OUR BABIES.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2486, 12 June 1915, Page 11

OUR BABIES.

TBI Htoeu/1 Published under tho auspices of the Society for the Health of Women and Children. "It ifc wiser to pat no a fence at the ten of a precipice than to maintain an ninbn. lance at the bottom." THE NATIONAL IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING MOTHEHCRAFT. The following is a summary of a very striking address given by tho Rev. R. S. Gray at the annual meeting of tho Dunedin Branch of tlio Society for the Health of Women and Children: — The War, and What it Means. The colossal straggle in ivhich the Empire is, now engaged is of such immeasurable moment that matters of merely personal and private importance are being relegated to the subsidiary place which they should occupy. Even publio questions, unrelated to the present stress, have lost their interest. The need and peril of the nation are making their appeal to every lover of his country. It is much more than a conflict b(v tween tho visible forces of Europo. It is the culmination of a long process, dominated on the 0110 hand by the materialistic spirit which has found its ultimate expression in German militarism, and, on the other, by the higher ideals of humanity represented in this conflict by our own nation and its Allies. It is in the end a struggle tor the establishment and restatement of moral values; and at this juncture there is no place for any but patriots rrho would stand or fall, nor for organisations which are not prepared to make some definite contribution for this great end. A Test Question. This society welcomes such a test. The broadest plank of its platform, laid

down at the inception of the movement, was never so appropriate as at this hour —"for the sake of women and ohildren, for the advancement of the Dominion, and for the honour of the Empire." (Applause.)

The choicest manhood of the Empire ts being lavishly offered on the altar of sacrifice. The steady stream will be maintained until victory rests with our arms; but it will be victory at immeasurable cost—a nation dopleted of much of its noblest manhood.

I Other societies are using all their machinery and influence to alleviate the pressure and peril of the present moment. This society, with a zeal born of the needs of the hour, is urging, as never before, the vital importance of its fundamental aim, the obligation of enlightened and intelligent motherhood, so that the brave men who have fallen may be replaced by a race born in the atmosphere of sacrifice and glory, of such mothers that the strength and chivalry which are crowning our name may be reproduced and even increased. The society stands for the improvement of the race by education in the most momentous work in which woman could he engaged—viz., motherhood. Our women are the repository of the nation yet unborn, and the paramount obligation of the present is to see that the future race was well-born and wellgrown. Infantile Death Rates. Evidence which abundantly justifies the existence of the society increases as the years pass. Our city occupies tho proud position of having the lowest infant death rate in tho world. From a chart submitted by Dr. Truby King to the Infant Mortality Congress in London. it was shown that the percentage of deaths varied from 28 per cent, iii Petrograd, down through Vienna, Berlin, Liverpool, Manchester, London, and Stockholm, to 11 per cent., whilo Dunedin had steadily reduced its rate of 8 Per cent., the average for. the years from 1900 to 1907, down to as low as 4 per cent, for 1912-13.

There is only one .possible explanation. The reduction synchronises exactly with the operations of tho society. (Applause.) At the same time tho rate for the whole Dominion has decreased, doubtless owing to the influence of tho teaching of the society. Branches aro now at work in many parte of the Dominion, and we mav confidently expect a steady general reduction. This in itself would more than justify tho existence of the society. What the Babies are Worth. It is a national question. Some 1500 infants die every year in this land. Authorities are agreed that at least half of these could easily be saved. Dr. King has pointed out that the value of an average young adult to the State, if represented in money, was, on a moderate basis, £300. Tho saving of even half of these children would represent

a capital valuo ovory yoar ol nowly a nuartor of a million pounds. Thin in unmistakably u national mnUor, ami it is being rccogniscd us such. What England and Amorica ni'o Saying and Doini;. [ Almost tho last issuo of tho Hrilifih Medical Journal statos that tlio odrn'a--1 tion of tlio mother is a lac tor <>' primary importance to tho nation, and that mothcrcraft is ono of tho ehiol, il not, iudccd, tho cliinl, industry ol tin* nution. Amorica is systematically tlio problom, and the oxporienco tliuro aEicos with our o»n. 'J'lio Now jork Oity Health Department lays its down as an axiom that haby health is purcliasablo, and a community can dotcrmino, within natural limitations, iU death rate. In Now York for four years before 1908 tho death rato of infants mider ouo year was from 100 to 169 per 1000. l'rom 1908 to 1911 it was reduced to 125 por 1000. In 1913 it was furthor reduced to 111, and in 1912 still furthor lowered to 105, thereby placing Now York in tho first rank among the larger cities of tho world in tho work of baby saving. (Applauso.) This reduction synchronised w'i special efforts made in tlio establishment of milk stations and tho systematic education of mothers in motliercraft. In ono borough, Manhattan, tho reduction in supervised cases of babies undor one month was as much as 32 por cent. Of 19,000 babios supervised by , tho nurses of the Division of Child Hygiono, similar to our Plunket nurses, tho death rate was only 1.4 per cent., and the cost to the city only 2s. per month for each baby. It was tho best investment that city ever made. One of the leading medical authorities of New at a Health Congress in that city, uttered words which should be written deep on the public conscienco throughout the world: "Infant morbidity and infant mortality as recorded to-day are a pros-s injustice to God and to mankind. They represent the greatest loss to mankind to-day, and it is little short of criminal negligence which permits them to exist." And there is universal agreement that tho most important factor in tho prevontion of excessive mortality is natural feeding. Dr. Davis, of Boston, after exhaustive inquiry, discovered that while only ono in 30 breast-fed children died beforo one year old, of those who wore bottle-fed ono in every fivo died. What the Plunket Society is Trying To Do. The society stands for the education of the mother in the obligation and possibility of natural feeding. There is a danger, however, that all the emphasis might be placed upon the saving of infant life. Important as that is, it is overshadowed by the immeasurable difference which would be made if all the children who survived were given their birthright—the right of the best health, as tho result of the best food and care. Tho present crisis has emphasised that fact, as it has probably never been emphasised before. Forty per cent, of our young men who are offering for the front are being rejected as physically unfit 1 (Mr. Gray's address will be concluded next week.)