The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-20
For Children's Magma Chdrtd
By ANNA ROCHESTER,

CExclusive Service the Survey Press Blu
 reaD
 This week Is the seven hundredth an- riversary of Magma Charta. when the barons of England in conference with King John on an island in the Thames secured from him the first general bill Of rights of the English people. And now there Is a group of people-not bar ons but plain Americans-who say that we ought to celebrate the anniversary by drawing up a new charter setting forth the rights and needs of childhood-a childrens charter.
 They tell us that thousands of children i arc not having a fair show in this coun- try, and that for every one who is pam percd and spoiled by prosperous. over in- dulgent parents there is at least another who never has enough to eat, whose home is demoraized through poverty or unable through mental defect or through overwork to give 1t proper physical or moral care, whose education is neglected oI i'll suited to it's needs.
 The People Behind It
 Ir short, they say, now that certain principles enunciated in Magma Charta lave been woven into the fabric of our political institutions, it is high time we should turn our attention to the special needs and rights of childhood.
 Who are the members of this discon- | Gertjng group, and what do they know | about the actua needs of children in America today? The first to present the subject publicly was Roger N. Bald win of St. Louis, a former probation i officer of the juvenile court in that city. The man who has given more time and l.A Ix tt.,.. ol | is Edward N. Chopper, the national child labor committees secretary for the l northern states. He has taught in pri- I vate and public schools, and as superin- | tendent of schools in Porto Rico dld | pioneer work in industrial training. He 1 has studied children in industry and | has had several years experience with delinquent children superintendent of { a children's house of refuge.
 Then there is '. c. Carstens of the l Boston Society for the Prevention Of l Cruelty to Children. a man of much breadth of view and detailed understand ing of childrens problems, that his re port at Baltimore last month as char man of the children's committee of the 1 National Conference of Charities and Correction has been\ called an epoch making document to be compared witf 1 only one other event in the 42 years o1 | the conferences existence.
 Miss Julia c. Lathrop, chief of the federal children's bureau, believes tht charter is needed and indorses the pro- posal to draft one. pr. P. P. Claxton United States commissioner of educa ton, has promised to help with the edu. cation sections. It would be impossible to name all the leaders in the field oi child welfare who have shown their in terest in the charter.
 To Promote CO-OperatiOn
 The concrete way In which they pro
 pose to help the children is to promote
 cooperation and greater efficiency in al efforts toward child welfare. They arr
 not proposing a panacea; they are no
 starting another child welfare movement
 They merely want to survey the cntir'
 field of chiidren's needs and clear up tn I principles on which the activities of tn
 various chldren's associations ought t 1 be based. The breadth of the field Is sug gested in these words of MT. Choppers:
 "A wholesome childhood really touche
 every phase of social life. If the chil' is to be well born there must bc Insist
 ence upon physical fitness for the mar
 riage license. Prenatal influences mus
 be sound and healthful and the mothe
 must be protected from improper wor
 conditions before and after confinement
 The development of strong physique i
 the growing child requires pure mill |
 ing away with all the dangers that nov threaten the period when infant mol tality is at its height.
 Problem of Recreation
 After infancy we come to the problei
 of recreation. An educational experienc { begins at an early age. with the vexe , questions of child psychology, and tn 5 right relation of cultural subjects an 7 elementary industrial training. The trt
 mendous problem of dependency touche on one hand the whole question of in
 dustrial justice and on the other tn
 difficulties of insuring to each child. wha ever his economic status, normal chile
 hood with home and school training"
 Having surveyed the field and estat lished the principles on which we shoul
 bas SC our efforts. 1t is hoped that the char : | ter may set forth these principles. s far as they concern the state, in a stand .. lard outline for legislation. Ohio, in he children's charter, is the only state whic