Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-06-29
Children of New Mexico to Be
:: :: $: :: =: =: 3: =: $: =:
Cared For AS NeUer Before

The most important problem before
America today is the conservation of
child power.
No part of the after-the recon-
struction program of the nation is so
vital as the reconstruction of the con-
ditions surrounding children
The government did not send out
casualty lists of children that died
during the eighteen months that
America was at war. Had such lists
been issued they would have shown
that $4,000 gave their lives during
that year and a half in the service
of the United States During the
same period 100000 American chill
dren under five years of age died,
most of them from preventable causes.
Approximately one-fifth of all the
children in the country-about 5,000,-
0OO-were so undernourished. owing
10 war causes, as to be permanently
injured.
There is not a community in this
land too large or too small to have
public demonstrations in honor of the
returning heroes. 1t is their duty and
their proud privilege to welcome such
men home. But for every two of
these homecoming men there was
one man unfit to fight" This is a
fact to which real patriotism dare not
close its eyes. This work in the in
terests of child life demands virtues
different from those of the battle
fields--not physical courage and en-
durance. but spiritual courage and en-
durance, coupled with vision and pa
tience that day after day will study
the needs Of a community and can
tactfully point out its shortcomings.
You may not like figures more than
most persons do, but before you go
any further read the statistics given
here; they are authentic and are
quoted from an article by Dr., Thomas
ID. Wood, professor of physical educa-
ton of Columbia university While
you are going over the figures you
might remember this. also from DR..
Wood: "A dollar spent promptly in
timely, constructive effort to con-
serve a child's health will be more
fruitful for the child and for human
society than will a thousand dollars
applied twenty years later" Here
are the statistics:
AT least one per cent--200 600 of
the 100000 school children in the
United States-are mentally defective.
"Over one per cent-250, 600 at least
organic heart disease.
AT least five per cent, 1000. 600
have now, or have had. tuberculosis
a danger often to others as well as to
themselves.
Five per cent .000, 900 of them
have defective hearing, which unrec-
ognized gives many the undeserved
reputation of being mentally defective
of these school children have defec-
tive eyes Surely it is more humane
and economical to have the pupils
eyes tested and eyeglasses provided
than to leave children handicapped
and backward. Yet a majority of
these children have received no at
tention.
About twenty-five per cent?
100000 children-are suffering from
malnutrition, and poverty is not the
most important cause of this serious
barrier to healthy development.
From fifteen to twenty-five per
cents, 100000 to 5000, O00-have
adenoids, diseased tonsils, or other
glandular defects. Adenoids and dis
eased tonsils make backward pupils
and interfere with the child's general
development and health. No senti-
ment or superstition should be al
lowed to prevent remedial measures.
From ten to twenty per cent
000,0 to 1000, 000-have weak foot
arches, weak spines, or other joint
defects. ...
From fifty to seventy-five per cent
10, 000,0 900 TO 5000, 000-have de-
fective teeth, and defective teeth are
more or less injurious to health. Some
of these defective teeth are deadly
menaces to their owners"