Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-02-21
BETTER BABIES"
Continued from Page Ten.)

d. LII OHOiESs
Continued from Page Ten.)
addition to standing high in the ply.
steal examinations, she made a fine
/ showing in the searching psychological |
tests given by DR.. Velura Powell of
Red Oak, Iowa, a nerve specialist.
/ The tot displayed energy, power of con-
centration and keenness of intellect I
in keeping with her physical perfec
tons
The second prize went TO a boy, /
Robert Miller Scott, aged 21a years, /
who scored 95s4 per cent, and who /
hailed from a small town. But one of /
the really interesting features of the !
contest was the fact that little Alice
Milstein, who won first prize in the
to year old rural girl class, had lost
out entirely in the contest of 1911.
During the year her parents, Mr. and
Mrs. Max Milstein. Polk county farm
ers. had studied child hygiene to good
advantage. The defects in the childs
condition and training having been
pointed out to the mother, one year of
regular diet and systematic care.
= worthy of a little prize fighter. had
corrected the defects and placed the
fortunate baby girl in the prize-win-
ming class.
The Iowa campaign for better babies
is of national Importance. 1t is not
fight for state supremacy in baby
raising; it is the first step toward bet
" ter babies the country over. 1t is
- therefore very interesting to hear the
= woman responsible for the movement
tell how It was born and how it grew
Said Mrs. Watts:
My attention was called to the
! fact that although pigs, horses and
= COWS each year showed material ad-
vance in development as a class, the
{ children were no stronger physically,
I mentally or morally than they were
u 20 years ago; that farmers wives were
Il anxious to raise larger chickens and
5 were pleased if their husbands live
e stock beat that of their neighbors', but
t were seemingly oblivAous to the fact
5 that the boys and girls of their fami-
Il lies were not up to the standard.
% Competition, rivalry, had done Won
u ders for stock, why not for the human
n family? Soon after this idea came to
y me I was asked to arrange a program
{ for the womans hour at the Iowa
state college building at the state fair
. in Des Moines. I realized that this
u was my opportunity. l secured the co
~ operation of the extension department
u of the Iowa state college and the Iowa
= Congress of Mothers.
Tho first obstacle We met was the
fact that no such thing as a score caro-
for babies existed. Doctor Clark un
hesitatingly took up the difficult worl
4 of making such a card, using as a work
ing model a system of scoring which
y has been reduced TO a science-that O.
live stock This card we copyrighted
=. not so much as a source of revenue
- for advancing the work, but to insure
uniformity for statistical purposes al
the movement grew.
latter Doctor Clark had drawn I'll
% the score cards, the rest of the worI
% was comparatively easy. Six physi
J. clans gave their time and paid thei
m own expenses-all for the good o
id Iowa babies. Three gave talks OIL
% child welfare. Three acted as judges
re The newspapers gave US the needles
ID publicity, and l put on that entire I'M
ID tial contest, news of which has gen
e around the world, for just $1S25 Tn
:. highest prize that first year was a s
a. gold piece.
Id The idea is spreading rapidly sine
le Iowa started it. At Fargo, n. D., 10
babies were examined in the 1912 cor
" test, and the great state fairs of Mir
nesota and Oregon have followed GU
- lead In announcing baby health cor
p tests"
nd Doctor Clark, who is the medics
n authority or expert of the Iowa move
u ment, is a most interesting woman
+ Her husband, DR. J. Hardy Clark, al
40 thor Of THE Black Plague Legisls
. ton" and other medical works, is |
"a most earnest sympathy with her Wor
"A for the higher standard of America
n babyhood. Together they spent on
A. year abroad, doing special hospits
a. and clinic work, attending child-we
70 fare conferences and studying the col
f. servation of children as the older n
nd tons of the world have found it nece
E. sary to handle the problem.
Id Doctor Clark says that one Of Ii
dy most humiliating hours of her life ";
that in which she had to approach a
to thorities on live stock and ask f,
n. score cards to furnish the materi
i'll needed TO score points on human b
a ings. But the material she had
e. have, and from it she built up Il
score card which has been adopted b