The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-04-28
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN, Director,
Washington, d. @.
FEED AMERICA FIRST.

FEED AMERICA FIRST.
New York City, April 23.-The
amazing speed with which fraii or
anemic youngsters may be brought
up to normal health thru nothing
more drastic than three Well-bal-
anced meals a day, is being demon
| strated in aNnovel way in Brooklyn,
where a so-caIIed school of Eating
has been established. Here twenty
five little folks are properly fed every
day. and the results of this feeding
in weight and vitality-are recorded,
at regular intervals, upon a chart. 80
| far, they have shown conclus1vely thaI
ill health, in early life at least, is
| largely a matter of improper or IN
sufficient diet.
! This school, which is known as the
| "Children's Restaurant" is one OF the
| many Iaudable activities of the Ma
tionaI League for Women's service,
/ war organization which still flnds
plenty of opportunities for service in
peace time. one of the most pressing
of these, it believes, is the prevention
of maInutrition among growing Amerl-
cans.
This nation is contributing gener-
ously to the upkeep of innumeraple
diet kitchens in all of the stricken
European countries having congenlal
governments, So that the rising gen
erations over there may not be nope
Iessly weakened and unfit. This Is
very gallant and admirable. but what
| of our own rising generation?
| The National League for Women
! Service would have us remember the
| shocking disclosures of existing Ill
| health in this country revealed by the
late draft 1t would have us bear in
mind our large infant mortality rate.
and consider the many thousands of
undernourished children brought to
light in our children's clinics. Large
numbers of the last, weakened and
diseased by lack of proper food, will
be dependent upon charity by the time
| they are grown, whereas they might
be made strong, self-supporting citi-
zens for life if properly fed now.
In order to prove this assertion, the
league, under the direction of DIR. Carl
II. Law, opened its school of eating
last February a year ago, with twenty
five registered anemic pupils, selected
from five different public schools.
Visiting nurses in the schools did the
choosing, sending only children who
| were undernourished but who were
not diseased. This first experiment
lasted until September l, of last year,
when all of the pupils had achieved
normal degree of health.
Children Improve.
The second experiment, now under
way, is proving equally successful.
Most of the charts are again showing
a decided curve toward the red line
THAT indicates normal health. De-
cas1onally chart exhibits a line sud
denly curving down, but this is always
accompanied by some peneiled expla-
nation such as Had tonsiIs OUT
The depressing odor of charity has
been avoided in this enterprise by
charging five cents per meal, which
does not begin to pay for the cost of
of !,
which serves to enhance the impor-
lance of the diet in the eyes of the
children's parents. The conditions of
| membership are simple, but extre mely
strict. Each child must make a SOL
emn pledge not to drink tea or coffee
at home, not to eat between meals,
to wash before eating and to brush
his or her teeth after each meal. A
weekly bath is also required, from
which there is no escape. II there
are no adequate bathing facilities at
home, tub on the school premises
must be used.
The restaurant itself is a large,
light, airy room, with big, imma culate
windows, and shining blue and white
linoleum floor The delicious, appe-
tizing odor which permeates the at
mosphere must be extremely simulat-
ing to starved appetites.
In the rear of the restaurant is the
somewhat unpopular home of the
I school bathtub, to which several chill
dren wait their reluctant turns of ad-
mission every afternoon. wash
stand also occupies an honored and
conspicuous position in the school Of
flee beneath row of dangling tooth
| brushes, each bearing the printed
Jean" "Angela," and twenty-one
others. On the wall near the wash
stand, also, are the rows of charts
with their sanguine records.
In this same office, too, the moth
ers of the neighberhood are frequent
~ assembled to listen to words of
7 wisdom upon the proper upbringing
of>the child. The value of everything
that is done for the schools pupils is
explained; the Importance of clean
bodies and well cared for teeth Is en-
! phasized. and the visitors are shown
, how to extract the utmost nourish-
4 men from a soup bone or a piece of
cheese. They themselves are urged to
Z bring their children to the school for
: Weighing and measuring, and are di-
rected to clinics if in need of medical
treatment.
: In short, this Brooklyn school of
eating does on q small scale what,
child welfare authorities declare, the
ideal public school OF the future must
do for the community. For the ten
5 dency of society to make the public
school responsible for the health of
children as we'll as for their education
> is growing more and more marked
= every year. Long ago. the state, real
izing the general incompetence of pa
rents, claimed the mental training OF
the child from the ages of 6 to Ia
e years. Now it is also beginning to
claim the right to supervise the child's
health.
School Doctors.
Already medical inspection has beer
! introduced into a large number OF
I schools, and has resulted in a num-
: her of nauch-needed reforms. Tuber-
cular children have been segregated
E and placed in special fresh air classes
8 while children discovered to have
weak hearts are also receiving spe-
ciaI treatment in many cases. This
r same medical inspection. moreover
e has revealed the appalling amount OF
, inalnutritien which exists among
young school children. and the wide
: snrnad esta hIishnent of school lunches