The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-06-09
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
Blu RE ~
FREDERIC ]. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington. d. c
SCHOOL KIDS STRIKE FOR MORE
GRVIR
Washington. D. c

I
GRUB.
| Washington, D. c., June "a new
union has recently sprung up thruout
! the country, LED by hundreds of school
/ teachers, and backed by the division
| of school hygiene of the United States
| bureau of education. 1t does not de-
mand a raise in wages. Instead, it
adopts the unique platform that the
acquisition of money is unimportant
so long as you get a quart of milk
| day, an egg and some fresh fruit and
vegetables, ten hours of sleep, and
| new tooth brush when you need it.
The union already numbers over
| 100000 members, all from 5 to 16
years old, whose object is to get their
| parents to give them these things,
| which the organizers loudly assert, are
necessary to health.
Parents have not been providing
| these necessities, according to the
leaders of the union, who point out
| that over 100000 of its members
| are scrawny and underweight The
| parents, in turn, declare that they
cannot afford, in many instances to
| comply with the demands of the
union. They can barely keep up the
home as it is they complain bitterly.
This has been an extremely critical
period for ome-makerS," declared a
| prominent parent in an eastern city
| recently. Prices of raw materials,
/
| still are especially high, so that any
| increase of burdens is apt to bring on
a panic among the nations homes.
| And then where would the children
| be? Under the circumstances, there
fore, we cannot help but feel that
these reforms are up to the COM
munity %
In twenty-eight states in the Union,
communities have already accepted
this challenge to a certain extent.
They have sent for the. pamphlets on
child health, recently issued by the
| bureau of education, and have pro-
ceeded vigorously to follow instruc-
tons. By the use of scales and tape
| measures the assertion of the union
| that nearly half of the American
school children are underweight, has
been proved true. The boards of edu-
cation and the local newspapers have
| taken up the campaign with great
enthusiasm. Children are being called
| into mass meetings and told what they
| need. Usually, these meetings occur
every day in the school room. At the
end of each month, the children are
weighed and measured again, and the
record sent home on each monthly
| report card.
But the most important thing that
various communities have done to
| help both the children and their par
ents out is to furnish hot, nourishing
lunches in the schools. The school
lunch idea is quite ancient. As early
as 1890 it was born in Europe, and
from that time on began to appear
| In one form or another in various
countries. Before the war, half the
cities in Germany contributed to the
! support of school breakfasts or din
ners. School feeding started in France
| in 1S49 when the national guard of
the second destrict of Paris suddenly
| found that it had an unused balance
In its treasury and presented it to the
| CITY, with the provision that it be used
| TO assist poor children in obtaining
an education. School restaurants are
now maintained thruout France. It
| is interesting to know that Victor
Hugo started England feeding school
children in the early sixties by fur
nishing hot lunches in his own house
! in Guernsey for the children in a
passed provision of meals act, which
| made a restaurant part of every
| schools equipment.
This brief outline of the growth of
school feeding is inserted by wav of
assuring any doubtful persons that it
is not an experiment, somewhat risky
TO a child's digestion, but has been
carried on successfully for many years
IN the most progressive European
NSNAiNi III lIllS country, un1Or-
! tunately, it has always been regarded
as charitable undertaking. The first
school lunches were established in
New York in 1855 by the Children's
Ala society, and since then the odor
of charity has chung persistently to
the school lunch idea in New York
In Chicago. lunches have actually
been provided in several schools out
or the appropriation of the board of
| education. Altogether school lunches
have now been introduced in forty
American cities.
The weighing and measuring test,
| which has shown the tremendous
number of undernourished children,
has given great impetus to the school
lunch movement. Every community
which has weighed it's kids is con-
WINGED that lunches are the next step,
and is organizing means to provide
| them. To these communities the guild
! ance of the division of school hygiene
! OF the bureau of education, which has
carefully investigated nutrition ex-
periments in various schools, will be
| of great assistance.
/ Health play schools" esta blished in
| New York last summer for the all-day
| care of undernourished children were
one of these experiments. Under the
! leadership of the Federation for Child
| Study seven of these schools were con-
Quoted By five different organizations
| The New York board of education
contributed two school buildings, the
| use of kitchen, two woodworking
| s. ops. baths in public school buildings,
| steamer chairs and kindergarten sup
| plies, and furnished thirty-nine teach
ers. District nurses. for home visiting
| and for follow-up clinical cases, were
provided by the city health depart
| ment. Free transportation for the
children's outings was secured by the
department of charities. The settle
| ments gave the use of their plants for
three centers, one of which they fl
! OF Medicine, thru a special committee
| of doctors. arranged for the medical
examinations and for general medical
| supervision. Story-tellers and books
were contributed by the public library
For two months the schools took
| hundreds of New York children off
| the streets and gave them the healthy.
| normal lives that should belong to all