New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-08-01
Tiny Children, Paralysis
Shut-ins, Gain Health Fly
ing Toys from Windows.
CLOSE CONFINEMENT
A NEW DANGER
Tots Should Be In Fresh Air
Camps Such as Tribune
Is Sponsor For.

The facade Of a row Of houses in East
Seventeen Street seemed suddenly to
have sprung into life yesterday morn
ing. Usually the front Of the row is
dull and forbidding.
Yesterday. however, it looked as
though all the wigwaggers Of Uncle
Sans navy had taken possession of its
windows and were practicing their art
tor all they were worth. Or, as though
the face of the block had suddenly
opened q great mouth, in a laugh that
showed all its teeth-only the teeth
were all dancing up and down withou,
relation to one another.
The little boys Of the houses had dis
covered a new game, and were flying
homemade newspaper kites from the
windows Of their homes. They were
small-boy kites-very small-boy kites,
indeed. Each one consisted Of a quar-
ter Of page OF newspaper tied to a
string or a piece of thread.
They didn't fly high, but futtered and
twirled and bodied and ducked at the
end of six feet or less Of tether What
made the game fun was that there were
so many of the kites 49, hundreds, it
seemed TO those who caught a glimpse
of the spectacle.
Necessity was again the mother Of
invention. Thousands of children in
New York have been forbidden the
streets by their parents because Of the
outbreak of infantile paralysis, and
they have to find their amusement in
the rooms Of their homes. The kite
fiers were some of the little shut-ins.
Which the Greater Danger7
1t was a lucky invention, too. Think
of these thousands of youngsters de-
prived of their playmates! Think Of
yesterday in the tenements, when the
weather mans official thermometer
atop the lofty, breeze-swept Whitehall
Building, touche 90 degrees
Here was a game that brought the
boys-and the girls, toto the win
dows, where they got what fresh air
there was-a game in which they could
laugh with one another, vie with one
another, tease one another, and still be
shut off from each other by a stockade
Of window casing.
But the game suggests question:
Which Is the greater danger 70 the
child population of New York to-day,
infantile paralysis or the confinement
in terrible tenements 10 which vast
numbers of youngsters have been SEN
fenced by their parents in order TO
avoid danger of infection?
Probably the number of new cases
of. and Of deaths from, infantile paral-
yss was greater for the week July %
% than for any other week since the
beginning of the outbreak. Was this
due TO the greater activity OF the dis.
ease or to the fact that the strain OF
the terribly oppressive weather OF the
past month has sapped the vitality OF
. the children and reduced their power
10 resist the attacks of disease?
Will the tenement children OF the
city be in greater or less danger them
selves, and will they be a greater or
York il they are left to this imprison-
ment in the tenements. or il they are
sent out to Fresh Air camps in sparse
ly settled sections of the country?
Should Have Fresh Air.
The Tribune Fresh Air Fund believes
il would be infinitely better for all con-
cerned, both the people Of the city and
the people OF the country, If the chill
dren were-under proper restrictions
sent out to the Fresh Air camps and
given chance to build up their bodies
and gain power to throw off the attacks
of disease The fund is trying hard
to get as many OF the children away
as possible.
Will you help?