Arizona republican., 1918-02-15
MOTHERS CONGRESS
 CHOSES LEADERS TO
 CARRY ON ITS WORK

Continued from Page Two delinquency in the first three years of the war. The home and the school, the natural protectors Of the children, must i be alert The newest department of the National Congress of Mothers IS ! the special extension department winch ! works for the betterment of social ac- | tivities of the community. This Is a wonderful field in prevention of evil. Time thought and energy must De i given to the recreations and amuse- ments of the children if we would hold them to the good things in life.
 '.Dr. P. P ClaXton. head of the Bu- reau of Education. says his hobby Is | the rural school and great improve i ment has been made in bringing the rural schools up to the standard of city | schools A generation ago almost any one could secure q country school, but now they are demanding as good teach CTS as anywhere else, and one of our | state normals has q modern rural school where they are training teach CTS who prefer rural work But we fall | short in the medical inspection which | is an injustice to the country child, and any trustee who sees in medical in 1 spection nothing but graft should be all ! lowed to step aside for one with better | eyesight Medical inspection is much better than nothing but to it should be added school or district nurse who ! could devote all her time to the chil- i dren in school and visiting the homes, i suggesting and advising.
 Tt is agreed that the child who is 1 deprived of the kindergarten training misses something out of his life which ] ha a towards more intelligent interest in l this subject, and definite and effective | laws regarding it.
 Better Baby Contests
 While the (Better Baby Contests | take a great deal of time and energy 1 for few apparent results, there is no computing the educational value, not only to those mothers who enter their babies for examination but the many more Who visit the educational exhibit and receive the pamphlets supplied by | the Womans Home Companion and the l Children's Bureau.
 Statistics of the Arizona Board of Health however. show a pressing need of more and better work to be done. In the report from January l to June 30, 1917, the total number of deaths in the state from all causes was 2.50S, while of those 513, or more than one fourth was of children under one year, while | 223 more children died between the ages of one and four years. During this period there were 2,S13 births, which makes the death rate of infants in Ari- zona more than IS per cent. This is higher than the percentage for the United States which is 14 per cent the highest percentage of any civilized country in the world.
 "A striking headline in a recent copy of the Literary Digest was The Cradle more fatal, than the Trench We shud- der at the thought of our boys in the trenches, but this writer shows that the man in the trench has seven chances Of living a year to one of the new born babe.
 What does conservation mean to us with such waste of human life? Du We or do We not need a district nurse in every community? Infant welfare experts estimate that at least 50 per cent of these deaths are preventable which has 'been proved by the fact that in other countries the death rate of the first year of life has been reduced to less than onc-half the death rate in the United States. Also, by the fact that in certain cities in the United States infant mortality has been reduced to l ieSS lildu HdlI the average Of the whole country and yet, Arizona, the land of sunshine and fresh air is four per cent above the average.
 Exhibit at State Fair
 At an educational exhibit at the state fair last fall a new feature was introduced, that of birth registration The year before panels from the Bu- reau of Education were exhibited showing the need of birth registration and this year list had been compiled or every baby whose birth had been registered in. Maricopa county in 1915, 1916 and 1917. It was impossible to get It Tor the entire state. but we would recommend that associations in other counties obtain such a list in their county which could be used in theil