The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1921-07-07
OBLIGATION OF THE STATE TO CHILDHOOD

Jrdoe Ben Lindsey made striking address recently poi
tho National Education Association The Parenh0oo Oh ''
State" 3 a s. sobool
u ared that the conception and founding OF the Tree s
system itself the acknowledgment OF the that
entape on the part of the state and that 1t is logca "
~ ote has an obligation the character TO perform Ill w
serving the health and morals Of its children .on.
The state should that laws scientifically iranea
that the child shall be well born and reared IN proper ~
that is as far as possible protected from the taht OIL
sanity and crime, and from the e'h ene'' u p'
under-nourishment . - ~ ,oroer
This may be called paternasm by some ana ye! we o
think of our system public education as paternasuc III any
The world making rapid progress in the study Oh t s'a
question: and it is high time that steps were taken 10 ~ w L
arm of society about the multitude OF boys ana girls VIII" ~
h+ into +be world under heavy handicap and reared III sur
rd;nos which blight their lives before they have fary
Tbe time to save boy bandit the nine months peloe anu W
nine months after his birth - Judge Lindsey nsists'
uhst Hoover has said that eff could grappe with the
ho, child situation for one generation public health our pup
efficiency and the moral character sanity ana s'aoS " ~
would be advanced three generations in one 80
There can be but little question that IN the lar iui en
look back upon present period and those that nave P
real sense clark ages for the race and snail marVel Una.
was 50 mmasurably blind and unneigent in its care Oh
M m nossbe for the world except each generation
fd in it's formative period to higher level physically men1aE
hand morally. . g. g o,;ov
The world war revealed suddenly the woefu effects OF poy
neglect with respect to health and education OF the young
hood of the nation Muttudes of men called into the '
hshmnt bv the seecv service act were found to De meh
ent and physically incapable of bearing arms lens OF 'no
Ids were wholly erate and other tens of thousands were ~
with defects due neglect and which could have been ana "
MANY instances remedied completely
Sxteen million of the school children of the country TO-DAY nave
vca defects which most remedabe pu WHICH are
Icing allowed to go without proper treatment Certainly TIE us
in this direction positive disgrace enlightened people
children are placed school by compulsory education law tn
have right to expect scientific and kfu attention as the
s reoa;ved who were drafted into the camps time OF war
Dr. D Wood of Columbia University, says:
Te scattered partial spasmodc efforts made at present lo
child health are hardly more drops the great ocean OF ma
ons need for the real welfare of its children 1t Impossible
estimate with accuracy the loss the nation and to the world
nv failure conduct 100 per cent program In the HELD OF cho
health -. .,
Ou schools are wasting sums in educating OF uys
to tuca the children who handicapped by heah when h
expenditure of much smaller amounts Judicial health program
would produce an extraordinary saving economy and ehcency
dollar spent promptly timely constructive effort to conserve
child health will fruitful for the child and for human so
citv than will thousand dollars applied twenty years later Ih
pcpe Of national finds its first and most vital application
the conservation of the health OF the children
Such work done for childhood will multiply like stars
night and steel of the nation and light the future
the race with new and better hope