The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1911-10-28
oeNPUW ar AeHR10n AI6. CO.

kMNUN November In OF the
TVYNM electric light,
SQVHIlM cased in a red bulb. Six times q
EHlIQM minute-7.640 times a day-the
SfNXfSA light went out: and. every time
G. the light faded from the bulb.
somewhere In the world, the light
faded from a mothers eyes. So fast do our chill
dren die.
Sometimes they die faster. They died faster
last summer. II 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 durtn gthe course of the summer.
5000 children died that ought to have lived: that
Is to say. they died from preventabIe causes.
Children die from two kinds OF causes; those
that 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.
Preventabe causes of deaths were not recognized.
1t was taken a matter of course that women
should bear twice as many children were re-
quired to maintain the population. because half
OF them were bound to die
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 a chance to live. We have even
exploded the old supposition that the children OF
the physically weak must OF necessity be physical
ly weak. We now know that the children OF the
physically weak born almost as strong as
the child of the strongest.
Every intelligent physician knows this
statement to be true However, let
some eminent physician stand for 1t.
Caleb w. Saleeby, one Of the most emf
nent physicians in England. is such an -
an authority. Read what he says on the Il
subject in "Parenthood and Race Cul. w
ture":
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
a
that each generation gets a fresh
start"
In another part Of the same book. DR.. SaIeeby
estimated that the number OF children who are
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 aico-
hol and certain mpote 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 are children permitted to die from
preventable causes and what are those prevent
able causes?"
We need not go far. Millions of children that
are 0orn 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. If we help
to keep things they and by everybody
else who helps to keep things as they are
We will first consider the mothers who kill
their children. Every mother kills tends to
kill her children who does not take the trouble
to inform herself concerning the proper methods
of child-rearing. 1t is not that such mothers
lazy. 1t is not that they Indifferent, to
their childrens welfare. They simply ig
norant. Some OF them are steeped in ignorance
Some OF them halfsteeped But they are 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
In the world Therefore. flies are considered
mere inconveniences. They are regarded as un-
ornamental in the soup. but as not detrimental to
tho Eif fho
pantry and the dining room painstakingIy deposit
ing their filth upon every particle of food that the
family. including the children. eat. Some OF this
filth is not deadly: some OF 1t Is But no such
ignorant mother 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 hafgrown chill
dren. II she doesn't nurse her baby she doesn't
realize that any milk she is likely to hnd for
sale is more likely to be poison than food Nor.
does she realize that such milk will be precisely
as poisonous for her baby after it has been
weaned Such mothers usually buy their milk
from the nearest grocery store The number OF
bacteria in milk. when 1t exceeds 100000 to the
cubic centimeter makes the milk unit for use
Yet, some analyses of New York store milk. the
other day, showed bacteria as high as 3S.00O.OOO
What wonder that every summer is black sum
mer' for the babies of New Yorks poor?
In many other ways, the ignorant mother Kills
her children with the food she gives them Many
baby six months old Is nibbing crackers
bananas and pickles. while putting in the rest OF
its time at "all-day sucker or stick OF candy
Mothers who want their children to live should
know that the premature giving OF any kind OF
eolid food to a baby is exceedingly dangerous;
that after child is weaned 1t should be given
solid food only in accordance with the instruc
tions of an intelligent physician; that meat ana
fruit Except orange juice) are like 30 much
poison. II they do not produce death as
quickly strychnine would: and that all during
childhood. the food should be simple. with cereals.
milk and vegetables basis and a little meat
not oftener than once a week.
But. childkilIer. the community exceeds
in destructiveness even the ignorant mother BY