I'm quite sure by now that you've seen the post that has been circulating on social media for some time now. It's an undated photo of a group of masked individuals with one holding a sign that reads "Wear a mask or go to jail." The photo is said to have been taken in America at the time of the Spanish Flu. Of course, conservatives have claimed the phot is faked, that it must have been photo shopped.
The photo is completely real. The original photo was taken by local photographer Raymond Coyne in November 1918 at a train station in Mill Valley, California. Town historians have even verified the photo for anyone and any media outlet that has questioned its authenticity. The people in question were part of a hiking group called the "Hash and Eggers" who'd stopped in town to grab a bite to eat. The sign worn by the woman on the right, reading "WEAR A MASK OR GO TO JAIL," reflects local and state mask ordinances that had gone into effect that fall. If you're still not convinced, feel free to contact the Mill Valley Library, whom has the photo in their archives. And I'm sure you can do a little further research, and you'll find that people were actually being arrested during this time for violating the mask mandate. In San Francisco, California, several people had been jailed and fined for not wearing a mask. So, if you are part of the crowd that has been duped into thinking mask mandates are something brand new, you couldn't be further from the truth. I don't do these blogs simply with a political agenda. I research the topics. Sadly, research is quickly becoming passe in a world where it's easier to share a meme strictly because it shares your ideology.
As for the mask mandates of 1918. At first, they issued an order that lasted around four weeks. Then, when it seemed that everything had reached its apex, restrictions became to loosen. Then came the second wave of the flu, which brought with it a second wave of mandates. And let's keep one thing clear, mask back then were nothing like we have now. Sometimes, people would take to taping the cloth mask to their face. Imagine having to remove that several times during the day. And the historical record bares no note of mass protest, people chanting "No Mask" or what ever catchy slogan you could imagine. Understanding they'd have to suffer for the betterment of their fellow Americans, they bore inconvenience and save lives.
One of the things I find ironic is that many of the same folks who champion outlawing abortion are the same ones proclaiming that no government is going to tell them what to do with their bodies, the irony lost on them. Lost on them advocating that laws been put into place by those who have never consulted a medical book like Tabor's for instance. Many of those seem folks are upset that states are quickly decriminalizing marijuana demanding once again, the right to determine what one person can put into their body. So when the anti-vaccine and anti-mask crowd chat "No Mask!" or "No Vaccine Mandate", it's not the winning argument they think it happens to be.
Let's examine vaccine mandates. In 1902, Cambridge, Massachusetts was besieged with a smallpox outbreak. The board of health adopted a mandate ordering that all residents receive a vaccination. Enter Henning Jacobson a pastor and immigrant from Sweden. He had a terrible experience in his homeland with Sweden, itself under attack from smallpox. Jacobson's experience with a vaccine was not a positive one, hence his opposition once he learned of the Massachusetts mandate. Jacobson refused to get the vaccine and was fined $5, quite a sum back then. Jacobson appealed the fine, calling such a mandate a violation of the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Th matter when all the way to the supreme court, who ruled against Jacobson. In his opinion, Judge Harlan delivered the majority decision, essentially stating that a state could impose a mandate, as long as said mandate did not extend beyond "what was reasonably required for the safety of the public." For those seeking to learn more, google Jacobson v. Massachusetts 197 U.S. 11 (1905). Just copy and paste that in your search box and you'll find the text of the decision. It was this decision that the Supreme court recently leaned on regarding Does V. Mills which sought to challenge the COVID mandates for health care workers. Once again, the court ruled in favor of the mandates, saying the states were within their right to impose them.
As you have read (and feel free to research on your own) the mandates that conservatives are suddenly crying foul about have been deemed legal in America for going on 127 years now. So when you see a meme, or some political commentator drone on about how these mandates are an infringement of personal liberties, you will know that what each says has no basis in fact. As for the political commentator, they are merely echoing what their network tells them. A network, by the way, that saw no problem ordering its employees to be vaccinated. All while they spread hysteria, lies and outright fear. In reality, if you don't like wearing a mask, the resolution is quite simple. Wear it. Wear it until we can get COVID until control so that it's not ravaging through, ending countless lives and leaving families mourning lost loved ones. Once we can get it under control, then we can emerge, just as the folks did back in 1918.
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