El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-09-21
AoHINGION, D. C. sept. Il
No part of the program OF the
International Congress Of Hy-


gree than that which has for its pur-
pose the collection and distribution Of
the worlds knowledge of methods for
the prevention of infant mortality
| Nearly three hundred thousand babies
/ under one year old die annually in the
I United States. Out of each 1000 babies
/ born no less than PIP die before they
( pass their second year. Once oaDy
! reaches its third year its chances to
! live to be 60 years old are better than
| were its chances to live to be two
! years old.
Lose 1G5 In Every 1000.
| That there are tens Of thousands OF
! preventable deaths among the SOO,OOO
| babies that die in the United states
! in the first year of life is easily
/ shown There are number OF lines
. of indisputable evidence by which II
| may be proved. sweden loses Sc out
I of each thousand children under one
year old. We lose 165. Did we but
7 take as good care of our babies as
| Swedish parents do of theirs. nearly
| 10000 homes would be spared. the
sadness of having their babies taken
away by the hand of death. Dld the
American mother protect her BABY as
/ well as the mothers of Norway protect
! theirs. more than 100000 babies year
would live who now fill new made
| graves.
/ What Norway and Sweden have done.
America can do. The mothers OF New
| zealand make even a DelleE SHONin6
| than those of Norway and Sweden. II
( our number of deaths among babies
under one year were proportionate TO
that of New Zealand, more than one
J half of all the babies who die under
one year of age would be saved =
Statistics everywhere prove that
baby saving is not an untried theory
I Where poorer care of the little ones IS
I taken than we take of ours there the
number of baby deaths is proportion
= fol
the death rate Of babies is nearly
double our own and more than four
times that OF New Zealand In Euro
pean Russia three babies die where
Austria three die where one dies in
New Zealand.
Good Results From Crusade.
But one does not have to look to
foreign countries to see the good re-
suits which come from baby saving
campaigns. A study of our own prog
ress will show the results of our ris-
ing tide of health sentiment upon in
FAINT mortality. In 1890 the deaths
among infants under one year of age
amounted to 20.5SO out of each 100,-
900 born. In 1900 they amounted TO
1850. In other words, in 10 years
there was a saving of more than
1000 babies a year brought about by
the improvement Of the health condi-
tions of the country.
Another evidence of what can be
done IN DaDy Saving Is 10 De lOunQ III
contrasts between various American
cities. In some of them, one baby out
of five dies before it is year old
In others only one baSy out Of 10 dies
In the whole United States 165 out
of a thousand died in 1900. In Boston
it has been cut to 12T. All of these
things cOnclusively point to the fact
that infant mortality can be sTerted-
All that is required is a strict COM
pliance with the laws of health.
I Wherever these conditions have been
met children have been saved. We
often spend $4,000 to convict a single
murderer, and sometimes almost 10
times as much. The same amount
spent in caring for the babies and
teaching how they should be guided
over the Dangerous roads of infancy
would save hundreds of babies from
DEATH
Important to Prevent Disease.
One authority has observed that the
benefactions of the rich in the direc-
ton of health seem to be on the basis
that il is more valuable to cure disease
than to prevent it. He says that Civ
ing to a hospital is spending money
that a handful may be restored to
health, rather than giving IT to the
cause Of preventive medicine that
toWnfuI may be protected in theirs.
He declares it is past his under
standing that philanthrOpic people
should regard it as more important to
discover a nOt-yet-found germ than to
munities to kill the infinitely more
dangerous ones that already have been
found. Nowhere is this better evil
denced than in the case of inrant NOR
tally. 1t has been estimated that
two thirds Of all the deaths OF in
fants might be averted by the mere
application OF the knowledge we now
possess. How to get that knowledge
applied is the problem 1t is prob
lem that some communities are gradu-
ally eO1v-inar nrOhlon whose solution
lies in a careful campaign of educa-
ton.
How the Problem Is Solved.
1t is interesting to note how some
communities are solving it. Boston
has been making inquiries among the
mothers OF the city as to how they
feed their babies. These inquiries have
revealed the fact that there are nearly
double as many babies die that are
bottle-fed las there are among those
who are nourished in natures way.
Today efforts are being made to
arouse the mothers of the city to the
doing the same. Some time since
there was a health show in Baltimore.
A picture was exhibited showing a
mother nursing her child Below it
was this legend: This baby is getting
a square deal Is yours?"
Some cities have tried to solve the
infant mortality problem of distribu-
ting literature dealing with the subject
OF the care OL DdDlGS- Dul mas DGGu
found that infinitely more effective
Is the idea of the free clinic. which ]
has been borrowed from France by
several cities. These clinics are held
at milk stations. hospital dispenser
les. schools and in open air tents es-
pecially constructed for the purpose.
Here object lesson teaching is re-
sorted TO, and usually with splendid
results Other cities make use of the
visiting nurse. She goes into a home
of poverty, cleans up things for the
mother, and shows her just how to do
things. When she is tactful she en-
lists the sympathy and cooperation of
the mother, and the chances of the
child's escaping the perils of infancy
are greatly improved.
Bottle Fed babies.
It is certain that for a long time to-
come the bottle fed baby will continue
in the majority. Most of his dangers
lie in his bottle. Not only must the
mother be educated to care for the
bottle and its contents while it is in
her hands. but its contents must be
protected before it reaches her. The
daily milk supply of Philadelphia is
400, 900 quarts 1t is handled by 5000
milk dealers. supplied by 5000 pro-
ducers. and brought from four states.
Chicago uses million quarts a day,
and it comes from 5000 cows on H.
600 farms. New York gets its supply