of the medical profession will beat us, as they have beaten us in making the last
supposed relief of the "Conscientious Objector" an excuse for more tyrannical compulsion than
before. Nothing but the use of our voting power will influence our rulers. To parody "HAMLET," we may say--"The VOTE'S the thing by which to catch the conscience of the King."
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