The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-01-10
THE TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORMATION BUREAU
By FREDERIC j. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington. d. O.
RURAL MOTHERS.
The Chiidren's bureau Would Offer
Them Government Aid

The Chiidren's Bureau Would Offer
Them Government Aid
| Washington, JAM THE United
States childrens bureau has just COM
pleted a study of maternal and infant
mortality in American rural districts.
The results of which show the urgent
| need of a system of government aid to
mothers, such as that recently outlined
by Miss Julia Lathrop, chief of the
bureau.
Miss I4athrop suggests that the fed
| eral government grant appropriations
to states in aid of maternity and in
FAINT protection just as it grants APP
/ preparations to states in aid of agricul-
tural extension work. Under what is
known as the SInith-Lever act, the
government shares with each state the
cost of maintaining travelling agricul-
tural experts, who go from one-rural
community to another, spreading the
knowledge of modern agricultural
methods and the principles of home
economics.
Now what Miss Lathrop proposes is
that the government share with each
state the cost of maintaining public
/ health nurses who will teach rural
| mothers the care of themselves and
their babies just as public school
| teachers teach older children arith-
metic and history For the investiga-
| tons of the bureau have shown that
|
responsible for the extremely high
mortality rate for both mothers and
| babies in our rural sections.
| Maternity is question which, eth
| er thru ignorance or indifference to it's
dangers, has never received the prop
| er amount of attention in this coun-
try. Frequently. thru a mistaken
/ sense of propriety, 1t is absolutely
ignored. While the mortality rate
from typhoid fever has been cut in
half since 1900, The rate from tuber-
| culosiS tremendously reduced and
| that from diphtheria reduced to less
than one-half, the mortality rate frem
| child birth has remained practically
the same. Statistics show that about
| fifteen thousand women die annually
from this cause, the death rate from
child birth among women from fifteen
to forty-four being equaled only by
that from tuberculosis
In the last few years infant welfare
stations have been established in va
rious cities for the purpose of treat
| ing mothers and infants and dissem-
mating information concerning ma
| ternity. Here the expectant mother is
instructed in her own care, skilled SUI
pervision is provided before the birth
of her child, and suitable care during
| confinement. It is also impressed upon
| her family that within the limit of it's
abilities she must have nourishing
food, sufficient rest and freedom
| from worry Moreover. in the case of
| an emergency the city woman is al
ways within reach of a hospital
In the country things are different.
| Except in occasional instances the
| maternity clinic has not penetrated
into the rural sections and there is an
appalling lack of knowledge on the
subject. Women live on isolated
clan; they seldom consult doctor be-
I fore the birth of their children; often
| they work very hard during the har-
vesting season in spite of pregnancy,
and in case Of an emergency the roads
! are usually too bad to permit a trip to
| the hospital. 1t is no wonder, then,
that the maternal mortality rate in
| rural sections is greater even than
| that in the cities.
A year ago, when the children's bu-
reau was engaged in an investigation
of infant mortality in American cities,
| it began to receive letters of inquiry
from various country women. Most of
| them wanted books on the maternal
and infant welfare, and a few ex-
planned why they wanted them. One
| North Dakota woman wrote:
| THE greatest need in our COM
munity, which is situated in prairie
country subjected to terrible billiards.,
and with roads almost impossible or
| no roads at all, is rural nurses Wom-
en- on homesteads often die in child
| birth . . because of no doctor and
no nurse. If the department could
| find a way to have a rural nurse sys-
| tenn established it would be the best
cality ever known, where we some
times have to go thirty or forty miles
to a doctor"
Another woman who lived on a
ranch in an isolated strip of country,
after describing her own particular
anothe-' mother took sick and went
into awful sinking spells. There she
lay all day with us neighbor women
around I only stayed until after the
baby came. The mother lived four
days and never came to. About three
hours before she died they got doc
tor there. He said if he had been sent
for in time he could have saved her.
She left a baby boy
These letters alone are sufficient
argument for the system of govern
ment aid proposed by Miss Lathrop,
but the agents of the bureau, who
went into these remote districts and
actually lived there in order to study
conditions, uncovered hundreds OF
such cases. Thus Miss Lathrop de-
clares that not only are rural nurses
badly needed, but there should be con-
ference centers at county seats or else
where, taffording convenient oppor-
tunity to secure examination of well
children and expert advice as to their
best development" that adequate con-
finement care should be provided, and
that hospital facilities should be made
available and accessible for mothers
and children.
The bureau does not expect to have
, this plan put thru congress this year
owing to the terrific pressure of war
legislation, but it confidently expects
that some action will be taken by the
: | government next year.
| The war has only served to empha-
size the Importance of maternal and
. infant welfare work in Europe where