Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1920-01-16
EDWIN DEv|NE TALKS
TO LOCAL AUDIENCES
distinguished Visitor Talks to Stu
dents of State College and Before
Chamber of Commerce

of DR.. Edwin I. Devine, associate
EDITOR of Survey" and distinguished
lecturer and Red Cross worker. Dr..
Deyine in the morning addressed the
student body of the State College,
dealing with the three RS" in so
cial uplife, Revolution, Reaction and
Reconstruction. At noon he was "a
guest at the chamber of commerce
citizens, dealing separately with
three items of statistics brought out
by the late war, items which, he said
should be burned into the minds of
the people of the United States
The first item had to do with
health statistics, the speaker point
ing out that 80 13 per cent of the
young men of the nation were re-
jected for military service because
OF physical disability, and that fully
so per cent We're not available for
active front-line duty because OF
physical imperfections. He urged
the Importance OF public interest
in public health and stated that a
large percentage of the defects noted
in the young men called under the
draft could have been remedied had
they been properly cared for at the
right time,
I'VE must recognize the fact
said Dr. Devne, that many of the
defects which make young men I'M
lit for military service also prevent
them from becoming the most sery-
ieeable citizens
Dr. Deyine urged a campaign for
better health, suggesting instruction
by mothers, child hygiene, industrial
hygiene and various other measures
as important integrals in the general
health reconstruction Oh the nation.
He suggested that the nation should
have a cabinet officer, who would
he secretary of public health, to lead
the work, and that health should be
made one of the great ideals of the
American people. Let us cultivate
passion for living on the heights,
physically he said, and closed his
remarks on this subject with a re-
iteration of the quotation that every
death under 100 should be regarded
dnath hxy ,1h,
The deplorable extent of illiteracy
IN the United States, as shown by the
statistics on that point during the
war was the second point touched
ty DR.. Deyine. The census report :
OIL 10 yers ago indicated illiteracy in
IL per cent of the persons enumerat-
ed, but the records of army camps
curing the war showed an illiteracy
among the young men reaching from
~ to 40 per cent, with not a camp
showing less than 20 per cent. The
oig increase in the percentage of il
hterates was due largely to the more
thorough tests conducted at the army
camps, where the mans word was not
TAKEN as final. Camp Dodge, in a
state which, in 1910, showed a CEN
sus iiliteracy of only two per cent,
showed % per cent of young men
VINO could neither read nor write.
Inc speaker pointed to the i'm
portance of greater attention to the
eoucation of the ynung people as a
constructive policy, and stated that
tne adoleseent period in every young
PERSONS life belongs to education,
not to industry.
me alarming percentage of I'M
1aturalized aliens was the third item
statistics pointed out by DR.. De-
'ine' TO per cent of the population
se'hg placed in this class, with an
er increasing percentage during
ne past 30 years. with the exception
- the past few years, when war con-
eohs made the immigration of
ns difficult. He defined "Ameri-
nization" as an attempt to create
pest possible living and working
oitions for the American born
the foreign born so that both
nay get the best possible satisfac-
'on from their efforts as citizens
e speaker urged a closer union
the great nations of the world,
specially the United States, Great
h and France as one of the
vital steps toward the Demo-
- Naeion OF the world but he point
out that we must have, here at
nut one flag. one citizenship