The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1921-04-21
INFANT WELFARE WORK.

ICES II pay a community to do infan.
"ellafe work? have had both men ana
women o say to me that ii did not.
Ahey told mo of the good old DAYS on
+naIey slough wnen the streets were
auii .! alfty faced, rose checked children
JeS gfoWed without any help from
inIahs welfare organizations of any sort.
nave mad other men and women say
: IN, ~ iie mat 1t did. They pointed to the
o,san ueaeh rate among infants and
children as plocf OF their point
ias enswers often represent prejudice
~ ~ "ie BASED on little knowledge. There
are very carefully considered opinions
eS1a.t, though they are often in dis
agreement
go ar, one of the first as well as one OF
b;s e aotest vital statsticians, founded
..s5ao oi,ih ns on this crucial statement:
aay OF the strongest children arc
"ouioed and left weakly for life
,Goiiilis TO more recent times Sir Ar
- NeWsholme says high infant
oeath rate in given community Implies
~ general high death rate in the rext
four years.
brownie says an Improvement in the
daath oi.iiieht OF babies results in lower
sal rates among babies and among
Sa,N to years of age as we'll
'oa'eeoy, Havelock, Ellis and Dietrich
agree with these views.
hul slr FRANCIS Cation said when ma
49, aiiu nurture compete for suprem-
th oh equal terms the former proves
Tue stronger And Karl Pearson one of
the ablest, dearest headed statisticians
IA the world comes squarely out against
81, the iIfst group quoted and says
Wneh there is high infant mortality
.a.e there Is a low death rate among
: to 4. Almost in substance,
hIant welfare does not paw.
very able statistician has lust writ
ten the results of a study of thfs notnt
~ -. Whlch ne used the Holland vital sta
.istiss. IN many ways the HoIlanders
90 things better than anybody else and
TINS is one of them. DR.. Crum found
tlat IN Holland lowering the baby death
ray raised the death rate Of children |
10 years of age. This seemed to show
nothing ,Gs gained. hs-
save the babies. If saved they died when
d little older. The figures were corrected
ior all sorts OF factors as scientific sta
tisticiahs know how to do. Nature was
more powerful than nurture in deter
mining lie or death Of young children
This was true of all parts OF Holland ex
cept the cities of 100000 and over of
which there are four. In these efforts
at baby saving resulted in gains in both
the younger and older periods
dare say there is not much infant
welfare work In the rural districts and
smaller cities In Holland. There is in
the cities Of 10000 0and over. AS / in
terpret DR.. Crum's report it teaches that
infant welfare work such as is done In
the cities of 100000 and over As + In
ferentially it would pay to do similar
work in the rural districts and smaller
cities.
The mothercraft of the young mother
WHO lives in the rural district and the
smaller cities can be improved on con-
sfderably. OF certain group of s7.51s
male babies born in one year in Holland.
l2.167 died before reaching year OF
age. 2.462 died In the second year, $50
In the third. $40 In the fourth, and 355
in the fifth. II there could be IA saving
OF z,ooo lives In the under year group
tnot difficult accomplishment there
would have to be an unheard OF In |
crease In the older groups to offset It, !