GOVERNOR GIVES SUPPORT TO CHILDREN'S In a letter to the State Department of Health, Governor Cox has expressed his interest in the Children's Year campaign and his wish that the people of the state may give liberal aid to the movement. The Governor's letter is as follows: STATE OF OHIO DR. ALLEN W. FREEMAN, COLUMBUS APRIL 12, 1918. Commissioner of Health, State Department of Health, MY DEAR DR. FREEMAN: I wish to express to you my interest in the work for "Children's Year" which the State Department of Health is fostering in Ohio. There is surely no patriotic duty of which the people of this state should be more conscious than that towards the children, their third line of defense. England has shown in a most dramatic way what may be done to protect the children of a nation. It is my sincere wish that Ohio may be one of the first states to take radical steps to promote a program for child welfare which may prove an efficient defense against loss of child life. I hope too that the people of Ohio will give freely of time, effort and money to reduce her child mortality to the minimum. Very truly yours, (Signed) JAMES M. Cox. Precautions have been urged upon local child welfare committees to see that children are safeguarded against exposure to spring infections at the examination centers. Large groups, it is recommended, should not be assembled at any one time, and children showing symptoms of illness should be promptly sent away. It has also been recommended that examinations be given by appoint ment, and that mothers coming out of turn lose their places. Local committees are advised to use all possible means to impress upon their communities the fact that the Children's Year drive is a war measure that it is not a matter that can be shelved until later on when the country is not so busy. The idea that the campaign is undertaken as a precau tion against such a rise in infant mortality as war is likely to bring should be constantly emphasized. The statistics on January infant mortality, given in this issue, can be used to advantage in many counties, as demonstrating that 1918 is going to produce an abnormally high rate, rather than a 30 per cent reduced one, unless the campaign is supported. The milk question in many cities needs to receive careful attention before the arrival of the hot summer months brings the situation to a crisis. Investigations by the Division of Child Hygiene of the State Department of Health, while not yet complete enough to permit publication of results, indicate that the problem is a serious one in many places in the state. Rising prices tend to reduce consumption of milk, and the babies suffer. Measures to educate mothers in the importance of milk in the diet of the young child must be undertaken, and provision of free milk for destitute families is more necessary than ever before. The central idea to be emphasized is that milk is the most important article of food for the child of three years or under, and that nothing else can successfully be substituted for milk. January Baby Deaths in Ohio Cities and Counties N the accompanying table is presented the first of a series of monthly compilations of statistics on infant mortality in, Ohio counties and cities. The figures herewith show the number of deaths of children under 5 years of age in each county and city in January. For comparison there is presented in each case the maximum monthly average possible if the county or city is to "save" the number of babies assigned to it in the Children's Year campaign. Caution must be observed in using these figures, in order not to draw wrong conclusions. For instance, a city whose January rate is approximately equal to, or even a little less than, its ideal monthly average can not afford because of that fact to rest on its oars; it must be remembered that the midsummer infant deaths are always more numerous than the winter ones, and that winter rates must therefore be well below the average if the year's total is not to be too high. In the counties and cities having very small death totals and quotas, monthly averages can not be very accurate, as the omission of fractions causes proportionately larger errors than in those with greater totals. It is hoped to have figures for the first three months of the year ready for next month's issue. These will show clearly just what the situation was in each county or city immediately before the opening of Children's Year. Local committees desiring detailed figures showing deaths in January of babies under 1 month, from 1 to 12 months and from 1 to 5 years can obtain them from the State Department of Health. Lack of space prevents the publication of this large mass of material in the JOURNAL. The table for the state at large follows: SCHOOL OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN CALLED HOSPITAL The need for medical inspection in rural schools is graphically portrayed by Dr. J. N. Hurty, secretary of the Indiana State Board of Health, in the following description of a visit he paid to such an institution: "In one rural school of twentyseven pupils, I found seven anemic, emaciated children and five of these were actually starving. One little wizened girl had had one batter cake with molasses for breakfast, and in her dinner-bucket for lunch was one soggy biscuit and one small apple. All of the twenty-seven pupils in this school needed medical attention. There was not a child that did not have two or more decayed teeth. cayed teeth. Every child had suffered from one or more attacks of so-called 'cold' during the winter, and sixteen said they had had colds since school opened in the fall. There was not a clean tongue in the school; even the teacher's wore a coat, and she, too, had several decayed teeth. One child had a running ear, seven had defective sight, every child had dirty ears, dirty neck and dirty scalp, and, of course, we found diseased tonsils, enlarged neck glands, pigeon breasts, and eruptions. One girl fifteen years old, still in the third grade, suffered with dementia preCOX. The word hospital should have been over the door instead of District School No. 3. The evidence in this instance was conclusive of the opinion that life is a disease." For the army of 1,500,000 which estimates indicate will be in France by the end of the present year, 15,ooo medical officers will be required, says Surgeon General Gorgas, who adds that at date of writing there were on active duty 15,174 officers of the Medical Reserve Corps. For the troops who will be in training in this country by the end of the year, brought in by the second and possibly by subsequent drafts, a supply of physicians must be enlisted at once, as the available list of the Reserve Corps is insufficient to meet these demands. The requirements for a commission in the Medical Reserve Corps are that the applicant be a male citizen of the United States, a graduate of a reputable school of medicine, authorized to confer the degree of M. D., and that he be between the ages of 22 and 55 U. S. HEALTH SERVICE IS STUDYING SERUMS An investigation by the United States Public Health service, now under way, has as its object the improvement of methods for the prevention and control of communicable diseases, especially near the army cantonments. The study involves both laboratory and field. work, and the special facilities of the United States Hygienic Laboratory in Washington will be utilized. The work will relate largely to the standardization and preparation of serums. The first serum to be studied will be that used in cerebro-spinal meningitis. Methods for securing a more reliable serum for meningitis will be sought, and when found, their use will be enforced through the control of the Public Health Service over the interstate transportation of serums. The average American workman, it is estimated, loses through illness about nine days' work each year. This total could no doubt be reduced by wider installation of medical supervision in industries. |