Evening star., 1932-05-01
Child Health Day-1932.

II the babe new born on this Child
Health day, 1882, were equipped with
aormal adult powers of observation and
reflection he might inform his proud
pa=sntS tlrat they. with others, have
made a considerasT2 mess Of the world
he is to conquer.
But the parents, blessed or maybe
cursed with the additional powers Of
retrospection, could at least argue the
matter. They could assure the baby
born in this Bicentennial year that his
chances of survival have been consid-
erably improved since George Wash
ington's babyhood If he had been born
In George WaShington's time, for in
stance, his chances Of living to be one
year old would have been only about
seventy-fi five in hundred, and today, in
Washington, they are about ninety-three
in a hundred. If the child had been
born in George washingtons day his
gums might have been scraped with
osprey bone, or necklace Of VOLTS
fangs hung about his neck, to assure
proper development of his teeth. But
the modern baby's parents know, or
the vast majority of them ought by this
time to know, that the time to assure
such development began before his birth
with his mothers diet, and that correct
food, sunshine and sleep for the baby
will do more for his teeth than all the
osprey bones in the world. If the baby
of George Washington's day cut his
finger, the popular preventive against
infection was sprinkling with vinegar,
and as the child grew older he was ad-
monished, as to proper conduct at the
dinner table, spit not, save In the
enrper!"
Our baby might reply that, while
progress has cured some OF the PROB
1ems and eradicated many of the evils
OF George Washington's day, that same
progress has accumulated more nu-
merous problems than the parents OF
George Washington's day ever dreamed
of. Four times as many children face
the Judges of Juvenile Courts through
out the land in year these days than
there were soldiers to face the British
in George Washington's Continental
Army. The child today may survive
infancy and youth, only to find that the
g complexities of the society in which he
is born have denied him the right to
work and earn a living. While the
{; wonders of medicine and the discovery
of science have put marvellous weapons
against disease into our hands, only 81
per. cent of all city children are pro-
tected against smallpox by vaccination
and only seven per cent of the rural
. children In diphtheria immunization
only 81 per cent have been protected
in the urban and only 16 per cent in
the rural area of the Nation. While
the national expenditure for education
runs into hundreds Of millions every
year, only AS per cent of rural chill
dren enter college, compared with 1913
per cent of city children. While the
child of George Washington's day could
root his foundations in the land, twenty
five to thlrty-1ve per cent OF boys ana
girls over fifteen years old these days
must leave the farm to seek livelihood.
But before our precocious infant of
1882 is gagged and put to bed he should
be told that the real significance of
Child Health day lies in the fact that
modern-day problems of child health
and child welfare are not only known,
but are being faced; that the average
city child, instead Of cavorting around
a May pole, is having his teeth ex-
amined and treated by voluntary work
of competent dentists or undergoing a
pre-school physical examination that
will reveal weaknesses requiring proper
; medical correction; that on this day
] thought is centered on the necessity of
guarding and preserving the health and
lTelfare of our children, because it is
recognized that in this lies a guarantee
for the survival not only of the child,
but OF the Nation.