Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1914-04-26
BLAME MIDW|VES
FOR BLINDNESS
Nurse Says 10000 Cases of
the Blind Owe Infirmity
to Carelessness.
BIRTH TOLL rs GREAT
Medical Worker Declares 10000 Wo.
men Die in U,ited States Each
Year From Effects of
Childbirth.


OF all blindness is preventable," said
MISS Carolyn c. Van Blarcom, secre-
tary OF the New York committee for
the prevention of blindness, to the
National Organization for Public
Health Nursing here today.
Zen thousand of the blind persons
IN this country We're blinded when
they were infants, by an easily pre-
Ventable disease-'babies' sore eyes,
which opthalmologists declare would
practically never occur if the eyes of
every child were properly bathed and
treated at birth.
A half of the newborn infants in
America are under the care of mid
wives, the prevention of infantile
blindness depends largely upon the
kind of service which these women
give their patients. Unfortunately
mldWlves in this country are dirty,
| ignorant and superstitious, and often
| assure their patients that it is natura-
al for babies to have sore eyes, pre-
scribing such remedts as milk, lemon
juice, lard, raw potatoes, scraped
beef, saliva, etc.
! '1n order that infants and their
mothers may be saved from the GRIM
| mai ignorance OF these women,
| schools NUT be provided in which TO
| train them, and their practice must
| be rlgidly supervised. So far as we
are able to learn, the United States
| OF America is the only civilized coun-
try in the. world in which the life
| and health and future we'll being of
nd inf fS e.
guarded as far as possible by statu-
tory requirements for at least the
| training and licensing of midwives.
Wood Alcohol Dangerous.
Wood alcohol poisoning is another
| easily preventable cause of blindness.
In one year in New York City alone
| twelve persons were blinded and
| three killed by wood alcohol. A tea
spoonful of this poison may cause
| total blindness, a larger quantity Of
ten causes death. Only within recent
years has wood alcohol become so
| dangerous to life and sight. Formerly
| 1t was a dark, bad-smelling, bad
| tasting fluid which no one was Tempt
| ed to drink. Wood alcohol as now
purified in this way, looks, tastes and
| smells like good (grain) alcohol.
"A much blindness and death have
| been caused also by breathing the
fumes of wood alcohol as by swallow
| ing the liquid. These fumes come
from wood alcohol used in various
trades"
| Martyrs of Motherhood.
Miss EStella Weiss, medical social
worker Of the Civic club of Johns
| town, Pa, said: ''Out of every two
hundred and fifty women who become
| pregnant, at least one dies. Seven per
cent of the deaths of women between
the ages of twenty and forty years
are due to puerperal infection. Con-
servatively estimated, twenty thous-
and women die every year in the
United States from the immediate
and remote effects of child BIRTH"
| Miss Lydia Holman, the founder of
the Holman association, of Altapass,
| n. c., said: "In every rural COM
munity of the United States, from
mountain peak farms to valley estates,
we need we'll trained health officers
for more reason than can be given
here. Motherhood on mountain top,
while the husband travels trails,
sometimes for miles, for the doctor
or nearest likely person, be it the
man or woman with the hoe, the tan
ner. the blacksmith or the grand
| father, is attended with serious dang
ers, as is attested by their crude de-
liveries. We need for each commun-
| ty of five hundred to one thousand
families a public health nurse, who
has had special training in midwif-
cry"
| Discussing "The Prevention and
Control of Trachoma," Miss Linda Ne
Vile, secretary of the Kentucky soci-
ETY. for the Prevention of Blindness,
said that an investigation made in
eastern Kentucky by the United
States Public Health Service showed
that about one-eighth of all persons
examined had trachoma, many of
them in an advanced stage. In 1908
work in the mountain districts for
the prevention of blindness was be-
gun and was so successful from the
very first that the limited facilities
provided were soon over taxed. The
United States Public Health Service
now has three trachoma hospitals in
the mountains and is besides treating
many out-patients."
Company Guards Employees.
Arthur w. Young, supervisor of
labor and safety in the south works
of the Illinois Steel company, at Chi
cago, said:
"The department of labor and safe
ty of the Illinois Steel company acts
as judicial tribunal, to whom any
employee may come with a real or fan
cied wrong and be assured of impair
tial justice In short it object is to
| carry out the assurance of our gen
eral superintendent that every man
shall receive square DEAL Indus
trial welfare nursing at south works
costs us approximately 100000 a
year in salaries, supplies and car fare
Against this actual cash outlay may
be figured returns in three different
phases: 1st-Actual cash value in
!. increased consistency of attendance OF
our force. 2nd-Advertising value;