Norwich bulletin., 1918-06-17
Views of the vislantes
GIVE THE soys A FAIR CHANGE
By J. Frank Davis of The ysgiIantes

01 The f9St1Ah-So
 Suppose you had a son-a boy be-
 tween twenty -one and thirty -ene years old. Perhaps you have.
 And suppose a, trustworthy doctor told you the boy was not in good
 health-that he was below par-that he was irreyocably handicapped n his fight with life.
 And suppose the doctor told you the illness might have been preyenten II you had taken the right steps and that he added: Tt is probably too late to cure this boy, but I can tell you how to prevent these younger sons of yours from following in his footr steps. You have it in your power to see that your other boys have a far better chance far health, and the. re- cipe is one that will not only them ] this chance but they will eh9ey the treatmen, which will seem to them i like boyish game
 i What would you say-and do? i Would you give those younger sons 1 their fair chance, or would you be ] optimistic and go on in the same old way, trusting to Providence or luck :, We'll, all this has happened, not to your son, perhaps, but to our sons. 1 We have just been startled by the I young men between the ages oi l twenty-one and thirty one cannot 1 pass the not toe strict tests of the Il National Army,
 1 One quarter of the boys drafted
 suffered from physical disability. One-aaafter of the young men called by lot from all the young men oi those ages (which means a fair aver age of the youth of the country. ol
 all classes) physically unseund to ar extent that means not only incapacltl
 healthy citizen.
 Ons-euarter of our youth handi capped for the task of living a usefu and successful life
 Il At the same moment that we lear . this disturbing fact we also receive a1 object lesson as to it's remedy. Immediately, if we are the shrewd hard headed, clear thinking peepl } that we like 10 think we are, we grasi
 the remedy. Immediately we unite t
 do the obvious thing that shall Tnak
 our younger boys stronger than thes
 older ones.
 ,I Do we?
 II We do not. At least, not all of U l do. Some of us even oppose the us
 l Of the remedy, just as ignorant peo pie, in time of plague. fight the sayin rninistratiens of the sanitary squad.
 I sat opposite youth of twenty
 two from New England town, 9, fs' i evenings ago, and listened while h = l talked about his work and play in tn B big army camp that is located on th y border of the city where l live: H f touched upon the matter of health in
 cidentaily, hardly aware that he WE = doing so.
 ri At home he had always censidere r himself in fairly good condition, $ said. True, he caught cold preti n easily, and was subject, on the winte 4 to sore throat And quite 8 fe ?, things to eat didn't agree with him y ina zine a boy of twenty-tWo vii l. incipient dyspepsia! And l. had always been rather thin; ,- mother hated to see him drafted, b. n cause she feared he was not rebu .- enough to stand the strain.
 e He mentioned these things as pas
 ing comment in connection with u " information that he had outgrown h n uniform, having gained twenty -eig e pounds during the five months he he n been in the army. Also, he said a could eat anything now, and he had h had a cough, or a sore throat, le even a slight cold, this past winter.
 This youths military service has a l- 1 redGV R1V6n IlI1l p6ftECt IiSh1lAi- III 1' Id dition to training and discipline tn le will be invaluable to him in the con l. ing years. Also. he has travelled qui le widely. and is a broader minded cit IS zen at twenty two than he would fa' ts been at fifty if he had never left hon eiI Where is our boasted America ,e common -sense that some of us ts not want to take the step that " n give this boon of better health, bett
 discipline to fit them for the probleT as of life, and greater breadth of vie ,h to all our woung men?
 -nI Universal training would do it v. physical and mental developme le through the school years and militia le training for a year or so at the t1r ed when the boy has arrived at the pro l. CT age for it to do him the most zoe es That such training will also preTe is i us from ever again being capg ,y shamefully unprepared by a tfeache t. ous enemy is of vital importance, b Id if there should ever again be " ed in all the world and if, from now un n- lDoomsday. the United States e
 happily remain at peace, it still VOL le be a fairly important thing to ha es made stronger and better men out oy our boys. If we see to it from nc
 on that all our boys and young m he are properly trained, then. in time he war we shall not be shocked by lear Tn ing that one-quarter Of our you nd men are physically unfit.
 !" And one quarter of our young m