Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1909-11-04
TO SAVE TIE DNDiES.
Conference to Be Held to Con-
slider Ways and Means.
CAUSES OF HIGH MORTALITY.
Most Blame Placed on Congestion Un-
der Unfavorable Conditions as to
Light and Air-lmproved Tenements
May Be Solution Of Problem.


among the babies not only in our own
land, but throughout the civilized
world, no single factor can be pointed
out as the primary cause of this blot
on our modern civilization. The prob
lem and the possibility of its preven-
tion are to be considered at a special
conference arranged by the American
Academy of Medicine, to be held at
New Haven, Conn, Nov. IL and -.
What are regarded as contributory
causes can be gathered from some of
the subjects mentioned in the an
nouncement for the meeting. Four ave
nues for the Introduction of preventive
measures are indicated by the titles of
the sessions-medical, philanthropic.
institutional and educational. Practi-
cally all causes suggested under these
headings are summarized in the four
mentioned in the section on medical
prevention-congenital debility, insult
able nourishment, improper care and
communicable or infectious diseases.
When it is recalled that the men who
are in the thick of the fight against
the needless and unnecessary waste of
baby life assert that the present in
FAINT death rate could be cut in half
by the enactment and rigid enforce
ment of laws requiring the adequate
inspection of the sources of the milk
supply, coupled with the sanitary in
spectlon of tenements, the accurate reg
istration of births and the instruction
of the mothers by visiting nurses or
other properly accredited representa-
tives of the local boards of health, it
is readily seen that two very grave
sources of danger are to be found in
the quality OF the nourishment fed to
babies and the conditions of the homes
themselves. Serious as the problem of
a pure milk supply Is, it is much less
difficult of solution than the more COM
plicated one of housing conditions.
overcrowding a Prime Cause.
One hundred years ago three and
one-third per cent of the population
of the United States lived in the cities
Today thirty-three and one-third per
cent of our SJ,00O0O0 people are
crowded into the cities. Overcrowd
ing, the congestion of population in
slum districts. the herding together Of
the great unassimilated mass of immi-
grants in inadequate and insanitary
quarters. the selfshness of property
owners, the apathy of municipal gov
ernments in dealing with situations
yt-ht Il oil
contribute TO make this one OF the
most complex as well as one of the
most disheartening factors in the big
problem of the prevention of infant
mortality According to a recent re
port, there are 100000 absolutely dark
bedrooms in the city of New York
alone. where humankind, old as well
as young, are supposed TO live and
move and have their being.
That congestion of population with
in a given area would not necessarily
| mean the absence of hygienic condi-
tions was pointed out recently in Il
paper by DR.. Stowell of New York
visiting physician TO the New York
City Children'S hospital and schools
As instances of congestion under IA
vorable and under unfavorable condi
tions he contraSted the largest apart
meut hotel in New York-thr Ansonin
which houses 1902 persons 10 the
acre with the notorious Chrystie
street tenement block. in which
1,2sO persons are housed in a single
acre. The hotel covers Il total area Of
1.6 acres of ground, and houses 1000
persons in $500 rooms. As there are
sixteen inhabitable floors. the total
area amounts to about twenty-siX
acres, and all of the rooms are open
to the outside. admitting the sovereign
preventives Of disease. light and air
In the seven years since the place
was opened not one of the 400 en-
ployees has become a victim of tu
berculosis. The tenement block. on the
other hand. has been II verltable breed
ing ground for that disease.
Garden Cities" Established.
AS means of decreasing the over
whelming mortality in congested in
dustrial centers the garden city"
like that at Bonneville. near Blrmng-
ham. England. is being established in
some parts of Great Britain and in our
own country. The removal of the
manufacturing plant which employs
very large numbers of individuals to
some suburban district and the cree
tion of cottages with gardens attach
cd for the workers and their families.
the establishment If schools aud other
features of city life and the develop
ment of the property along community
lines with the agreement that all inter
acst over . per cent on the investment
shall be devoted to public improve
ments are features of this plan.
Obvious difficulties make the applic;L
ton Of the plan on general scale i'm
practicable. and the improved tenc-
ment offers IL more feasible solution Of
the problem for the majority OF cities
The registration of slum property is
advocated by some English investiga-
tors as n means Of wedding out the
undesirable and insanitary tenement
house. Owners of slum property are
not particularly sensitive. as a rule, 10
their responsibility Us their brothers
keepers But nobody can tell what the
future may have In store.
The Architecture of Madeira.
We saw no suggestion of modern