Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-23
CHILD CONFERENCE
LAYS BROAD BASE
White House Delegates Work
Out Details for Protection
and Advancement.

Continued From First Page.)
hook up Of the Columbia Broadcasting
Co.
There Is no sound basis, the section
of education and training determined,
for loose statements that the youth Of
today are running Wild" he report de-
clared. But the problems which youth
faces are trying and have many new
phases due to the rapidity Of social
changes. Institutions like the school,
home and church, which are Nation
wide in their scopea make changes and
adjustments slowly"
Life Grows Complicated.
"In times past" the committee con-
tinued, 1T was easy for q father and
mother to live on terms Of intimacy
with their children. The home was
simple, and yet very rich In the kinds
of valuable experience in which parents
and children could join. Now parents
find these contacts not only greatly re-
duced in number but characterized by
artiflciality and lack Of genuine interest.
For the increasing number of chill
dren, especially in the cities, activities
tend to be centered outside the home.
To maintain now the very desirable
intimate and sympathetic relationships
between children and parents calls for
the sharing of these outside activities
by both. They must be made family
activities"
Such recent developments as the
radio, the moving picture and the maya
zine, the committee held, have great
potentialitieS for both good and evil
and must not be allowed to exploit
children by supplying base thrills.
Avoid Flat sameness.
The committee struck into the heart
OF the future in its declaration:
Democracy demands universal edu-
cation. Equality Of opportunity has
long been the ideal Of the American
people. There Is grave danger, however,
Of confusing equality of opportunity
with sameness of educational training.
No other type Of government so much
as democracy demands the adaptation
of educational training to individual
differences. The danger of a dead level
OF mediocrity in democracy is more
grave than in any other form of gov
eminent"
It protested against educational
methods devised for "the theoretically
mo such child"
Character" the committee said in
its final report. docs not Just happen
but Is the result of careful cultivation
To the doctor the child Is a typhoid
patient, 70 the playground supervisor
first basenan, to the teacher q learner
Of arithmetic, but he Is too rarely a
whole child to any one Of them. But
only as the whole personality expands
can character develop. Respect for a
child's personality Is an absolute requi-
site for character development. The
philosophy behind the modern demand
school is valid also in all other rela-
tionships of child life.
Wants Weeds Destroyed.
''While beet fields must be welded
and glass factories must be kept run
ming. yet children have but one child
hood. During that childhood, child
labor must wait on child welfare. No
economic need in prosperous America
can be urged as justification for rob-
bling q child Of his childhood"
The controversy which arose during
the conference between Miss Grace Alb
bolt, chief of the United States Chill
dren'S Bureau, and DR.. Haven Emerson
OF Columbia University, head of q SUBJ
committee of the section on public
health, over q Recommendation that
strictly medical activities of Miss Alb
bolts bureau be consolidated under the
Public Health Service, was passed on to
the continuing committee to be ap-
pointed by the president. The report
OF the subcommittee as originally pre-
sented together with the subsequently
issued dissenting opinion Of Miss Abbott,
the flnal report states, will be included
in the final report of the conference.
Want Mothers Guarded.
Need for better obstetrics, both in
application and in theory, was stressed
In the final report of the committee on
growth and development as a mans Of
cutting down the unnecessarily nigh
mortality of mothers in childbirth and
the number Of still births.
The committee urged as specific i'm
provementS more thorough correlation
OF obstetrical teaching with the basic
sciences, enlargement Of women'S clinics
wholly under the control of medical
schools, residence of medical students
in such clinics to receive practical
teaching in maternal and infant care.
personal supervision by an obstetrical
teacher of all home deliveries by stu
dents. and postgraduate training for
specialists and investigators In the
science Of obstetrics.
First Days Important.
1t stressed the need of making avail
able adequate maternity care in every
community and more adequate sta
tistical data OF death iIf childbirth.
Mtdwives, 1t reported, still are needed
In some rural communities because of
racial and economic conditions and
there should be adequate provision for
their training and supervision.
The committee concluded that the
greatest need for more exact knowledge
was concerning conditions of growth
and development during the first few
weeks of life and during adolescence.
Mothers" 1t declared, should be en-
couraged to nurse their babies Human
milk from healthy and properly nour-
ished mothers Is the ideal food for in
fants. Artificial feeding may be a
satisfactory substitute when conducted
with understanding medical super
vision"
Periodic health examinations" the
committee said, should begin with the
newborn infant and not cease with