Banishment of the hated mask
by Bill Miller for
the Mail Tribune
Monday, April 20th
2020
“We’re trying to save human lives
here,” said Councilman John Carkin. “This council should be commended instead
of getting senseless opposition.”
The crowd of at least 40 masked men
hooted and booed. “It’s a highhanded outrage,” said a furious Councilman James
Keene. “It smacks of the Bolsheviks.”
Medford City Council had just voted 4-3
to leave the decision of whether to abolish the mask requirement to the best
judgment of the city’s board of health, a board composed of the four council
members who voted in favor of keeping the masks.
It was December 1918. Jackson County
was still fighting against the threat of the 1918 flu pandemic that was racing
around the world and had already brought death to at least two county
residents.
Mayor Charles Gates fired back at the
agitators, reminding them that the flu epidemic had steadily decreased since
the mandated wearing of masks had begun just three week earlier.
“There are only two classes of people
opposing the masks,” he said, “those too dignified to wear them, and those who
place the almighty dollar above human life.”
It had begun in early October, when
Mayor Gates received a letter from Medford Dr. Elias Porter, who was studying
in a Massachusetts hospital when the pandemic struck with a vengeance.
“It is the most terrible epidemic ever
visiting America,” he warned, “and is very fatal. The disease appeared in
Boston early in September. On the 14th of that month there were 21 deaths, and
from that date until noon, Oct. 5, there have been over 80,000 cases and 2,270
deaths.”
Mayor Gates announced that starting
Oct. 14, 1918, “We have decided to close all places of amusements, theaters,
moving pictures, churches, lodges, schools and all public meetings of every
description where people congregate, until the epidemic has subsided.”
Within days, William Barnum, one time
boy-conductor on the Rogue River Valley Railway, was dead, and residents were
getting sick.
Gates ordered a mandatory quarantine of
anyone suffering from the flu and required a sign be posted on their door to
warn the public.
By November, with 50 cases known in the
county, the upper floor of Medford’s Sacred Heart Hospital was turned into an
influenza ward.
Red Cross women began sewing flu masks,
selling them to local stores and the public for 15 cents each.
On Nov. 24, when new cases had slowed,
merchants who had lost most of their customers were delighted when the bans on
gathering groups and closures were lifted.
However, two weeks later, with four
deaths in four days and 150 cases of influenza, the council reinstated the
gathering ban and the closures.
Also, everyone was now required to wear a mask
everywhere they went, even inside where they worked. Violating the mask
requirement meant a $5 fine for each offense, and over 20 men eventually were
cited.
A Mail Tribune editorial supported the
move. “The flu mask has been proved the best preventative, and while it entails
considerable inconvenience, it is a question of safety first.”
Some merchants circulated a petition
asking that the mask measure be repealed.
“The businessmen,” said City Health
Officer Dr. Elijah Pickel, “are injuring their own cause. With flu masks, the
individual can shop downtown without danger. Without them there would be danger
on every side.”
On Jan. 4, 1919, the ban on gatherings
and the mask requirement were lifted.
From the beginning, there had been 531
cases in the county, two confirmed deaths, and 26 deaths from pneumonia brought
on by the flu. Sixteen deaths were in the county, outside of the cities.
“The schools reopen and all social
activities will be on in full swing,” said a Tribune columnist. “It is expected
that churches will be crowded again.
Lovers of moving pictures will now be able
to enjoy a show in comfort, thanks to the banishment of the hated mask.”
Writer Bill Miller is the author of
five books, including “History Snoopin’,” a collection of his previous history
columns and stories. Reach him at newsmiller@live.com.
https://mailtribune.com/lifestyle/banishment-of-the-hated-mask
