Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1911-10-27
coem1Um 1r Ae46Jon Hzle. CO.

MM)M cased in red bulb. Six times
IlAMQM minute-7,640 times day-the
EfNMFsN light went OUT and, every time
G. I Il the light faded from the bulb
somewhere in the world the light
faded from mothers eyes. So fast do 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 1910" In the single
city OF New York, S73 died in q single week.
Every little poor street had Its little white hearse
worse still, durfn gthe course of the summer,
oooo chiidren died that ought to have lived; that
is to say, they died from preventable causes
Children die from two kinds of causes: those
that are preventable and those that are not. This
Is news. your grandmother and, possibly, your
mother believed that every child that died could
not nave been saved. Everybody thought So
PreVentable causes of deaths were not recognized
IL was taken as matter of that women
should bear twice many children as were re-
CURED 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 W.
know they were born to live We know ,b.t
they do not have chance to live We have even
exploded the old supposition that the children of
the physically weak must of necessity be pbvsjcaI
y weak We now know that the children of the
physically weak born almost as strong nc
the child of the strongest
Every intelligent physician knows this
statement to be true. However let
some eminent physician stand for It. -
Caleb W. Saleeby one of the most emf -
nent physicians In England, is such an 4 y
an authority. Read what he says on the II
subject In "Parenthood and Race Gull w
ture": ~
Most OF the babies born in the clums
are splendid little specimens of humanty-so far
as physique Is concerned-bearing no marks oY
degeneration to correspond with the deterioration
OF their parents. In word hereditory works
SO that each generation gets fresh
start" e n
In another part OF the same book, Dr. Saleeby
estimated that the number of children who are
Dorh SO weak that they have little chance for
lne does not exceed ten per cent and he attri
puted the weakness of these to the effects OF alco
ho and certain impote 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 an answer to the oues
tion 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 born strong enough to live under favorable
circumstances are killed by their mothers The
rest that die from preventabe causes are killed
by the community-by you and by me- If we help
to keep things as they are, 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 or tends to
kill her children who does not take the trouble
to inform herself concerning the proper methods
OF collaborating. 1t is not that such mothers
are lazy. 1t Is not that they are Indifferent to
their children's welfare. They are simply ig-
norant. Some of them are stepped in ignorance
Some OF them are half-steeped. But they are all
ignorant They don't know that fes by carrying
the germs of diseases, kill more children than all
the elephants. tigers, lions automobiles and street
cars in the world. Therefore. flies considered
mere inconveniences. They are regarded as un-
ornamental In the soup, but not detrimental to
the health They swarm in the Kitchen the
pantry and the dining room. painstakingly 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 such
ignorant mother ever connects In her mind the
going of her baby with the coming of the flies.
Nor does any such ignorant mother have any
conception of the with which she should
feed, not only her baby, but her half grown chill
dren. If she doesn't nurse her baby she doesn't
realize that any milk she is likely to find 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 unfit for
Yet. some analyses of New York store milk. the
other day, showed bacteria as high 38000.000
What wonder that every summer is "black sum-
mer" for the babies OF New York's poor?
In many other ways the ignorant mother kills
her children with The food she gives them. Many
a baby six months old is nibbng crackers
bananas and pickles. while putting in the rest OF
Its time at an "all-day sucker" stick OF candy
Mothers who want their children to live should
know that the premature giving OF any kind OF
solid food to baby is exceedingly dangerous;
that after child is weaned 1t should be given
solid food only in accordance with the instruc-
tons OF an intelligent physician that meat and
lrnit ftta
poison. even II 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 a basis and little meat
not oftener than once week
But as chiid-kler. the community exceeds
In destructiyeness the ignorant mother by
this Is meant that the community maintains con-
ditions that sometimes prevent even Intelligent