Evening star., 1925-12-13
MATERNITY LAW BENEFIT
H. is EVIDENT In RESULTS
From Great Mass of Advice on Child.
Raising Scientific Counsel Stands
Out as Best.

| ernment. Acceptance by the State Is
voluntary. Those accepting the plan
receive $4,000 outright, and $4,000 ad-
| ditional If they match this amount
with an appropriation of their own
and the rest of the money is appor-
| toned on n population basis. The
States are left to plan their own In
fancy and maternal programs and to
| carry them out through State bu-
| reaus of child health. cooperating
| with the Federal agency, which acts
solely in an advisory capacity. Forty.
| three States and Hawaii have thought
| enough of the plan to accept it.
| Thirty-three of the States have in
| creased their appropriations for the
| work and are showing greater interest
| in maternity and infancy work since
| the passage of the law.
Statistics Convincing.
Statistics concerning the number of
conferences held, the number Of babies
examined, the number of mothers ad
vised, the infant welfare stations es-
| tabliShed, etc, are available, but Will
not be cited here. Suffice it to say
they are convincing as far as the scope
of the work is concerned. They show
that so far the work has been chiefly
educational, in an effort to help all
women appreciate the Importance of
right methods in prenatal and infant
care. The central office in Washing
ton has acted as an advisory counsel
and at the request of the States has
issued many pamphlets and bulletins
the result of medical research-on
the care of mothers and babies and
on methods of work which have
proved successful in other States.
The program for the future is
broad one, but friends of the legisla-
ton feel that much can be accom-
plished if the act is extended. The
program includes continued education
to develop public appreciation of the
value of prenatal confinement and in
fant care; the establishment of per-
manent conferences for prenatal,
post natal, infant and pre-school con-
SultationS: extension of the work into
areas where no work along such lines
has been done, establishment and
maintenance of public health nursing
services and the provision of hospitals
for complicated cases and the i'm
proved training in medical schools
for obstetrics and pediatrics.
1t is believed that some of the SuS-
picion with which the medical profess
sion regarded the law has been al
.eviated through the practice, followed
throughout its administration, of ad-
viSing mothers to put themselves I'M
der the care of their family physicians
and to go to family physicians for ad-
vice concerning defects in their chill
dren discovered through examination.
No attempt has been made to infringe
upon the practice of private phySi-
clans. Their cooperation, as a matter
of fact, has been found necessary for
the successful administration of the
law.
Law Constitutional.
The bugaboo of infringement on
State rights through this law has been
rather definitely settled in the courts.
for two cases reached the United
States Supreme Court as tests of it's
constitutionality. Massachusetts, one
of the five States which has never ac-
cepted the benefits of the act-al-
though she has accepted the benefits
of Federal aid in 22 others-brouGht
a suit to the United States Supreme
Court which was dismissed for want
of jurisdiction. The courts opinion
at the time summed up the matter
as follows:
Reduced to it's simplest terms, it is
alleged that the statute constitutes an
attempt to legislate outside the powers
granted to Congress by the Constitu-
ton and within the field of local
powers exclusively reserved to the
States.
But what burden is imposed upon
tne States. certainly tnere Is none
unless it be the burden of taxation,
and that falls upon the inhabitants
who are within the taxing powers of
Congress as well as that of the States
where they reside. Nor does the
statute require the States to do or to
yield anything.
In the last analysis the complaint
of the plaintiff State is brought to the
naked contention that Congress has
usurped the reserve powers of the
several States by the mere enactment
of the statute, though nothing has
been done and nothing is to be done
without their consent"
Two cents per capita is the esti-
mated expense of carrying on the
| work. And many people are extrava-
CANT enough to believe that saving
mothers and babies is as important
as ridding cows of ticks.