The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1922-10-08
Important Child Wei
fare Convention This
Month in Capital.

| The baby is coming into his own and
the stork, whose duty from time i'm
memorial has been to bring tiny bun
dies of happiness and cheer safely to
i earth, is glad.
While the stork always has been
ready to do his part. however, others
have been a bit lax in taking up
where he leaves off, with the result
that many-far too many-of his prect-
Gus little bundles are lost. What
brings rheer to the heart of the stork
now is the fact that a great national
gathering of men and women, trained
in their work and representing every
section of the country. is to meet in
washington this month to focus the
attention of an all-too- busy world ON
the question of carrying on what he,
the stork, has begun.
In Continental Memorial Hall, in
IWashington, made famous by a recent
conference which sought to abolish
weapons of warfare and death among
men, the American Child Hygiene As
!sociation gill hold it's annual meeting
this month as a step toward bringing
about the abolition of a menace far
more dangerous to mankind than war
ships or poison gas-the ignorance
which allows thousands of little chill
dren and their mothers to die, when
they might be saved.
The average American baby-deliV-
cred c. O. D. at the door-has just
about ninety-three chances out of
hundred of growing into a fat, rosy
checked, isping youngster a year old.
His mother, who plays an important
part in the stork performance, has
ninety nine and a fraction out of
hundred chances of living to care for
him. That is one way to look at it.
IBut every year there are approximate
il 2,500,0O0 babies born, and of this
number, about $4,000 die before they
are a year DID, while 10000 mothers
perish with them.
Herbert Hoover is president of the
American Child Hygiene Association,
which has been in existence thirteen
years. The Association has seen the
infant mortality rate for the United
States decreased by forty-twO percent
in twelve years. Is this generation to
see a further reduction?
Through cooperation with other ma
itiOnal organizations, government agen
cies and it's $50 affiliated societies,
the American Child Hygiene Associa-
ton is stimulating and encouraging
active measures throughout the United
States, for promoting the health of
mothers and children. Its members,
and the delegates from III parts Of
the United States, Canada, Europe and
Latin America, who will meet in
!, Washington this month. are urging
every community to adopt for its pro-
gram in child hygiene work a plat
form which will assure:
% That conditions be fostered
which will secure for the child it's in
alienable right to be we'll born and to
have the care of its own mother.
CD That every mother shall have
suitable advice and adequate super
/ vision before the birth of her child, and
proper care and attendance at the
time of birth That the eyes of the
newborn shall receive special atten-
ton.
go That more complete and exact
vital statistics be kept. That early
and accurate birth registration be
urged.
(4) That every effort be made to i'm
press upon the whole community the
4 supp cine ILlpOl IeiiICG VI DI6dSI IG6OlDS
| for the sake of both mother and child.
| (5) That every child of pre- school
age shall be carefully watched and
protected from improper care, and
that the earliest signs of physical de-
fects be detected and corrected before
serious harm is done.
co That all defects found or deveI-
oping in school children shall be rem
edied as soon as possible.
CD That no child shall be allowed
to work for gain at the expense of his
health and education, and that nc
child under sixteen years shall be en-
| ployed for gain unless he is sound in
| health and physically fitted to per-
form the work to which he is as
signed.
| (S) That every medical student and
nurse in training shall receive ade-
quate instruction in maternal and child
hygiene, and that ample provision be
made for postgraduate study.
| The convention, which. is to be hello
in Washington, Oct. Filth, will be
of greater Importance, in many ways
than any ever held before. The clear
ing industrial. situation and return tc
/ prosperity and after-the- war normal
conditions indicate a closer attention
] to the immediate problem of child
: hygiene. The meeting will be country
wide in its aspect, and foreign coun-
tries, through their emba ssies in
Washington, have appointed represen-
tatives. The governors of many states
have selected special delegations anc
nearly every city of Importance in the
country will be represented. Mr.
Hoover and Sir Auckland Geddes the
British Ambassador, are among the
Z irnn ut