Imperial Valley press., 1913-12-01

duSiiiS the great reuuctioH III IMAM
mortality achieved in that country
within the past ten years.
Birth registration will also protect
the future of the child. 1t enables the
state to enforce the compulsory edu-
cation laws, thus providing him with
an education, and to enforce the child
labor laws, thus guaranteeing that
this education shall not be sacrificed
by the greed or necessity of parents
or employers. The legislatures of all
The states except Georgia and South
Carolina have adopted laws calculat-
ed to secure birth registration and the
adequate enforcement of these laws
is one of the measures to be advocated
N preventing infant mortality.
The federal children's bureau, un-
der the direction of Miss Julia La
chrop, is preparing to enter into a
cooperative movement with the wom-
ems organizations of the country, in
which committees of women will get
the names of ten or more babies in
elected towns and districts and go to
the registration office to see if their
births are recorded. The result will
Oe reported to the bureau. This will
put the bureau in possession of valu-
able data and enable the organized
women of the country to know wheth-
er or not their birth registration laws
are being complied with.
The reason the law is not better en-
forced in some states is that it is
defective. A model law to remedy
these defects has been prepared and
copies of it will be supplied to any
one interested. It's preparation had
the cooperation of the American Bar
Association, the American Public
Health Association, the commission
ers upon uniform state laws, the bu-
eau of the census and the children's
bureau. This model law creates the
cffice of state registrar of vital sta
tistics under the state board of health.
Upon this officer should rest the re-
sponsibility of recording all births
and deaths. The adoption of the pro-
visions of this law uniformly in all
the states is one of the measures for
which the association is working.
A factor in the prevention of infant
mortality is the public schools. In
some of the larger cities "little moth
ars'" classes give the older girls in
struction in bathing and caring for a
baby under year old. More than
10000 girls from ~ to Ia years of
sge are now enrolled in "Little Moth
ers' Leagues" Their influence is al
ready being keenly felt in some of the
baby campaign work. Frequently a
little mother" will give some valu-
able aid to the real mothers around
her that enables them to protect their
babies from the dangers of infected
milk and improper food, as well as to
give them proper bathing and other
are.
The possibilities of a continuation
school in home making and the cur
riculum of such schools were consid-
cred by the conference upon this SUBJ
ject held by the association. This
conference was based upon the fact
that the majority of children leave
school under 16 years of age, thus
having considerable period of time
before marriage. The opinion pre-
walls that school boards should create
continuation schools or classes in
home making at which young men and
women may secure free instruction
in home making. The boys should be
taught the elements of house plan
ming, sanitation, eugenics, contagion,
disinfection, the repairing of the home
and its furnishings and other subjects
coming under the province of the
father of family The girls should
receive instruction in all matters per-
tanning to housewifery, as well as in
complete scientific methods of caring
for young children. This instruction
should be largely given in night
schools, as most of these young peo-
pie must work during the day.
Much of the interest in infant NOR
tality prevention is due to the trained
nurses of the country. A section de-
voted to nursing and social work con-
sidered the standards to be required
for nurses specializing in infant wei
fare work. The visiting nurses OF
towns and cities as we'll as those in
charge Of milk stations ard similar in
stitutions frequently have a greater
influence upon the infant health OF
the community than the physicians
The demand for nurses specializing
in infant welfare work is increasing
and the trained nurses of the country
oh L<