OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2836, 29 July 1916, Page 5

OUR BABIES

[By Htgzia/i

Published under tho auspiccs o[ (.ho Royal New ZeaJand Society for tho 1 Health of Women and Children. "It is Winer to. put n- fence at tlm top ;of a precipice than to maintain ail I dmbulanuo at the bottom." PREVENTION BETTER THAN CURE. The main plank of tho society's platform Jim always been that proper attention to tho simple measures necessary for the building up-and maintenance of i health and fitness, especially tho health ' and fitness of women and children, is a matter of far more practical importance and ultimata beneficence than tho fighting of disease. The fact is that there would bo very little diseaso or debility in tho .rising generation if people gavo a moderate fraction of the thought and attention to health and the prevention of diseaso that they bestow on providing tho means for-treating sickness and suffering. .As we have insisted over and oyer again, tho debility and sickness of babies in duo to mere ignorance and carelessness, rarely to intentional neglect or cruelty. One cannot quote too often tho following paragraph, which appeared some 3-ears ago in a manifesto issued by the society in association with the Public Health Department:— .Why Convert Assets Into Liabilities? "Hospitals (public and private) are costing us directly about .£500,000 (half a, million sterling) a year, to say nothing of the enormous loss entailed by chronic debility and the withdrawal of nurses and invalids from spheres of work which would give a return to the country. We want to prevent our normal assets from continuing- to bo converted through ignorance and neglect into grave liabilities."

We are all of us proud of our costly .hospitals; but should we not rather have some sense of shame regarding these constantly increasing .evidences of oar failure to take to heart the arresting American "adage which has appeared for nearly ten . years at the 1 head of our weekly column:—"lt is wiser to put up a, fence at. the top of a precipice than to maintain ■ an ambulance at the bottom. . . e tave just received an interesting Red Cross pamphlet bearing on "Prevention v. Cure" from the Hon. Dr'. I. ,W. Barrett, 'tha well-known humanitarian enthusiast, who lectured on town-plan-nine, etc., at tho recent Intercolonial Medical Congress at Auckland, and subsequently throughout New Zealand. The following clever poem by Joseph Malines, withwnich Dr. Barrett concludes his pamphlet, may be trusted to further the cause of common sense and prevention where, perhaps, serious prose alone might fail:— t PEN ( CB OR AMBULANCE. •'Twas a dangerous clig, as they freely confessed. Though to walk near the crest was so pleasant; But over its terrible edge there had slipped ■ _ A duke, and full majiy a peasant. So the pebple said something would havo to be done. , • But 'their projects did not at all tally; Some said, "Put a fence 'round the edge of the cliff"; . , . Some, "An ambulance down in the valley." But the cry for tho ambulance carricd the day, For it spread through the neighbouring city. . A fenco may be useful or not, i't is trae, But each heart.became brimful of pity For those who had slipped o'er that dangerous cliff; And tho dwellers in highway and alley Gave/founds or gave pence, not to put up a fence. But an ambulance down in the valley. Then an old sage remarked, "It's a marvel to mo - ' That people give far more attention To repairing results than to stopping tha cause, When they'd much better aim at prevention. { Let us stop at its source all this mischief," cried he. 1 , "Come neighbours and friends let us . rally! If the cliff we will fence wis. might,almost " dispense With the ambulance down in-tile valley." * "Oh, he's a fanatic," the others rejoined, ' "Dispense 'with the ambulance? Never!. . He'd dispense with all charities, too, if he. could! - No, no! We'll support them forever! Aren't we picking folks up -just as fast as they fall? And shall 'this man-dictate to us? Shall he? ; Why should: people of sense stop to put up a fence . . While their ambulance works in the ■ valley?" ' But a. sensible few,' who are practical, too, • Will not bear with sncli nonsense mucli longer; Tliey believe that prevention is better than cure, , And their party will scon be , ,the stronger. Encourage them, then, with your purso, voice, and pen, ' And (while other philanthropists dally) They will scorn .ill pretence, and put a stout fence On tho cliff that hangs over the valley. Better guide well the young than reclaim them when old, For , the'voice of- true wisdom is calling: "To rescue the fallen is good, but 'tis \best To prevent other people from falling.Belter close iip the course of temptation • and crime;, Than deliver "from' dungeon or galley; Better put a strong fence 'round the top of' toe cliff, ; 'Than' an' ambulance down in the valley." , . 'As Bearing on the last few lines of the poem, cannot ' do ' better than quote the. conclusion of the. manifesto previously referred to :— ■ WE' GET WHAT lyE' DESERVE. "Every country has-just as many unfortunates, invalids, and criminals as it deserves—mo.- more! '111-health' means uncinployablonesß: unemployableuess lneans morbid thoTigOT and reeling; and luorbid thought and feeling , mean loafing, vice, and crime." Oui\ Best Immigrants Are the Babies.