Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-11-17
INFANT MORTALITY DECREASES
BY Frederic j. Haskia

Washington, Nov. 1.-THE year iszi
was n healthy one, for American Da
bies--comparatively speaking &C
cora,nr 10 the exhaustive report JUST
,ss,ed by the American Child Hygiene
Association. the infant death rate 'as'
year was 7T.9 per thousand oirths'
rrhia figure is still large enough TO De
a reproach to the nation, but II may
be compared with the. infant death
rate of 1918 which wac 1867. In otner
,vords OF every 1000 bables born IN
each of these years nearly 80 more
survived in 1921 than in 1913.
The shocking infant. mortality OF
The United States is slowly but surely
bolng cut down as mothers, doc'oIs'
and n1irses are educated In the proper
ways of rearing children. For many
YEARS The country regarded THIS pre-
! ventable decimatioa OF its Infants Wllh
apathv. believing It to be the lneVita-
hIe accompaniment Of modern life. In
/ 1909 those who were aware tnaL Inv
liveq cf countless thousands OF inianls
might be saved by the application o.
intelligence, began the campaign fo'
hetterment. In that year the Ameri'
can Child Hygiene Association, "a
first had another name), was organ
rcd under the auspices Of the Amer
ran Academy Of Medicine; and as IN
orpa nizatlon Of this society has ex
handed and its energy and infiuenc'
have grown, the infant death rate ma
steadily declined. II is conspicuou
example Of the value OF Voluntse
effort in civic Improvement.
In fact. the direct connection be
tween The education OF the public b.
atteeted methods and the health O
infants ls now so we'll recognized ina
/ 10 has b~come an axiom with the as
eoc!ation that "givee proper orEan'
zation in a community, and enoug
money decline in the infant deaf
rate can be predicted mathematically
e The American Child Hygiene Assc
citation was first IN the field. but 30
now not alone During the war ther
was organized in New York the Chill
70 Pcalth Organization Of America 20 ir
still habits OF oealth into America
? school children. with its health ca
endars for children. its health sons
- and plays. and. more spectacular
s with "Cho-cho. the Health ClowT
q familiar to tens Of thOusa nds OF Amer
\ can echool children. this orgauizatic
has been doing valuable practic
q work Also within the past 10 yea
the Chldren's Bureau was created
= part Of the Department Of Labor. az
= this official bureau works IN clO
cooperation with the two volunte
bodies.
At its recent annual meeting
- Washington. the American Child II
= l,ene Association voted to amalgaUa
e with the Child Health Organization
IS America, following similar action pr
Y viously taken by the latter grou
u Tho process OF combining Is now bell
carried Though. Thus in one bo
y will be combined the whole nation
:. volunteer effort seeking 20 impro
the health OF American children.
n VIII Enter New Field.
u Since the Child Hygiene Associ
. ton has concerned Itself almost .
a clusively with children under o
" year of age and the Chile Health O
d ganization has dealt with children
school age. there has remained I
= province Of the pre-schoOl ch
n which has been untouched.
J? The new combined Organization Q
poets 10 go into this field. 1t IS il
" portant territory, TOO. because in t
al pre-school years are developed I
defects found so prevalent amo
Is school children. \ vast amount
,s. work is needed in this field TO sect
% nroner dental treatment for childr