Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1911-10-27

AlMAlH minute-7.64O times a day-the
@6S9fzA light went OUT and. every time
Il the light faded from the bulb
somewhere In the world the tight
faded from mothers eyes So fast do our chill
dren die
Sometimes they die faster They died faster
last summer. If babies kept diaries. last summer
would go down In the annals OF the survivors
as the black summer Of 1870" In the single
city of New York, S73 died in a single week.
Every little poor street had Its little white hearse
Worse still durin gthe course of the summer.
SOOo children died that ought to have lived; that
is to say, they died from preyentable causes.
Children die from two kinds OF causes; those
shat are preventable and those that not. This
Is news. Your grandmother and, possibly. your
mother believed that every child that died could
not have been saved Everybody thought so.
PreVentable causes of deaths were not recognized.
It was taken as matter of course that women
should bear twice many children as were re.
CURED to maintain the population because half
Of them were bound to de-
We still let half OF the children die but we
know better. We know they need not die We
know they were born to live We know that
they do not have chance to i've We have even
exploded the old superstition that the children OF
the physically weak must of necessity be physical
ly weak. We now know that the children OF the
physically weak are born almost as strong as
the child OF the strongest
Every intelligent physician knows this
however.
some eminent physician stand for It.
Caleb W. Saeeby one of the most emil
Rent physicians In England, Is such an
An authority. Read what he says on the Il
subject In "Parenthood and Race Gull y
tHrs":
Most OF the babies born In the ciums
are splendid little specimens OF humanity-so far
as physique is concerned-bearing no marks OF
degeneration to correspond with the deterioration
OF their parents. In word. hereditory works
so that each generation gets q fresh
start"
In another part OF the same book DR. Saleeby
estimated that the number OF children who ara
born SO weak that they have little chance FOR
life does NOT exceed ten per cent; and he attri-
buted the weakness of these to the effects of aeo
mol and certain tmpoIite diseases upon one or
both of their parents.
Having now some fundamental facts that meet
with general acceptance among the enlightened
We may proceed to seek answer to the ques-
ton. why children permitted to die from
-pEeventable causes and what are those prevent
able causes?"
We need not go far. Millions of children that
are born strong enough to live under favorable
circumstances killed by their mothers The
rest that die from preventable causes are killed
by the community--by you and by me. II We help
10 Keep things as they are. and by everybody
else who helps to keep things they are
We will first consider the mothers who kill
their children Every mother kills tends to
to inform herself concerning the proper methods
OF cAild-rearing 1t is not that such mothers
are lazy. It is not that they are Indifferent to
their children's welfare. They are simply ig
aor ant Some OF them STEPPED in ignorance
Some Of them are haIf-steeped But they all
ignorant They don't know that flies. by carrying
the germs of diseases, kill more children than all
the elephants tigers, lions. automobiles and street
cars In the world Therefore, flies are considered
mere fnconveniences. They regarded as I'M
o,na mental In the soup. but not detrimental to
tile health They swarm in the Kitchen the
pantry and the dining room painstakingiy deposit
ing their lth upon every particle OF food that the
family Including the children eat Some OF this
Aith is nos deadly: some OF 1t Is. But no sucn
ignorant raother ever connects In her mind the
Going OF her baby with the coming OF the flies.
Nor does any such ignorant mother nave any
conception of the care with which she should
feed. NOT only her baby. but her halfgroWn chill
dreu Il she doesn't nurse her baby she doesn't
reatizs that any milk she is likely to md Tor
sale Is more likely to be poison than food Nor
does she realize that such milk will be precisely
as pois,nous for her baby after 1t has been
wesned Such mothers usually buy their mix
from the nearest grocery store. The NUMBER or
bacteria In milk, when it exceeds 5OO.00O TO the
cubic eentimeter makes the milk unnt for USE
Yet seine analyses of New York store milk, the
ether day showed bacteria high as SSO0O.OOo
Wh&k wonder that every summer is black sum-
sner" cor the babies OF New York's poor?
In many other ways. the ignorant mother Kills
aer children with the food she gives them Many
a baby six months old is nibolng crackers.
bananas and pickles while putting in the rest OF
Its Vine at an "aIlday sucker or stick OF candy
Mothers who want their children to live should
know that the premature giving of any kind OF
sotid food to baby is exceedingly dangerous;
that after child is weaned It should be given
solid food only in accordance with the 1nstruc-
tons of an intelligent physician: that meat and
fruit Except orange juiceI are like SO much
poison even if they do not produce death as
quickly as strychnine would: and that all during
childhood the food should be simple with cereals.
milk and vegetables as basis and little meat