Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1921-10-06
Prevention of Crime and Disease Was
Key Note of Work Done By
Various Agencies
"Man's inhumanity to man

"Man's inhumanity to man
Makes countless millions mourn"
When the poet wrote that verse
there was no Red Cross, no Health
Department, no welfare work, no or
ganized Charities in fact there was
little social work of any kind The
need of it was as great as now.
The Conference which was held in
this city from Thursday evening un-
til Saturday noon, of last week, dem
onstrated to every attendant that
there is a force in the world which is
strongly opposing the inhumanity of
man to man and alleviating its eff
fects. 1t was designed to be a dist
rict meeting of the State Conference
of Social Workers, promoted by the
University of Wisconsin Extension
Division, and brought here under the
auspices of the local Women's Fed
Grafton.
Some Attendance Facts
The meetings were held at the Elks
Club house as headquarters. Every
one who attended was asked to reg
ister, and an attempt was made to
secure the names and addresses of
all. But there were some, especially
of the local people whose names were
not secured. The register showed.
however, 231 Wisconsin Rapids in at
tendance and 354 from out of town
Twenty-one Wisconsin counties were
represented and four cities outside
the state, namely, Chicago, I'll. with 4;
Sault Ste. Marie, Mich, 1; Washing
ton, D. c., and Hattiesburg, Miss,
with l.
Wood county, outside the city of
Wisconsin Rapids, sent 90 delegates
to the Conference which included 62
from Marshfield, IA from Nekoosa,
Z from Port Edwards, from Vesper,
from Rudolph, 2 each from Auburn
dale and Arpin and l each from Bah
cock and Dexterville. Portage coun-
ty sent 80, as follows: SO from Ste
vens Point, 13 from Amherst, 5 from
Plover, 2 from Amherst junction and
l from Bancroft There were "a from
Marathon County of which 16 were
from Wausau, from Mosinee, 2
from Colby, 2 from Dancy and l from
Unity. The representation from
Clark county was 33, Neilsville hav-
ing 10, Humbird 5, Granton 4, Green
wood 3 and Abbotsford and Owen 1
each. Juneau county had 8 from
Mauston, z from Elroy, 4 from Ne
cedah and 2 from Camp Douglas,
total of 21. Adams county had Z, 8
being from Friendship, from Ad-
ans and l each from New Rome and
Strongs Prairie. The above are the
six counties in the district. The out
side counties were widely scattered
over the state, and the representa-
tiOn shows that the interest in the
work is widespread and.that the re-
suits will likewise cover large area
of the state.
AHui Sudy LScuiHS
The first session at the Elks Club
Thursday evening was we'll attend
ed and brought some very good things
to all present. Mrs. /. P. Witter, To-
cal Chairman of the Conference, in
troduced DR.. Harper of the State
Board of Health, who presided at the
session. In his opening remarks, DR..
Harper told of the work of the Health
Department by which the death rate
among young children and among
mothers has been cut down. He
pointed out that the prevention of
disease. particularly among children,
cuts down the number of criminals,
detectives and degenerates, therefore
reduces the number of dependents to
be supported at public expense in the
various charitable and penal institu-
tions, and thus reduces taxes. He
then introduced Miss Byington of
Washington, of the National Head
quarters of the American Red Cross.
who spoke of the peace-time work of
that organization. She urged that
the local Red Cross branches keep
themselves well organized and busy
at local welfare and relief work, even
if it has to be done at the expense of
the special work laid out by the Ma
tional organization which they might
be asked to do from time to time
Child Welfare Work
One of the high lights of the whole
Conference was the talk which fol.
lowed Miss Byington's by Mrs. Louis
A. Featherstone of Chicago on "Ths
Building of the Child" Mrs. Feath
erstone has charge of the Elizabetl
Mccormick Memorial Fund which i:
devoted to the promotion of health
work among children. She explained
most vividly and Interestingly hov
deficient and defective school child
rem are made normal and healthy il
the schools by thorough medical ex
aminations and proper correctiv
measures applied to their daily lives
The measures employed include tn
removing of organic defects, such a
tonsils and adenoids, the strengthen
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