Rocky Ford enterprise., 1905-07-07
CHILDREN GO HUNGRY
PUPILS WHO SUFFER IN SCHOOL
Mere Tnan Sixty Thsgssnd In .s~
Ysrs City unesrfsd.-Asi,s.isn fs-
eusIie Luneh fer SeheeI chhc,sr-

Ss< York City Ia wrought Up. o.
shoGld be. over the various inyesusa.
uoas being made as 10 the undsrteee.
i.x Of ehiltrea- Robert Hunter esu-
mates that there are from so.coO 10 %.
GO school children In that city gho
surer from want Of food.
This vas regarded as an extrzya,
gait estimate =; first. and even yet 10
earlre!y reliable Investigation has besa
made. but such ss has been ar,enpteL
more than bears out Mr.. Hunter
claim John sparso. for the inisp=at-
eni. has bsea making careful Inquire
s.d securing Investigation from teArh-
ers. hospital workers and Others n a
position 20 know the real situation.
Some o. the facts disclosed are Appal-
ing. yet he insists that the same con
diiloas exist In all other large centsFs.
The Inquiries By teachers are rar-.y
made IL sGeh q way that the full trU,l
can b= secured. Children are sens!tig-
aad the shame Of poverty "a great syea.
II the young. Only the most tact
caa elicit anything like the eomplefB
situation. While some teachers Can So
cure 10 Information whatever. Yet
sysn With the Inadequate data sup
Piled by such Inquiries the reports
showed seventeen per eent Of the chill
Grsa 20 have been underfed- In oue
class Of torty-three children present 40
less than thirteen had had no break,
fas; while twelve had had very little.
Miss Wheeler Of the Babies Hospital
gives underfeeding as the major cause
Q. all ailments treated In the hospital.
Some Of this Is improper feeding. due
sometimes 20 Ignorance. more often 10
the inability TO purchase milk aad
wholesome food. A classification OF
the cases entered In the Babies Hos
p!iai In = single day>slxteen in nun.
ber-giyes eight cases due TO absolute
unierfeedlnS. i've to improper feeding
and oaly three In which these causes
did not appear as primary factors.
AZ one large cispeasary where they
treated more than 1000 children last
year. vas told that quit. ffiy per
cent Of all the cases we're due. wholly
or In part. TO underfeedlns or improper
feeding. Taking only the absolutely
unde!fed. the registrar told me that
th!rty-thrc- and one-third per cent.
would be 4 conservative estimate.
Fifty per cent. underfed was the esti-
mate Of the superintendent Of another
OF the large dispensarics.
Apar; from the underfeeding ii.
rectly du. to poverty. the neglect OF
children by mothers who must go from
home TO work Is IN important cause.
Children are often given \ fev pennies
by such mothers for their lunch and
they have no idea of spending them
wisely for anything nourishins.
The result o. such lmpoyerishment
Of the system. as comes from all forms
Of poor nutrition Is intellectual and
moral as well as physical. Teachers
Of special classes tor detectives find IL
utterly impossible to maze any pro
gress until the children are fed. and
habitual undcrfeeding In infants and
children leads to defective mentality.
The moral result Is also serious.
This IS form Of race suicide" more
serious than decreased birth rate. II
Is not strange that there is an aSita-
tion for public provision of lunch for
school children. At least that much
should be done TO protect society from
the evils of an iil-deycloped. badly
nouTished citizenship.
Mr.. Sparso suggests that IL is-time
TO prevent a starving-out process as
a method Of having the fittest survive.
10 make as many as possible fit to
survive is the better basis for civilized
statesmanship. hip."-Denver News.