The Washington herald., 1917-03-01
Wake Up America!
ny oRIsoN SWEET MARDEN,

An army must have eyes and ears
and sound digestion, and if these
grave impediments to military service
are to be removed the remedy must
be applied while the youth from
whom recruits are to come are yet
of school age"
This is part of the comment of a
New York newspaper on the very
large proportion of physical unftness
among the youth of. America, re-
vealed by recent army and navy tests.
Out of total of 276 applicants at
New York and nearby stations in
January for enlistment in the navy
no less than 22I were rejected as
physically unfit! The main causes OF
rejection were bad teeth, poor eye
sight and defective hearing. The last
two were, no doubt, in many in
stances results of the frst-bad
teeth
Physicians have stated again and
again that an alarming percentage of
our school children are physically be-
low par. Many OF them have
wretchedly defective teeth, which per-
haps had never been brushed up t.
the time they were examined by a
medical expert in The public schools.
They have adenoids, which have
grown unchecked, and large numbers
have defective eyesight, and yet never
have had glasses to correct defects.
For years we have been trying to
patch up these and other troubles
from the outside without ever getting
down to their cause. This in most
instances is lack of proper care and
nourishment. The blood of thou
sands OF these poor children is thin,
poor, diluted, lacking in red corpuscles,
because they do not get food that
makes the right sort of blood
Not only is the quality OF their
food very poor but often they do no,
get enough. They are overworked d
and underfed.
Thousands of the children in our
city clums have to help eke out the
family living mornings, before school
begins, and often late at night, in
their sweatshop homes, pulling bast-
ings, threading needles. doing all
sorts of things to "help mother" ."
They are obliged to work both body
and brain on poor, insufficient food
at time when all of their tissues
are growing and they need air, SUM-
shine. play and plenty of good, nour-
ishing food. we'll cooked.
Yet in most of these wretched
homes even the miserable food they
have is never properly prepared. The
mothers have never been taught how
to feed their children, or how to pre-
pare their food.
An instance of the ignorance of the
poor mothers in these matters is told
by young woman, engaged in social
service work at seaside home for
ailing mothers and children. Finding
the women at the home feeding their
young babies on strong coffee, she
warned them against doing so. Very
kindly and reasonably she told one
woman why coffee would harm hel
child, and why she must give him
milk instead. The mother turning on
her Indignantly, said: Look here
young miss, | guess you can't tell
me anything about bringing up chill
dren. I've had six, and I've buried
fourw
In view OF such appalling ignorance
is it any wonder that now, at a
crucial moment in our country's life
when we arc facing, perhaps, one OF
the greatest crises in Americas his
tory, SO large a proportion of our
youth are unfit for the work of ma.
tional defense?
Wake up Americal 1t is time for
10 " lSdlIZS llldl inc nCdlIn OF Ou1
people is our greatest asset. Let us
safeguard the health of our children
by insuring them right living condi-
tions and the knowledge that viii
enable them to take proper care oi
thei- bodies.
In the last analysis the achieve.
ment of every life is largely physical
because our faculties are rooted in
our physical life. They feed upon the
blood, and their strength and eff.
ficiency depend upon the quality OF
the blood. Poor, devitalized blood
makes poor devitalized thought and
weak body.
A man who is down and out physi-
cally is down and out mentally. His
mental condition is largely dependent
upon his physical condition, and his
fitness fer any position is dependent
upon his health. The man who is un-
fit to be a soldier or a sailor is also
unfit to enter hundred occupations
and nrAfacc;4re