Arizona republican., 1921-04-29

printed name of its owner-"Marie." "Pietro." "Jean," Angelo" and 21 others. On the wall near the wash stand, also, are the rows of charts with their sanguine records
 In this same office. too, mothers of the neighborhood are frequently assembled to listen to words of wis dom upon the proper upbringing of the child. The value of everything that is done for the schools pupils is explained; the importance of clean bodies and we'll cared for teeth is emphasized, and the visitors are shown how to extract the utmost nourishment from a soup bone or a piece of cheese. They. themselves, are urged to bring their children to the school for weighing and messur- ing, and are directed to clinics if in need of medical treatment
 In short, this Brooklyn school of eating does on a small scale what child welfare authorities declare the ideal public school of the future must do for the community For the ten- dency of society to make the public school responsible for the health of children as well as for their educa- | tion, is growing more and more marked every year. Long ago, the state. realizing the general incom- l petence of parents. claimed the men tai training of the child from tha | ages of 6 to 14 years. Now it is all | so beginning to claim the right to su- pervise the child's health.
 | In order to prove this assertion, | the league. under the direction of Dr. Carl H. Law. opened its school of eating last February a year ago, with 25 registered anemic pupils, se- I lected from five different public l schools ligiffnO in
 schools did the choosing, sending
 only children who were undernour- l ished, but who were not diseased
 This first experiment lasted until | Sept. l of last year, when all of the pupils had achieved a normal de-
 gree of health.
 | Children Improve
 The second experiment now under | way is proving equally successful l Most of the charts are again show | ing decided curve toward the red
 line that indicates normal health | Occasionally a chart exhibits a line
 suddenly curving down. but this is
 always accompanied by some pen
 ciled explanation such as had ton | sils out"
 The depressing odor of charity has
 been avoided in this enterprise by
 charging cents per meal, which
 does not begin 10 pay for the cost Of the food and service. of course. but | which serves to enhance the impor-
 tance of the diet in the eyes of the
 children's parents. The conditions
 of membership are simple, but ex- l tremely strict. Each child must take
 solemn pledge not to drink tea or coffee at home. not to eat be-
 tween meals, to wash before eating
 and to brush his or her teeth after l each meal. A weekly bath is also re- quired, from which there is no es- | cape. If there are no adequate bath
 ing faculties at home, a tub on the
 school premises must be used.
 School Doctors
 Already medical inspection has I been Introduced into a large num- Der of schools and has resulted in a
 number of much-needed reforms. Tu-
 bercular children have been segre-
 gated and placed in special fresh air classes, while children discovered tc
 have weak hearts are also receiving
 special treatment In many cases. This
 same medical inspection. moreover.
 has revealed the appalling amountsoi
 malnutrition which exists among the
 young school children, and the wide l spread esta blishment of school lunch | es has been the result.
 | Europe was the first to realize that
 the provision of a hot, nutritious lunch to school children was as great
 a need as the provisions of text books
 and school lunches were introduced
 over there as far back as 30 years ago. In 1898. the first school lunches
 were started in this country, in Phil
 adelphia, provoking widespread in l terest and discussion. It was not un- , til 1908 that New York opened lunct counters in two public schools anC ! then not on it's own initiative. bu' through the efforts of a private or ganization. These immediately proved so successful that since ther a fund of s5O,000 has been appro-
 priated to start a far reaching schoo lunch system by which good food well selected and scientifically pre- : pared, will be served at cost.
 Other cities have been equally pro
 sressive in the matter of schoo
 lunches. Of S6 cities of 50,000 o more population, = are now offer. , | ing lunches in their schools.
 An idea of the importance of thii B provision may be gathered from tn, records of visiting nurses workin; in the tenement neighborhoods O p New York, who find that 50 per cen of the children in these districts 2 drink tea and coffee in place of mil