Evening star., 1945-09-01
Day Care Centers Again

Day Care Centers Again
To the Editor OF The Star:
Mothers Of Washington and the Met
ropolitan Area are to be commended
for their fight to keep in existence
the nursery schools threatened by the
foreclosure of FWA funds. 1t is both
heartening and gratifying to know that
groups of District of Columbia mothers
can unite and act when the need arises
to protect the welfare of the most i'm
portant factor in society-our children.
To these mothers the mental and
emotional stress and the economic prob
lens growing out of the war are inten-
sif1ed by the responsibility of keeping
their children safe and secure. Their
emergency Is not yet over. Many fathers
will not return. Many who return will
not be able to support their families.
Mothers. therefore, must continue work.
ing and the day care centers are their
only hope.
Washington cannot allow the Scrooges
in her official family to make her dis
regard the logical solution to this i'm
portant need.
Is it possible that Washington is un-
derestimating the value of her children
as the result of recent investigation
of children's institutions would have us
believe? This would be a catastrophe
for city which is now the center of
the universe. Let us hope that Wash
ington as the Capital of Nation which
leads all others in wealth and scientific
progress will express this progress in
terms that mothers and their children
can understand and appreciate.
NELLIE v. GREENE.
To the Editor OF The Star:
Relative to the editorial in the Au-
gust "a Star, those interested in the
nursery school problem thank you for
publishing such international data as
ing comments, however, leave something
to be desired. You stated that the
luxury" of the few should not be sup
ported by the many. Unless your edi-
tor was using his poetic license to ex-
treme, he must be laboring under a
misconception
Editors note: The statement was:
"They (the nursery schools) fall into
the category of a luxury when the
service they perform is compared with
many other unmet needs of the COM
munity as whole.')
in the lay mind, the word luxury"
calls up pictures of bowls Of hothouse
flowers on long mahogany tables, soft
footsteps Of obsequious servants, two
cars in the garage, nylon stockings. To
| compare TOO working mothers, who are
| struggling to make eros meet and can
scarcely do so even by patronizing the
day care centers with luxurious" ex-
istence, is perhaps one of the best IL
lustrations of extremes. Leaving aside
the obvious social value to the children
| whose privilege 1t is to belong to a
nursery, the economic factor of the
| mothers necessity is very plain. A sur
| vey of the day care centers revealed
that in almost every case, the child was
enrolled because the mother had to
work. Prime reason: Daddy still is in
| the Army.
| But there are other just as urgent
reasons. Many were orphaned by the
divorce court, some by death. Half the
nurseries are colored; these mothers
admit that the high cost of living in
/ Washington makes their income nee
essary supplement. since the colored
contingent is not usually as well paid
as the white. A few children are eco
/ nomically neglected by their fathers.
The conclusion reached was that the
mothers must work, willy-nilly, with or
without Goyernment-finance nurseries.
That should not be so hard to believe.
Washington has population Of l.
225, 900; certainly out of that number,
TOO families reasonably might be ex-
pected to need this help. The program
is fine one and should not be dropped
because the present governmental mood
is one Of looping -off instead Of appro-
priating. Didn't some wit remark that
circumstances alter cases?
VIVIAN McMAHILL.