Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-02-06
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT IS DOING

Because the whole matter of child
welfare is of fundamental Importance
in the life Of
Development Of the the .nation-the
Children's Bureau. m,sht =. ..,d
to lie at the root of all social problems
the children's bureau, one of the
youngest of the agencies of the gov
eminent, has been most careful in the
little more than three years of it's ex-
istence in feeling its way into the
great field of labor that Congress gave
to it. Beginning its career with a staff
Of only fifteen persons and an appro-
priation of less than $4,000 a year,
the bureau found the scope of it's i'm
mediate activities limited, and was
practically compelled to confine it's
work to urban communities where the
concentration Of population made the
carrying on of studies easiest and least
expensive. Now. however, with a staff
of seventy-six workers and an appro-
priatfon of nearly $165, 900, the bureau
is finding 1t possible to take up it's
and to consider the small town and
the open country as we'll as the city
one OF the most recent steps taken
by the bureau is the initiation of a
series OF rural children's conferences
IN number of typical rural communi-
ties about the country agents of the
bureau, in cooperation with state and
county health officials, state univer-
SUES sa and agricultural colleges. and
the examination by physicians and
nurses OF all children brought to them
Inc work viii be modelled closely after
the children's conferences held in a
glass room at the Panama-Paciflc ex-
Significant test. In addition to supply
ing important information to parents
as to the condition of their children
ana stimulating the correction of spe-
enc e. . deiects' the rural conferences. it
Is realized. will furnish invaluable
data to the bureau on which to base
its larger plans for rural child well
fare studies.
Miss Julia Lathrop. director of the
chiidren's bureau. has become more
and more impressed. the more she has
studied the conditions surrounding
American children. with the impor-
lance Of the needs of the 1900. 900
members of the group who live either
villages with populations of less than
$500. This is one and half
times the number of children who
make their homes in urban commune
forces that make for construction and
those that make for destruction in the
lives of these millions of country chill
dren are practically unknown, Miss
Lathrop points out.
1t Is not known, for instance. to what
extent the naturally more healthful
surroundings of the country are offset
by the lack of conveniences that could
be supplied and practices that could
be adopted II an exact knowI-
edge of conditions were developed. Lit
tie or nothing is known of the physical
development of rural children. of the
effect on them of very early agricul-
tural work, of the social reasons for
rural delinquency. of recreational
needs. of the effect on children in some
rural communities of a too low eco
nomic standard OF life. or of the full
est possibilities for the development
Of vocational training for rural chill
dren. The bureau Is asking Congress
to increase it's stan from seventy-six
to lightweight members, and to raise
its appropriation to 5000. 900 AS slight
as these proposed changes are, they
would, the bureau officials say. make
easier the carrying on of the new
rural work and the coordination of
the resulting data with those already
obtained from the studies made in
cities.