Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-09-30
APPEAL OF NATHAN STRAUS
Plea for Rigid Inspection Of Milk in Interest
of Infants
Earnest Address Of the New York
ference Of Mayors.

A feature of the morning session OF the
rational conference of mayors and coun-
cilmen at Columbus. Ohio. yesterday. was
the reading of paper contributed by
Nathan Straus of New York, on THE In
fiuence of a Pure Milk Supply on the Death
Rate of Children"
Most of the municipal officials were con-
versant only to a limited extent with the
work being done by Air. Straus I'm New
York city. Naturally. they were eager to
learn all its details and listened to the re-
cital of them with close attention. The
paper was read by Mr. Ford OF New York,
and its opening statement that There is
practically no milk delivered for general
consumption I'm cities that is ~ TO Ia fed in
Its natural state to young children, was
sufficiently startling to challenge attention,
IL not contradiction. The paper closed with
the following appeal:
Il think / have fairly demonstrated the
proposition that many thousands OF in
fants lives are annually sacrificed by the
neglect TO supply for the nutriment of chill
dren milk which has been subjected 90 the
process OF pasteurization. i hold that ne
elect to be criminal, and leave il TO you
to fix the responsibility for it, We punish
murder with the penalty Of death. and yet
We allow murder to be committed by the
wholesale in every populoas community of
this land, with no thought of its punish
ment and little thought of its prevention
THE most exasperating OF all forms of
opposition TO public well doing is that
which comes from those who peryert the
trust of public Office TO the satisfaction of
a personal grudge, or the pursuit of a tenn
porary partisan advantage. 1 have had
enough experience OF this in New York to
fo;ce me to tie conclusion that the man
who sets himself TO the task of doing good
must be schooled into indifference against
the shafts of obloquy and misrepresenta-
ticn.
Il appeal to you gentlemen who are
charged with the responsibilities attending
the government OF critics. great o. small. to
study the conditions under which this work
is done, and carefully note the results
which attend the doing of IL. L appeal to
you as il you were standing beside n great
river in whose current were constantly
swept past hundreds of drowning infants
This stream is a very real thing il people
would but recognize its existence, and all its
yearly tribute of death is paid because of
the public neglect of some of the simplest
precautions for the saving of chldren's
lives. You. gentlemen, have the means un-
der your control by which these drowning
babies can be saved. i ask you, will Won
not apply them: Men are found capable of
acts of heroism I'm presence OF danger less
threatening and less surely fatal An that
L plead for is the extension of the activity
of local boards Of health into sphere
which is legitimatcly theirs but which
they have. so far. lacked the conviction and
the courage 10 occupy. I shall not have
spC ken in vain If i have succeeded in inn
pressing you with the fact that the die
tales of humanity and OF public duty COM
bine in demanding that this backwardness
should exist no longer"