Evening star., 1926-05-09
BY KATHERINE GLOVER

ERE you born on Main
street, or back of it, or in
AN one of the elm shaded
streets struggling off from
It? Broadway and Fifth
avenue and Lake Shore drive are
| largely peopled with those of us who
| have migrated from the back waters
| of Main street. And IL one thing is
| surer than another, it is that the
world of tomorrow will largely be
made bv the Main street children of
| today.
| Sinclair Lewis was the Christopher
| Columbus of the Main street of ro-
| nance. The American Child Health
Association is abe Christopher Colum-
bus of a different kind of Main street
the Main street of health.
| If there is any man in this country
| who wants to know the facts in d case
! before he proceeds to do something
about it, that man is Mr. Herbert
| Hoover. and Mr.. Hoover is the presi-
dent of the American Child Health
Association. When he took over that
Office three years ago and decided TO
tackle child health as q national job
| he said first of all, Lets get the
health pulse of the country as it af-
| fectS children"
| More or less was known about what
| the big cities We're doing. A survey
| was conducted by the American Pub
| lie Health Service Association In CO.
operation with the United States Pub
! lie Health Service in 1923 of cities of
10000 and over. What were the
| smaller cities about? Let's get IL
health picture, Let's see how much Of
| the available knowledge is being used
! for the children of today.
Small Cities Surveyed.
| Cities of from 10000 to 10000 were
| included in the picture. They sum up
TO Sc. all dotted over the whole map.
Details have been printed in the form
| of report. 1t is not so positive as 1t
( should be, but it is a clear picture.
revealing shortcomings as well as
achievements.
| 1t is a spotty picture. The child
born in one city has four times the
] chances to survive his first year as
! the child born in another city. child
susceptible to diphtheria may be i'm
munized on Main street in one city,
and left victim in another. In one
city the milkman sets down pure milk
/ at the door--ln another, in the same
State. the child drinks milk that Is
unsafe. In one city he goes to schooi
/ in a fireproof. sanitary building; IN a
/ neighboring city his school building
has not kept pace with sanitation, ana
would be an easy prey TO fire.
| According TO the scoring used by
| the American Child Health Assocla-
| ton in this survey the possible points
/ a whole averaged in their scoring just
| 500 points. A few scored as nigh
| as 800. a few as low as 200. The
mean was 500. which indicates that
we are giving our children just about
| half of their health dues. AT that.
however. the facts are hopeful rather
than discouraging. for in the time
since health protection was first wire
| lessed along the length of Main street
much has been accomplished. Through
I concentrated attention in the care of
I infants we have cut the hazards of
! life for the newborn baby in half
! in the past % years.
Fewer Baby Deaths.
Where two babies out of every
thousand died in 1900. only one died
in 1925. We are still told, however
that we can, with what knowledge
we have. cut the loss in half again
In the Main Street cities, in the
three-year period from 1911 to 1914
! $50 babies died per 1000 births
| where in a similar period. from 1916
! 1920. the deaths were only 19-7 The
Inequalities of protection are reflected
! by the fact that one CityS death rate
of infants was 147, where another S
was only 3S, the latter very close 10
what has been called the irreduclble
| minimum.
j. The spotlight has been slowly. and
still but dimly, turned upon mothers,
but ii grows stronger. The Sc cities
show :hat an average of 19 mothers
die in childbirth per 100000 popula
ton. with as many as 63 at the one
extreme and as low as =. and 4 at
the other. These last figures hold
out the encouragement that with SUI
ficient care it is possible almost &c
eliminate death from childbirth.
The great need of protecting the
child between the period of infancy
and the first grade of school has be
come evident There is tremendous
| variance along Main street in the
alertness to this need. One-third of
the cities scored only l per cent IL
pre-school health activities, or were
practically doing nothing, where. on
the other hand, six cities scored q
hundred points. OF the 80 clinics for
pre.school children more than han
have been instigated and are sup
ported by private initiative.
Perhaps the development which
may be reckoned most significant of
all is the recognition of health in the
schools all along Main street. both