The Denver Jewish news., 1924-11-06

\ small house with M furniture ry.
ccpt a broken table, enc baby chair
| three straw-nllcd sacks lying an the
lloor fur children between the ages
uf three and eight hnlfstnrvcd. more
| rndrcS~cd than dressed. sitting On the
floor not playing. hut on the verge of
crying, us II something very unpleasant
were going 10 happen. \ woman net
over thluy-dvc, holding IN her arms q
dying baby of three Her features
could tell the story: \ life wrecked,
through no fault Of hers, The care
and worries Of helpless. lonesome
mother destroyed all Scmblnncc Of what
was once great feminine beauty. Her
| husband taken 10 the army, left In n
small city ovcrshadowcd by the de
pressing skies of the Pima Plains
through which armies were marching /;
without supplies no chicken 10 hc pro-
cured. not even glass Of milk TO hc
obtained
The little one dies because | could
not nourlsh it," she cried in despair
All the horrors Of the war. the mis-
cry and the suffering Of the adults. thr
struggle, for freedom. democracy. 'ndc-
pendcnca and the idea Of the future
| ideal State. appeared To me rs things
worthless. were there only something
which could save the life cf this little,
innocent baby.
II was during the summer Of 1917
when the Great Struggle went on,
| spreading on one hand death, misery,
suffering. and on the other. strengthen
ed faith and renewed hope for some
kind of better future. which is, after
all. TO be The result.
The result? For whom?
Under the brightest OF circumstances
and the most consoling and Quietins
beauty Of the eyerchanging landscapes
which travel afrorts. | conld never for
get that apparently insignificant dying
baby
The Physician who was. after many
hours brought with great difficulty
from Il distant city ON n wagon drawn
10y oxen, diagnosed. too late, the case
in the words. Death resulted from I'M
,iernourishmcnt and contracted tuher-
culoSis.''
ON Sunday noon. several years
later. found myself in a crowded train
bound for Mamar0nick residence
Of Nathan StrauS.
In the colorful and overwhelming
pyramid of American life. there Is
hardly n feature that carries crentcr
appeal to the human heart and mind
of all humanity than the picture of
that grand old man whC spent his life
and his energy for the sake Of the
worlds babies. How | did regret that
the influence of his work did not reach
out in time to prevent the death of the
little one under the Pima skies
In 1891, out of every thousand
babies horn in New York city, 2ll
died before they We're II year old. This
means that One-fourth of all the newly
born babies did not have even chance
Ito live. 1t was in this year that Nathan
Strnus set out on the mission of his
life. Not n scientist. merely sue
cessful and wealthy business man, Il
devoted father. he made it his am.
bition to call the worlds attention Ia
the fundamental principle of life saw
ing
The future of the nation and OF
humanity lies in the cradle II Is as
simple and obvious that one really must
have great courage to proclaim 1t as
the Shibboleth. This, one would think
plain, self-expanatory and obvions sen
tcnce returned the fortune energy
foresight. determination and good
. hcartednesS of man of the calibre OF
Nathan Straus to translate it into tn,
economic system and bring 1t into th'
realm of questions which deserve at
( tention Millions of babies were horn
fed with the unclean and disease-car
% rying milk of tubercular cows, died il
. the best Of cases; in the majority o
+. eases continued to i've ur crippled
5 tuberculnr beings, filling the hospitals
t jails and institutions burden l.
themselves aud II burden to the com
I munity.
. Nathan Straus conceived one nigh
/ say. the inspiration to remedy the evI
@ at its root How was 1t to he done
n Simply. Not 10 give the babies unclea
milk.
Since modern society in the grea
l. cities has been organized on principle
Of a commercial regime. leaders hay
}. awakened TO the existence Of variou
problems. There is meat problem.