The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-09
ANOTHER SCARE
 FOR ENGLAND Military Strength Is Sorely
 Threatened BY RAGE DEGENERACY Gathers Systematic Statistics on Con- dition of School chlldren-Re- ports Are Being Widely Dis
 cussed-Many Diseased.

From the Kansas City Star.
 About year ago England began the systematic collection of statistics as to the physical and mental condition of her
 school children. Recently the first of the reports of the medical officers ap- pointed under the new scheme were pub lished and are coming in for wide and
 earnest discussion. The country is shocked at the condition of things re- vealed by the first thorough inspection, Is aroused to the danger implied in the
 condition The revival of the military spirit which has been going on for some
 time is intensifylng the concern of the public. Where are our soldiers coming from if we are breeding a race of weak lings?" men are asking, and a strong public demand is going up for immediate measures to check the degeneracy which is being revealed.
 The man In the street before realized
 in mild sort of way that England today is not breeding men equal to those of his grandfather's time, but he consoled himself with the reflection that even if they were not as big they were quite as healthy. and declared that when the time
 came Englishmen would show that they
 had not forgotten how to fight. Now, however he has the situation set before him in relentless figures and comparative
 tables and he realizes that something
 must be done and done at once.
  So far it is not claimed for the statis-
 tics that they are more than partial. but as far as they go they are accurate. l Some of the new medical officers, owing
 to the delay in getting the law into work
 ing order. organizing their staff and
 working out a system of Inspection have 1 only six months actual work to report
 on. But in nearly every part of England 1 the same story is told. The children who
 are growing up today are nearly all ham
 dicapped by the conditions under which | they are compelled to live, and many of l them are diseased or mentally defective. 1 The country children are better off In l many respects, of course, than the chill l dren of the towns. But even in the ag
 ricultural districts a lamentable amount l of under development and neglect Is | found. Two typical reports are those of ] Dr. Stevenson, medical officer for Somer- 1 set, whose system has been adopted as
 a model by the local government board, l and Dr. Sanders, medical officer for l West Ham. Somerset is almost a purely i agricultural country, where the conditions l for the growth and development of child l life ought to be ideal. West Ham is one
 of the great working class suburbs of
 East London, where the children are
 crowded into tiny houses in narrow
 streets and subject to all the hardships resultant on the irregular and scantily
 paid employment of their parents. It
 might be expected that Somerset would
 make a better showing In some respects i than West Ham, and 1t does, but in
 others it Is lamentably behind
 To begin with the question of height
 and weight. In 1885 the British Anthrop-
 ometrical association fixed series of
 standards based on the figures then avail
 able for the entire country, for the height
 and weight of boys and girls at various
 ages. The standards, of course, were av-
 erages and it might be expected that In
 Somerset the height and weight of the | children would be above the standard.
 It is not. At most ages it is just about l the standard, while at some 1t Is slightly lower In West Ham. of course, both
 height and weight at all ages are greatly
 below the standard. Even in the small
 towns of Somerset the height and weight
 of the children are noticeably below those
 in the purely agricultural districts.
 In the matter of nutrition too, there is
 a striking difference between the country
 and the town. Dr. Stevenson finds not a
 single child in the whole county which | could be classed as distinctly badly fed
 and he only finds Il per cent who are be- low the normal. In Somerset 62 per cent
 of the children are normally nourisheo | and Z6 per cent are distinctly well nour- | ished In West Ham, on the other hand, | il per cent of the children are recorded l as badly nourished while nearly all the | rest are below the normal.
 These are only few of the things that | have been discovered as a result of the | first year of inspection, but already l demand is going up for reform. Dr. Ker, | the medical officer for the London county | council schools, is advocating the estab- lshment of school clinics. at which all l the children will be treated for their ail- ments and imperfectons by medical men. 1 In connection with this he Insists that | school kitchens should be established,
 by which the evil of under-feeding may 1 he remedied The astonishing thing | about it is that the British public is not
 denouncing these proposals as socialism. It is taking them quite seriously and
 even the London Times. that organ of .hidebound conservatism, blessed Dr. Ker's 1 proposals in an editoria- the other day. | Another proposal which is receiving se- l rjous consideration from the education authorities is that for the appointment | of school dentists. School oculists al-
 ready have been appointed in some dis l tricts. notably in Somerset, and it Is l urged that the teeth are even more irn- 1 portant than the eyes. In this the edu- cation authorities are being supported by l the war office. Fully 50 per cent of tho would-be recruits who offer themselves | for the British army every year are re- 1 iected because of their defective teeth. |