Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-08-12
Children and w ar
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INFANT MORTALITY
BY redcs1c ]. HaskIn

The Wholesale death of babies s th
most sinister of ealamities following in th
wake of the prolonged war, becnilsc il i
the ultimate result ~ all other war evil
and because Il renders virtually npotrn
all efforts toward reconstrtlction.
The babies oil today nrc the nation o.
tomorrow them will fall tho tnsl
OF guiding II through the rock ridder
channels Of the Dcxt generation. II the
children of thcprcscnt asc are made strong
virilc and adequately equipped, the ma.
ton will pass safely through the difficult
coursc; IT they arc weak, undernourishecI
and mentally underdeveloped, the nation
must look forward to decline and perhaps
TO decay.
Realizing fully the seriousness Of the
situation, the government is now devoting
4 tremendous deal Of attention 10 the work
OF saving the babies of the United States.
| Through the Childrens Bureau Of the
Department OF Labor, and the womcn =
committees Of the Council Of National De
Tense, II IL effectiDp a great organization
for this purpose. II has already enlisted
| more than eleven million women and pro
vidcd more than 1880 local units In
| many instances the jurisdiction Of these
| units has been narrowed down to Is
| families, and when the organization is
complete, each mother in America will be
assured OF expert instruction in the care
Of her children
IN INDUSTRIAL CRITTERS
or necessity, large part of the child
welfare carnDaign will be directed toward
the large industrial cen'ers Of the country,
where, owing to deplorpble housing CON
dhlons, lack Of proper recreation areas
and other causes, infant figures show signs
OF taking an alarming increase. An illus
tration Of this is given in IMPORT bY Miss
E-telle II. Hunter to tho Children = Bureau
of an investigation into conditions pre-
valent IN Waterbury, Connecticut Water
bury is typical Of the eastern city caught
unawnres by the overnight development
of gigantic war industries.
Causes of infant mortality in Water
bury, as detailed by Miss Hunter, are
catholic enough 10 admit Of general APP
pllcation. The predominatlng medical
causes were gastric and intestinal diseases,
and closely following (amost third ot
all eases reported, were cOngcnital do
bility and premature birth The first
causes imply improper care Of the infant,
particularly IN regard 10 feeding, and con
genital debility indicates improper care
Of the mother during the period before
birth. Such conditions are themselves
the evolution of other conditions, for cz-
ample, poverty, fpulty environment, ig-
norapce and neglect
Of course, all infant deaths cannot be
directly traced 70 these conditions, but
they were undoubtedly n considerable |
factor in many OF them Castro diseases /
and intestinal disorders are largely pre-
and are usually the result of |
improper feeding. In this connection |
might bc mentioned the problem Of arti- |
iclal feeding
NATURAL FEEDING REST
The best authorities on this subject |
prescribe that, wherever possible. b4bies
hOild be fed from the breast, but where
weakness on the part OF the mother or
,thcr persons prevent this, artificial |
eedlng should be administered with the
,reatest care. Many mothers who are IN
bic TO buy a good grade Of cows milk,
rbstittite condensed milk for their babies
nfants fed on condensed milk often be-
ONE fat but as a rule they s!,l feeble
erIs.ancc to the attacks cf disease. |
authorities say that there are few children |
ed exclusively on condensed milk who |
o not show evidence Of ricketts,, and its |
Use sometimes results in sciIrvv
ignorance, and with II a fatalistic ac-
eptance of death, is another large con-
ribu'or 10 the high rate Of infant mortali-
Y. This is particularly true of foreign |
orn mothers. Miss Hunter tells OF one
lother of Waterbury's Lithuanian colony
'ho lost five chIldren-all of them fed
ON the start from the bottle. For their
eaths she gave the laconic explanation
trouble. Another mother in
,rmed the investigators that her six
lonths' old baby had died of a severe
Did
The death certificate Of this child show
'malnutritlon and bronchitis -
About thirty-two per cent OF all infant .
eaths IN Waterbury were due to condl-
ons before birth or to accident at birth. /
lst how many of these deaths might have +,
'en prevented the Children 5 Bureau
nnot estimate, but it believes that !,
rye proportion of them might have I
'en averted had proper care been taken ! .
the motht rs. Mothers should be educat- j
IN the care of themselves during preg- ;
ncy, and throughout this State should 4
under attention of skilled obstetric-
ns and competent nurses.
BEYOND POOR FOLKS MEANS. 4
Such things. however, are beyond the | /
"A ms OF great many women, nor does S
lreme poverty provide a suitable at K
ndaDco and variety of food. Economis Ct
ess often makes 1t necessary tor preg- b.
Mt women to continue at employment "
until the very hour OF labor. in this n.
Y shutting themselves off from the car T
entail to the bearing of healthy chill a
N.