Evening star., 1936-03-05
Prevention
Still Better
Than Cure
Old-fashioned Motto
Boasts Sound
Logic.
BY ANGELO PATRI.

AN OUNCE Of prevention Is still
= worth q pound Of cure. If we
put a small part of the energy that
we now put into cures into preventions
we would soon save enough to pay the
national debt and all the bonuses
besides. But we continue to tumble and
founder among our mistakes instead
Of trying to head them of.
Sick children are a great expense to
the community. Many illnesses could
be prevented If mothe felt that they
could be and set to work to see that
they were prevented. We are assured
now that diphtheria can be prevented
in almost every case. Tests have been
provided, preventive methods settled
beyond doubt. Yet there are chill
dren who are not given preventive
care. Imagine having prevention Of
diphtheria just at the end of the tele-
phone, as many mothers have, and
not using it to protect the children.
Think Of the waste in time and
energy spent on the food-fussing chill
dren. Mothers have to give up hours
to forcing down the food that unwill-
ing children swallow. More hours in
preparing special kinds Of food for
each of the family group when one
wholesome dish would do for all. BY
training each child as he comes along
to eat his food as q matter Of course.
as he draws his breath, all this could
be prevented, and the warped habits
of thinking and behaving that come
in the wake Of poor eating habits
could be prevented as well. Teaching
children good eating habits would re-
duce the health costs Of the Nation
considerably, to say nothing Of the
saving Of the mothers health and
strength.
Good schools, properly equipped to
meet the needs of the children who
are sent to them, would save us lot
more. Not only does wasted youth
cost us money. 1t costs us spiritual
power. Pain and anguish beyond
words are suffered by the mothers OF
delinquent children. And these chill
dren, most of them, could be saved
from the institutions that finally re-
ceive them If they had been given the
right educational opportunities. All
children are not potential judges, doc
tors, scientists, bankers and captains
of industry. Some are. Some are
potential hewers of wood and drawers
Of water, and they would be happy
workers had they been given a chance
to find their happiness In useful and
respected work in their community.
It Is pitiful to regard the vast sums
we spend upon educational gestures
when great groups Of children must
remain untouched by them. I'm
touched if not really hurt by them.
Trying to make child take an educa-
ton for which he is not adapted hurts
him so much that he usually runs
away from it and runs headlong into
trouble. Then the penal institution
gets him and we pay and pay, and so
does he. So does his mother.
There are so many Ills we could pre-
vent If we were alive to the need and
to the means. Illness, crime, poverty,
social revolt in one form or another,
are costly. We have the means to pre-
vent much of the waste and the suf-
fering. Instead of thinking up ways
to cure the evil conditions, why not
center on the ways of prevention? In
stead Of asking, "Who Is to blame for
this condition? What punishment Is
to be given l1im?" we would better
worry about removing the cause OF the
condition. Prevention In medicine,
prevention In crime, prevention In all
social Ills, is saner and safer than cure.
Copyright. 1860