Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-04-09
- 3D. p - rt
LESSONS NEW :
ZEALAND CAN
TEACH AMERICA
BY DIR. f. TRULY KING.
Worlds Foremost Baby Saving Ex-
pert.

- 49,
When I am asked what lessons the
United States can learn from New
Zealand in the problem Of baby saw
ing, ! am inclined to say at the out.
set that New Zealand really learned
most of her first lessons in the United
States.
Our striking success in New Zea.
land in reducing the infantile' death
rate and raising the standard Of
health of the entire community. has
been due first to Il study IF the
science of child welfare and secondly
to our method Of applying that sci.
ence. For the science itself VIC came
largely to you here in the United
States-we awaited ourselves of the
splendid research work that had been
carried out in your universities. nos
pitfalls. etc. In the methods of apply
ing such knowledge to best serve
our New Zealand conditions we may
he able to furnish you with some In
tercsting data and results.
To begin with it is fair to remem-
Der that we have an advantage IN
climate, but this may be only a tenn
porary advantage. We have prac'
California. In fact we are very II
like the pacigic coast states in prod
ucts as we'll as Innate And Yet the
climate with a small ms Of eeni-
p%erature may not be SO good N me
long run. viewed from the point ~
view OF the hardness sn& N:rtlltN -
a race. or even as regards tbs scIA&s
death rate, AS more SEVERE
Il only the mothers Srs cr,esSN
trained and ,nc babies ~ asse
proper attention AMI eSce
In Great Britain. NJ >EnS :ss aesS>
robust. >;ur6y ana l.sc22s
come FROM ,ha ro-,h - S-SSroS a-S
from Scotland ra.hsy Ie&2 t-sas sse
south rnass, No-,ss~s pseg&s> az
~unive-SailN nos>S tcr hs052-sS SS
asa;n>; he aoS1l6 peoples %
the south. 80 a N&oe S2ss q cess-
persiars w-.aI>e- rsar give SeG an
you sc. tbs r1o.hsS vel t-alcaS sos
overcome ne initial dsSeGl,se$ TIE
SsardInav.AnS. Cor example. are =
lyrical. hardy. Sc.-vs. outdoor -eacts-
ard tbs Children an AlraoS. snt1>sEv
~hrsaS,-fs6. Sar6s1srTsS infant
death rate IS iSs yves. IL europe
4 cold O. savs- eiil,s.e - ,Ssrs1o-e
no. an .asapeEah.s obstacle IN your
tight To- healthier babies ana & so1e-
death rate. On the contrary = Will
prove perhaps g -ssl aoEa71sss, L
IN the United States Yea leave No
! stone uaturaa6 TO Go justice 20 he
mother and child.
And this. as I have said again ana
again, is essentially 3 question of The
! proper education and training Of s--ls
and Of nl.o,ners-cacthers po.ecta!
and actual.
First. OF course. we mus, find on
those things which under conditions
of modern: civilization viii. make
children healthy whether in town O.
1 country: and secondly. we must SCI
the parents to apply that knowledge
We must overcome the e~Hervauns
tendencies Of civilization but *
must never yield to the notion thai
the difficulties are insuperat!e.
You have at your command IT
America ready TO put into practice
all the knowledge needed concern
ing infant welfare. What we learned
in large measure. in New Zealand
was the result of the research ant
study and experiments n practice
of your doctors. your university pro
%fessors, of the work done in your col
leges and hospitals. Under the sci
%entific Investigators who are devotin,
themselves to infant welfare research
today in the United States result
achieved. and this side of the question
must never be neglected or lost sigh
=
of merely because it is not SO mucl
in evidence.
All the material for unlimited
progress is at hand here in America
1t is only a question of bringing
knowledge to bear upon the problem
with the full force of a united publ
opinion enthusiastically behind it
That is what we have largely achiev
ed in New Zealand. 1t is hat which
has made our record in baby savin,
so outstanding. We have not bee1
content with educating a few moth
ers here and there. but we have so
tho entire community aroused to tn
vital Importance of the work. Add
ing such work to what is already, be
ing done here, I see no reason what
ever why as good or even better re
suits in regard to infant welfare an
~baby-saviug may not be achieved II
the United States.
-He1pL Light the Toroh--