The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1913-08-29
VISION 81 YES
SCHOOL EXPENSES
According to Eye Specialist
Who Addresses Congress
on School II ygisne.

j y ~
az ASSOCIATES PREns1
BuFEGAG1O.. n. r., Aug 29-lDr-
Lewis q. vessel, oph5nalnrologist for
the Philadelphla Board Of Health,
addressed the Fourth international
Congress on school Hygiene today.
His subject was the detective vision
CT school children from an economic
-standpoInt and ne said In part;
Medical inspection OF school
children, has revealed the fact that
at least twenty-five percent OF all
children attending school have de-
lective vision or eye strain sufficient
ly grave to require the constant use
,of glaeses. In the majority Of cases
suitable glasses cause these chill
dren to advance and take their
places lin class along with the nor
NAL child. In consideration Of these
Facts, The correction Of defective Wis
ion in the school child is not receiy-
ing the attention that its Importance
deserves. Such, corrections not only
correct the efficiency OF the pupil ana
teacher but have an important eco
nonitc : value as we'll, because If
child is backward and remains IN
the same class for two three years,
1t. is costing. the state two or thFee
times as much as is necessary TO
teach that child.
sIn philadelphia each pupil costs
about SO s per. year to teach. Under
normal conditions a pupil fourteen
years old should reach the eighth
grade at a cost to the state OF $2Se.
II on account OF detective vision the
child only reaches the fourth grade
in that time, 1t has still cost the state
$3.50 but with ony $40 worth OF re-
suits, a loss to the state OF $40. Fne
loss to the child is .consid eraply
more, because at the age OF fourteen
it islngeIy to be. put to work, poorly
cd utpped for the struggle for exist
ence, his earning power Is curtaileo
for the want OF an education, so ne
can contribute but little toward his
own support, that OF his family, OF,
that or5the state. so again the7state;
loses and all for the want OF suit
able, glasses. While It is quite easy
for the medical inspector or teacher
To detect defective vision, the recon-
mendations for glasses cannot always
lie carried outgon- account Of poverty
or Ignorance. These ases9can pro-
cure fTee treatment DC the dispen-
sames, but they are too poor, or too
Indifferent to buy the glasses pre-
scribed,> and 50 they continue %
struggle along greatly handicapped
and fall behind on account of their
eyes,
.sThe department OF Public Health
and Charities has solved this prob
lem in philadelphia by ESTABLISHING
a Division of ophthatmology under
the Bureau OF Health, where poor
children can be refracted and FUR
nished with glasses free. We are
now refracting nearly $500 cases a
year. II we save each one OF these
children but one year during its en-
trio school life there will be an an
nuai saving of over $4,000 noT
counting the child's time and its IN
creased efficiency. So the furnish
ing Of free glasses to school chill
dren is not charity, per Sc, but i2
a duty and economic problem. Many
children have come to the dispensary
wearing glasses bought from some
refracting optician or from a five
and ten cent store. These glasses
were not only unsuitable but were
positive iniur1ouss to the child .
eyes.
.,But few children remain IN
school after the age of fourteen, the
legal age at which children are per-
mitted to work This fact empha-
sizes the necessity OF examining the
eyes Of children in the kindergarten
and the first grades.
.'The fact / wish to emphasize IN
this paper is the importance of mu-
inequalities establishing their own
eye dispensaries for the refracting
and the furnishing OF glasses free to
at least poor pupils. This Is an eco
nomic problem rather than a charity,
as it reduces the cost OF education
and at the same time it increases the
efficiency of both the pupil aud the
teacher"