Norwich bulletin., 1918-02-15
Made-In-C Connecticut War Interviews
An Interview With pr. valeria H.
 Parker of Hartford.

Parker of Hartford.
 'To protect soldiers and sailors as we'll as civilians against the dangers of immortality is one of the most i'm rortant tasks confronting the women of this country" said Dr. Valeria H. Parker when asked about measures being taken to prevent disease due to immortality in the Army and Navy. Dr. Parker is chairman of the health and recreation committee, committee on woman's activities, Connecticut State Council of Defense. She said. in an interview made public today by the state defense council:
 ''To stamp out from the Army and Navy those terrible contagious dis eases which have their rise in inmor- ality but find many victims among the innocent is a problem which, for the first time in the history of the world, our nation is facing fairly and. square ly. Success in dealing with the prob lem depends mainly upon two things,
 first recognition of the importance of the moral issue; second, an awak- ening of the sense of responsibility of the community at large. Medical prophylaxis must be continued as military routine until moral prophy- laxis-the single standard of morals has gained stronger foothold among officers and men alike.Fs We cannot succeed in a solution of the problem
 if rigid zones are established about military cantonments while comInun-
 ittes outside of the military zones
 continue to allow alcoholism and ztn-
 morality to flourish. Every man in
 the Army and Navy should receive
 through carefully selected literature
 and lectures the facts of life in a oIeor ioI, yd haf
 many of our young men have passed from home school and church without having had proper ideals of the rela- tionships of life given them has made it possible for improper acts to ruin body and soul.
 Much encouragement is to be found in the public stand taken by Secretary of the Navy Daniels and Secretary of War Baker in their. determination to protect the men who are to fight for us in establishing a. world democracy. Those citizens who remain in our communities will fail in patriotic duty unless they bend every effort toward cooperating in the elimination, of those evils which are more to be feared than mutilation or death upon the field of battle, We must support ib- orally the r. M. c. A., the Y. W. c. i A., and the Knights of Columbus -f those agencies which are to follow our men to the encampments and even to the battlefields. providing them with wholesome interests and activities. We must also strengthen our pfepara-
 ton of the boys and girls in our midst by providing increased recreational centers, under proper supervision and the elimination of unwholesome temp tations. The matter of sex education must be our serious concern. In or der to combat those diseases which are as dangerous to civil as to mili- tary life, we should insist on the en- forcement of the law which requires physicians to report anonymously all patients found to be suffering from vereneral disease and should provide free day and evening clinics and hos pital facilities for treatment. Only
 by the complete cooperation of educa-
 tional, medical and spiritual forces shall we eliminate the double stand
 ard of morals which endangers the | nation through destruction of the phy
 sicaI and moral foundations of family | life"