Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-02-10
ASK FOR $4,000
TO CONTINUE WORK
Of CHILD WELFARE
Mrs. Perkins Describes the I'M
portance of the Situation and
Need of Support.
DETAILS OF THE EXPENSE

Stat, House. Dover, Feb. l0.-At a
Joint session off the General Assembly to-
day. Mrs. Ina \ Perkins made an appeal
IN behalf Of an appropriation for the work
of the Child Welfare Commission. She
said
Tho bill under which the Reconstruction
Commission is operating permits actlvl-
ties of anv kind in regard to child welfare
Shortage of funds and the great need Tor
intensive child health work, which Is
Fundamental to all child welfare, has made
us specialize III the child health llne, al
though we have conducted, TO limited
degree such related activities as could
be carried on with little or not expense.
We have oDerafcd sixteen child health
ccntcrs. wholly or in part, and main
tanned a related Instructive home nursing
service At centers and homes we have
gwen health service to S, ,075 mothers. ha-
hics and children. with most satisfactory
results Miss Lockwood who has super
vScd the child welfare nurses engaged IN
MS work will describe 1t to you more
fully In addition we have helped to make
possible medical and nursing service IN
the rural schools by furnishing iull time
physician and considerable nursing scrv-
ice for such work In this work we have
examined and IN large measure gwen fnt-
low up service on cases needing u 10 q, 10Y
school children We also arranged and
promoted the II. :. i. II. ;. Dental mt
Campaign OF last spring that aroused
an interest resulting IN the creation OF the
present travelling dental unit that le Civ
ing such good service to~ncrcasc the health
of rural children The Commission also
organized Statewide Child Welfare
study that materially increased the under
standing Of the problems and desirable
measures for child welfare. ln tho carly
fall We conducted a Go-to-School cam
paign among employed children all over
the State that persuaded \ number Of
children to continue their studies since
bv law, We are instructed to make icglSIa-
tive recommendations for child welfare.
We have carefully reviewed The needs Of
tho children Of the state 50 that We might
recommend lnteligcntly
We are here today IN tho interest 81
our nrircipa leg slat vc recommended on,
that :. 10 urge the passage II a hill for
Tho continuation Of such work rs we are
now doing, because we know II is Of vital
importance for the children of tho state
We are asking for the creation Of hid
Welfare Commission. with an annual ar
propratinn of 5000 600 said commission
10 come IN to CNIStencc coluCldcntailN
with the dissolving of the RCcorstruc-
ton Commission. which. hcCallSC Y y a
temporary body. Will automatically 20
out of existence in April. We ask fer the
sum named. fully rca zlrE I Is q verv great
deal II money. and ~horld not hc lightly
accorded by the State. We also aSk p
with Il full realization Of the economic
value such an appropriation viii mean ior
Delaware If granted, Il VIII hCar large
interest in terms Of actual dollars n the
= n
diyidual> would oth.vise have 70 bear for
nreventallc causes of death lllress, de
nendency mcntal and physical defect
tveness OF :,Il kinds and crime We know
we arc submitting good huslncss prop
osition 10 YOU whom VIC ask for lnorcy
that Will buy good health tor the rl>Ing
cereration
Shortress of tune allotted for this hear
ing makes Us rCfraIn from gong i1-liy
into any details even IS 70 finances y
anyone wishes for fuller statements
than the summarized oEcs following we
shall be very glad to furnish any lttoyma-
1Ion desired We have carefully temlzcd
and classified accounts that have been
professionally audited We wish 10 en-
phasize that $50. 600 does not represent
padded budget. II Is based upon impera--
tive needs and definite known cost OF
1920 work. plus what i Tcccssary TO
develop the work being yer temporarily
earned IN some places by local committees
In the spirit Of 'tldlrC over uuul ms
Legislature gives relief, plus tho cost tor Q
travelling child health center 80 serve
sparsely settled portions Of the State
30 that they may have All adequate cmid
health service: plus a provision for pald
medical service Al all centers. 50 hat the
state can MAINTAIN cor slsteutly self
respecting attitude in rs cfuld healthWork
as il could not do If il were 10 Continue
20 ask free service from the physicians
The commission feels there Is 10 reason
why physicians should go on indefinitely
giving so ger rerously as they have Of their
time and service 10 the state health
work, any more than that teachers Of the
state should be asked to teach without
being paid
Following Is q statement Of actual IL
come and expenditures for 1920 for work
done under the Reconstruction Commls-
sion. State money, S25, 900; private con
tributions through Woman C0mmlttee
treasury. S20,62564. total So, ,62 5 "a
Expenditures. S450S666, balance De
cember 81. 1920 S53S 9S Woman Com
mittce funds
This amount of 1920 expenditures means
what actually spent in money passing
LuIOUEu Inc OlilC' 81 LIlf = OUlHl4SNIOii- ~
does not represent the complete cost OF
HE work done under the Commission
ssace there were many donations of
articles or service that should be included
TO arrive at really complete cost Of the
work However. In order TO avoid any
J basis of computation that might be open
20 argument. the commission has reckoncd
: with the 1920 actual costs as first item
for the budget on which the appropriation
feature Of the Child Eelfare bill is based
Therefore, S45, ,086.66 basic operating ex-
pense, So 500 to operate work being
financed now by local committees,
81, 1884 for travelling child health
center, SQ,940 for medical services at
nenters total, 100000
Following is d more detailed sum
inarized budget Operating 10 fixed
renters and related visiting nursing
service, s36, ,7S2 10; medical service at
centers, 50 940; salary superintendent
nurses, So 900 travelling child health
center, 81 1888 development work.
81 1,51456; travelling expenses. 81 ,290,
administrative expenses ~ Chief clerk,
81 500 clerk 5000 rent, 5000; tele-
phones, $3.50; printing and stationery,
81 900; postage, kilograms, supplies, etc,
$3.50; two typewr ers, 5000 ST, 100;
total, 100000
4 II