Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-07-03
REGISTRATION OF
BIRTHS REQUIRED
Delaware in Line With Most
Other States Where
This is Done.

When the war broke ont and the mon OF
certain age groups were called to defend
their country 1t early became apparent
that in many cases disputes us TO age could
not tie settled legally owing 10 the large
number Of men whose births had not been
recorded In addition to this very important
matter American citizens IN foreign co'ln-
tries who could not prove their nationality
through birth registration records were
subjected TO all manner of difficulties
either 10 keep out of foreign armies or 70
return to America. Persons desiring To
obtain passports were ut once confronted
with the question Of obtaining certified
copv of the record of their birth. Never
before IN the history Of our country had
tic Importance of accurate birth rcgistra-
ton been So forciblv brought before the
people and never before had our defective
cgistratlon of births Eccn SO clearly rec
ognizcd 1t is the intention Of the state
Board Of Health to see that future cltl-
zens Of Delaware are never placed IN such
a Illuminating or embarrassing position.
TIE State Board Of Health is continual
IL receiving requests for certified copies OF
firth rccorIs IN order to prove I'D nation
ahtv, (2) age under child labor laws,
{3l school age, - right to marry, especial
lv If the marriage is 10 take place abroad
(5l voting age in case of dispute (6) right
10 inherit property. % rights under pen
sion laws. lS) right Ia hold certain public
offices where a minimum age Is specified,
90 ancestry, and (l0l right to Federal
protection. Proper studies of health con
ditions cannot he made without complete
reports Of births nor can infant welfare
work tie performer To the best advantage
urkss we know promptly where the
IabicS are being born that are most likely
10 reed medical and nursing care hy the
official agencies
The Federal authorities have for
number of wears been irving 10 improve
birth registration throughout the coun-
try. al il has been realized that only by
continual proddrng nv central authority
can good results be obtained. As result Of
this camuaicr 23 states now have their
registration of births on . satisfactory basis
and these states form what IS known as
the Registration Area for Births This Is
the only part o! the United States in which
accurate studies can be made regarding
infant mortality. Last wear Delaware
was admitted to the Death Registration
Area and the effort is to be made TO have
the state admitted 10 the Birth RcglStra-
tion Area this fall Continued failure to
be admitted is public admission that we
cannot enforce our laws and that we do
not consider our babies worthy Of registra-
ton. an honor that we unhesitatingly ac-
cord all OF our pure-bred animals.
Oniv by the active corporation Of all
interested persons-phvsicians nurses,
registrars. parents, and officials-can this
desired result be obtained. The various
nurses at work throughout the State
pubnc and private-have a wonderful op-
portunitv 10 assist in this work, especially
in an educational way. All public health
school and general welfare nurses are es-
pccalIy requested to make note of all
babies in their districts and TO turn the
names in at the central Office in Dover so
that they nav be checked back upon the
original returns. The nurses are also re-
quested to ask the midwives repeatedly
in their districts whether they have re-
ported all of their births.