The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1933-05-09
A Practical Observance

n fTdCClCdl OUScI vduCS
Women's organizations throughout
the country are giving an interpreta-
ton to Mothers Day different from
what the originator of this holiday
had in mind.
The observance began, one will re-
call, as the bright idea of someone
who sought to connect sentiment with
commerce. AS a result we have the
happy custom Of wearing flower on
that day. For the florists, who were
among the first to see that the love
of child for its mother could be
turned into dollars and cents, 1t Is a
day Of good business. A bright flower
for the mother still alive, white one
for the mother who has gone to her
reward, is a national custom and a
happy one.
The day gives us cause to think in
a very definite way what kind Of sons
and daughters we are, or what we
are doing to fulfill the obligation
which has been placed upon us.
But the women of the nation are
taking the observance out of the SEN
timental classification and giving 1t a
practically which mere men could
not be expected to contribute. They
are making it the occasion for an in
vestigation Of the trials of mother
hood in an effort to see how this
greatest Of all human events can be
made safer.
In this country approximately 49,
600 women die every year in child
birth or from causes directly con-
nected with 1t. This figure is far
too high. On a comparative basis it
is several times as high as that of
some European countries, even though
we pride ourselves upon our pro-
gressiveness as q nation. To materi-
ally reduce this death rate, thereby
making motherhood safer, would be
an accomplishment far more signifi-
cant and Of vastly greater worth than
wearing all the flowers in Christen-
dom.
Supporting this constructive move
ment, DR.. Hugh 8. Cummings. sur
geon general in charge Of the federal
health service, points to two things
as vitality important. They are the
selection by the expectant mother Of
her accoucheur and the place of her
ACCOMPLISHMENT. This doctor asserts
women too frequently pay little at
tention to these factors.
The family physician or the doctor
next door may be ideally fitted or he
may not, this expert asserts, and gives
as the marks of good obstetrician a
man who rates high in education,
training, experience and character. It
is important to the woman, he says,
that her doctor has encountered other
cases like or similar to her own, the
experience so gained being invaluable
in dealing with emergencies.
Discussing the subject further he
says: There Is no regulation which
prevents the impatient physician from
applying instruments when the case
may not need them II given time. He
must not be willing to take any I'M
warranted risk simply because there
is nothing to prevent his doing So"
There is growing tendency on the
part of many medical practitioners to
criticize the adoption Of shortcuts"
by obstetricians and the tendency Of
some women to believe that the best
man is one who will promise rapid
and painless labor rather than a safe
labor.
AS limited by DR.. Cummings, the
man who moves too quickly to speed
up what is necessarily a painful
process, Is dangerous.
The Maternity Center Association
Of New York City, an organization
which devotes its whole time to re-
ducing the hazards Of childbirth, says
Of this situation that the best thing
Is to select doctor Of training and
character and then leave to him
whether or not an anaesthetic or in
strumentation are needed, without
trying to prevail on him to make
painless process from which pain
cannot wholly be dissociated without
q sacrifice In safety"
Voluntary Rate Cuts
Recent announcement by the state
railroad hoard that r. had annrnvod