The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1919-10-24

ing with rheumatism, heart trouble,
kidney diseases and many others that
can be traced beck to having defects
in childhood that might have been
corrected.
Save your children these discom-
forts by having the defects corrected
early in life. Some may doubt the
need of examination. In n months
time Id rural schools have been visit
ed, 1863 children examined, finding 83
pupils with defective teeth, 100 bad
throat conditions, Is defective vision
and 3 with defective hearing. In these
schools the sanitation and ventilation
would be classed as follows: Four
good, five fair and five poor. These
figures will no doubt help convince
some that school inspection is no FOOLS
errand, but a thing Of vital import
ance. We would like to see on re-
visiting, 100 per cent correction, but
not expecting it, for then the work
would seem quite discouraging.
Even though the corrections are few,
we must think that it's we'll worth
while, for the good results obtained
by those few will have made others
think, and probably the results will
come later. And for years to come we
will be seeing the results Of this years
work. To get over all the schools
will take a long time, but it is not the
plan that all the time shall be used
for school examinations. 1t is just
the beginning.
Although possessing the accumulat-
ed wisdom of centuries together with
the advancement of science in recent
years, we r still confronted with
the fact that one-fourth of all people
born die before reaching the fifth
year of life and 80 per cent of those
deaths r preventable. Thus there is
work for us in prevention, ever be-
fore the child reaches school age.
There are three fundamental causes
of the high infantile mortality rate,
namely, poverty, ignorance, neglect.
Ignorance of hygienic laws, their i'm
portance in relation to health, are in
excusable in those who have not had
the advantage of having this subject
presented to them. Closely allied with
this ignorance comes poverty, which,
when coupled with ignorance of per-
sonal hygiene and sanitation, is large
ly responsible for improper diet and
the proper preparing Of such food as
is available. Add to these the want
of proper clothing and housing and the
depletion of the body by exposure,
makes the victim an easy prey of dis
ease. Neglect is wholly i%nexcusable.
Through the nurse and the relief
agent the first two can be greatly re-
lieved. And thus another way in
which the nurse will benefit the COM
munity is our infant welfare work,
which will take any form that will
help the greatest number in the COM
munity. But we hope to have the
care Of the baby start from the be-
ginning with the mother during the
prenatal period.
When starting a business, the first
essential is to definitely determine
how much capital is available for the
enterprise. The successful business
man "takes stock" once or twice each
year, to see how his business stands,
and to find out how much he has to the
profit or loss. Banks request that
you leave your book once a month to
be balanced. By so doing you can
keep an eye on your balance and not
overdraw your account. If these
things are necessary to conduct a sue
cessful business and make financial
success of life, how much more import
ant is it that every person should
know something about his physical re-
sources and how much vitality he has
for business and living. Don't you
think it is time you were taking stock
of your physical resources-to see
what kind of a physical business you
are running. The child with a school
examination, has had an inventory and
it can be determined the amount Of
physical capital he has with which to
begin the business of living. Adults
have their physical bank books bal
anced regularly to see how they stand
physically. This should not be put
off until the frightening Of the shad-
ows warn that the end is drawing
near. Begin it at once.
! How do you suppose your balance