Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-06-10

the America OF the next generation Will
be no better than they can be made by
the babes In arms today, IL Is the duty
Of the present to do its utmost TO pre-
vent the waste Of human life and
strength by neglect.
nURING the Boer war the British dis
IL covered that hundreds of thousands
of their young men were physical weak
llngs They volunteered for service IN
South Africa, and were rejected because
they were too short, or because their teeth
were too poor to eat army food, or be
cause their sight was defective, or be
cause they could not hear.
The nation had been so busy manu-
featuring raw wool and cotton and steel
into a finished product to be sold In the
markets of the world that 1t had neg.
lected to give proper attention to the pro-
duction of strong, vigorous and we'll
developed adults
After the war the people who realized
the gravity of the situation in which the
nation found itself began to advocate
athletic training for the young. They
succeeded in persuading large numbers
to take physical exercise. 1t was not long
before they discovered that no number of
flexions of the leg and arm muscles could
produce teeth In n jaw from which they
had disappeared through early neglect
and that man might stand with his
knees stiff and touch the floor with his
hands innumerable times without restor-
ing hearing to ears which had become
deaf from an attack of the measles In
infancy.
They discovered that IL they were to
have the finished product that they
wished they must start earlier.
SO they went into the schools and had
the children examined by expert physi-
clans. They detected many cases of con-
tagious diseases. and they cured many in
cipient ailments which If allowed to run
on would have resulted in permanent in
jury. But they had not been In the
schools very long before they decided that
they had not yet gone far enough back.
They started baby clinics. They caught
the adult while It was young, and set out
teaching the mothers how to care for
their children. They showed them how
to feed their babies; they told them of
the permanent disabilities that were
likely to follow careless nursing of
measles and scarlet fever; they established
dispensaries where free treatment was
supplied for children whose parents were
too poor to call a physician.
They acted on the theory of the Spar
tans. that 1t is the business of the State
to develop citizens able to maintain
themselves and able also to defend the
nation in time of peril. The strength of
a nation is no greater than the strength
of the men who constitute it, The pros
perity of nation depends on the physical
ability of its workers to hold their own
In the fierce competition of modern bust.
ness. The production of adults is more
important, If the nation is to survive, than
the production of cotton cloths or wooden
fabrics or steel machines.
Philadelphia is engaged in the same
kind of work that the Boer war taught
the British was essential. We have medi-
cal inspectors in the schools. They have
within three years decreased the number
of cases of diphthera by 1000 and other
diseases in proportion. But 1t has been
possible to examine not more than one
fourth of the pupils. Health Director
Krusen has asked for the appropriation
of 100000 for the employment of add-
tional inspectors, in order that the work
which has been undertaken may be
thoroughly done, No argument is needed
TO prove that the money should be ap-
propriated. The Philadelphia that is to
be will remain vision of few optimists
unless the Philadelphians that are to be
the masters of transportation and the cap
tains of industry in the next generation,
and the Philadelphians who are to fill
the ranks of the workers, are protected
as carefully in their youth as the raw
material that feeds the machines in the
factories.
Z We are not neglecting the babies. either
A demand has been made for money for
emergency hospitals in the poorer Sec
tions of the city, where the babies can
be taken for treatment during the hot
and trying months of summer. And
money is needed also for nurses to visit
the homes where the sick babies are.
little timely advice will save a life, and a
little attention at the right time will pre-.
vent deafness and defective sight.
We have discovered that there can be
no adults unless there are babies first and
that self-sustaining adults cannot be pro.
duced from material that has been allowed
to spoil at the beginning. We are headed
in the right direction. but we are not NOV.
ing that way quite fast enough.