Evening star., 1933-07-30
CHILDREN VICTIMS
OF DEPRESSION ERA
One Fifth Have Suffered
Definite Injury In
Hard Times. ~
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
One-fifth Of the children Of the
United States have suffered definite in
jury to their health during the depres-
sion years, it is estimated by the Chill
dren's Bureau, Department of Labor. as
a result Of q recent survey.
Insufficient food or the wrong kind
of it, poor housing conditions, lack Of
medical care and in many cases ''the
effect Of the anxiety and the sense of
insecurity that prevails wherever there
Is no work" all have contributed to the
slump in child E-alth found by the
bureau, says the report. Both, pre-
school children and those of school age
have suffered, it is indicated by the
surrey which is not complete but suf1-
GENTLY wide in scope to justify the con-
clusions drawn from it.
The sum of the evidence at hand"
says the bureau, points to the fact
that the nutritional condition of chill
dren in many communities is showing
increasingly serious effects Of the long
periods of unemployment and want.
Needs Are Outstanding.
Striking corroboration of this was
given at the recent Conference of State
and Provincial Health Authorities of
North America when replied to a ques-
tionnaire showed that % of the 20 State
health officers considered the nutri-
tional needs of children as the needs
outstanding above all others"
Malnutrition in New York City
jumped from 16 per cent in 1880 to 81
per cent in 1892 among 300,0 900 school
children examined annually since 1927,
the report said. From 1927 to 1929
malnutrition was only IS per cent. 1t
rose to 16 per cent in 1880. The tests
were made by the city health depart
ment.
In Detroit a health department re-
port showed that 18 per cent of the
children in Is schools selected for a
hunger survey" were not receiving
enough to eat. Another report from the
same city showed II per sent Of mall
nutrition among LAO school children
weight for height. OF those who were
malnourished, 60 per cent were anemic.
At least one-third Of the malnutrition
was due to depression conditions, the
Detroit Investigators reported.
Increase in Malnutrition.
A 29 per cent increase in malnutri-
ton among school children OF SPRING
field, Ohio, was reported for the school
year 1882, as compared with 1928
and previous years.
Among children under 6 examined
1t a Jewish community health center
In Philadelphia, malnutrition rose from
IL per cent in the period 1928-1930 to
R3 per cent in 1892. Malnutrition among
blder children of school age examined
1t the same center rose from an aver
age of 80 per cent from 1928-1930 to AZ
per cent in 1882.
From half to 80 per cent of 1881
children examined in schools Of some
coal-mining regions in two States In
1881 were 10 per cent or more under
weight according to reports OF the
American Friends Service Committee.
Undernourishment Appears.
The Maryland State Health Depart
hent reports that in mill towns OF the
State, despite all our efforts to put
milk and eggs and some meat into the
families, especially where there are
children, we have not succeeded In pre-
venting considerable appearance OF
malnutrition, as evidenced by loss OF
weight, loss Of color and loss Of general