The Alaska daily empire., 1921-09-23
CHILDHOOD 10
 BE CONSERVED
B el lgium Pushes National Measure Which Was Re-
 tarded by War.

WASHINGTON, D. C., Sept. 23- Belgium is working out a program for the conservation of childhood, according to information reaching the Children Bureau of the Depart ment of Labor. How intelligence, determination and united effort tri- umph over conquest, war and famine is vividly portrayed in paper read at the second International Confer ence on the Protection of Childhood recently held in Brussels, by Dr. Rene Sand of the University of Brussels, a copy of which has reach ed Washington.
 l According to this paper even dur ing the years of occupation, when 1 the Government had left Belgian soil and the only central co-ordinat- ing agency was the voluntary Comite National, public health activities were started on hitherto unknown scale, and for the first two years ! there was an actual decline in in- | fant mortality. pr. Sand accounts for this in part by the cessation of industrial work for women.
 Retarded Full Year.
 l The average Belgian child was, at the time of the armistice. one full year backward in normal develop ment; the weight of the average Brussels schoolbOy was three pounds below normal, while the average schoolgirl was seven pounds below normal.
 The first step ill the medical re- construction of industry was the es- tablishment of an independent Labor Medical Service which includes in it's functions the protection of ex- pectant mothers and nursing work ing women and the care of the health of working children. The serv- | ice immediately formulated con- structive program which enlisted the cooperation of all agencies concern ed in the promotion of public health, including the health of working mothers and their children. i In the United States eighteen States provide for the physical exam inatiOn of every child entering i'm dustry. but no State has provided for examinations of working child | ren at regular intervals. Belgium has adopted the advanced program of medical examination for every ! juvenile not later than a month after it ha sentered an industrial ! occupation, to be repeated once a year until the child reaches eighteen and oftener in case of disease d
 Working Youth Protected.
 | Belgium has realized that health protection in the community must go hand in hand with health pro- | tectiont in industry and Dr. Sand ! emphasizes the following points: General public health work, child welfare, housing, the restriction of alcohol consumption and education and recreation both for adults and children.
 A national children's board has been established which is maintain- ed by public and private funds. The child welfare program includes the periodical free examination Of child- ren under three years of age. brought by their mothers for exam ination, the establishment of free medical dispensaries for expectant mothers the diffusion of Knowledge relating to infant health and mater n2l nursing. and the supervision of boarded-out children under seven years of age The cost of child well fare work is borne One-half by the State. one-fOurth by the province and one-fourth by the municipality.
 Sea vapor is not salty, the salt be-