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sired to avoid. At the same time it should not be forgotten that the Arctic explorer does not ordinarily have colds so long as he stays out in the open, and that it is not the engineer and fireman in the cold, drafty cab who have colds, but those who ride in the close, dusty, overheated coaches behind. When all is said, it must be admitted that dusty, unventilated rooms perhaps play the greatest role in producing colds.

Treat Colds Seriously

Since colds are a serious condition they should be treated as such. A great many people think that they have an infallible remedy for breaking up a cold. This may be harmless in itself, but usually it is not and consists of a combination of harmful drugs and alcohol, the latter usually preponderating. The sufferer takes these preparations in large quantities, and if he is strong enough he may survive them and eventually get the best of his cold. Self-medication or medication by untrained persons is always dangerous. It is especially dangerous to those having colds and should always be scrupulously avoided. As a rule, much time, inconvenience, and suffering will be obviated by consulting an intelligent physician promptly. If this is not practicable, a brisk saline may be taken and the patient put to bed. This gives his body an opportunity to regain its vitality and at the same time isolates him from other people. The sick room should be well ventilated and the windows so opened as to keep the air moving freely. It is also wise to moisten the air a little bit by putting a pan of water on the radiator or over the register or on the stove. The handkerchiefs and bedding used by the patient should be sterilized by

boiling. Kissing, and the use of drinking cups and towels, etc., in common with other members of the household should be forbidden, it being borne in mind constantly that colds are infectious and readily spread from one person to another.

SALESMEN'S WIVES

TOLD HOW TO KEEP

HUBBY IN CONDITION Recognizing that industrial or business efficiency is largely a matter of individual health, a large Ohio manufacturing concern recently called together the wives of its 500 salesmen for a convention, at which it presented to them at series of addresses telling how they could aid their husbands in attaining success in their work. Suggestions for keeping him cheerful and in good health were important "tips" which each wife received.

Among the bits of advice handed. out were these: Serve simple food. keep him cheerful, see that he gets plenty of sleep, lend encouragement at the right time, encourage him to take regular exercise.

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THE ART OF LIVING LONG.

Let us get away momentarily from the war. There seems to be a widespread desire among people to live long. This is indicated by the success which attends the efforts of "specialists" who advertise various kinds of medicines and also by the fact that many of the citizens of our beloved country spend much of their time and most of their money in efforts to secure remedies for the things that ail them. Some of them travel to far-away places, hoping to find strength in climatic changes; not a few subscribe for courses of physical training, and there are many who endeavor by dieting and engaging in other diversions to ward off the decay that insists upon making itself manifest in spite of the general reluctance with which it is acknowledged. Every little while we hear from a scientist who alleges that he has discovered how to prolong life indefinitely, and the hope which springs eternal in the human breast is refreshed and strengthened, only to be followed by disappointment when it is found that the scientist has been unduly impulsive in announcing his discovery.

What chance is there for prolonging life? Are the people who think they can lengthen their years by taking medicines, by finding changes of climate, by engaging in special physical exercises or by adopting any of the other courses recommended likely to gain the desired end?

It is not to be denied that some medicines are helpful or that climate and proper exercise may be beneficial. The great trouble, however, is that people do not begin at the proper time to try to live long. It is difficult to save an apple that has begun to rot. When a tree has been permitted to decay, doctoring will not restore its former strength. People who by careless and improper living bring on physical deterioration are not likely to recover youthful vigor and healthiness by taking drugs or engaging in exercises that have been too long deferred.

The time to begin to live long is when one is young and sound. Young people who keep late hours; who inhale cigarette smoke, who drink stuff that is injurious to living tissues, and whose associations. are unhealthful may be expected to find it necessary later in life to seek remedies for the prevention of untimely decay. The sound apple that is left in the barrel where many rotten ones are soon rots. So it is with the healthy boy or girl. Neither the one nor the other can associate with people who are unfit, without becoming tainted with unfitness.

In the big cities most of the cabarets may be likened unto the barrels containing rotten apples. The young man or young woman. who frequents such places is in danger. Rottenness is contagious.

Let no one conclude hastily that it is intended here to convey the impression that all people who find it necessary to seek health have been guilty of youthful folly. Many good men and women become unsound physically through no faults of their own. Overwork may bring on disease or early exhausted. Circumstances which may not always be controlled are responsible for much of the suffering and many of the ills that people have to bear; but in too many instances

decrepitude is directly traceable to careless living and dangerous indulgence that could and should have been avoided.

The boy or girl who is to live long and be useful in the world must begin early to live right. Rottenness that begins where rotten. conditions prevail is not to be cured by change of climate, by the consumption of nostrums, or by any remedy that science is likely to develop.-Springfield Daily News.

THE CHILD LABOR PROBLEM.

FRANCES M. HOLLINGSHEAD, A. M., M. D.

Director Division of Child Hygiene, State Department of Health.

As a result of the Federal child labor law having become effective September 1, we are facing a new series of questions in Ohio. The law requires that no child under 14 years of age shall work in any mill, cannery, workshop, factory or manufacturing establishment which ships in interstate or foreign commerce. This will set free many chil dren in states where no such provision has before been made and these children must be kept in school at any cost.

Ohio should not be affected by such a law if her own child labor law was enforced to the limit. We all know, however, that it requires eternal vigilance to attain even near perfection in such a case. There are places in Ohio in which the law is not fully enforced and a special effort must be made throughout the state to see that all the children of such ages are enrolled in school. From a number of smaller cities have already come reports of much larger enrollment and overcrowded schools. Whether or not this has any connection with the new law. it is too early to predict. At least we hope that some children have been given a new opportunity.

There is danger in the economic crisis which exists, of children in the rural districts being kept out of school for a longer period. because of the shortage of farm labor. This should not be permitted and all possible influence should be brought to bear upon school men not to countenance such a procedure. Labor can be furnished thru the various state agencies but it is sometimes easier to keep the boy on the farm than to hunt up a paid laborer.

men.

Again there is danger in the large cities of children escaping notice and slipping into industry because of the absence of so many There is as yet no pressing need in Ohio of even adult women in industry to say nothing of boys and girls. They should be the very last resource. Agencies need be very active in our cities to obviate such conditions.

The Women's Committee of the Council of National Defense hopes to help in this campaign because of these possibilities. There has been a woman chairman appointed in each of the counties whose duty it shall be to organize the woman's work in her county. She will appoint a chairman in each of the incorporated places of her county. It shall be the duty of this chairman to obtain as much information as possible about child labor conditions in her community, the actual

work she may delegate to as many women as she wishes. The questions asked will be:

I. Are all children between 6 and 14 years of age in your community or school district in school?

2. How do you know this?

3. Are any children in need of scholarships in order to attend school?

These questions will, in certain places, be incorporated in a series asked in connection with local studies of birth registration. This information will be collected in the State Department of Health, Division of Child Hygiene, as the director of this division is also chairman of the Woman's Committee for Child Welfare. In this manner we hope to have some definite information as to what the situation in the state really is. If the children of school age are all in the schools we should know it. If they are not, all possible effort must be made to put them there and keep them there.

PHYSICIANS AID STUDY

OF SICKNESS INSURANCE The Ohio State Medical Association's committee, recently named, to aid the state health and old age insurance commission in the study of health and old age insurance consists of: Dr. Walter H. Snyder, Toledo, former president of the association; Dr. O. Geier, Cincinnati, chairman of the public. health section of the American Medical Association, and Dr. G. E. Robbins, Chillicothe, former president of the Ohio Society for the Prevention of Tuberculosis.

WAR PROBLEMS OF

PUBLIC HEALTH NURSE (Continued from page 508.) university study will take the place of this early training and education.

I believe that all nurses should receive their nursing education in the universities. The need for the authority and prestige of a university in the recognition of nursing as a profession is just as imperative as it has been in the recognition of any other profession. This does not mean that I would

care to see any actual contact with patients or any bedside care

omitted from the curriculum. This experience which must be obtained. in hospital words is the foundation of nursing work.

Realizing the importance of this great problem of the shortage of nurses the National Nursing Committees of the General Medical Boards of the Council of National Defense have looked to the future and have exerted every effort to increase the number of students in training schools. Thousands of letters and appeals have been sent to principals of schools or secretaries of Boards of Education, to 1917 college graduates, as well as to graduates of high, technical and private schools.

The nursing schools and hospitals are doing their part to help in the great need. Several schools are offering special inducements to candidates who have had special preparation. College graduates who can bring proof of satisfactory scientific groundwork may complete their training in two instead of three years. In the Presbyterian Hospital Training School of New York City plans are being

considered whereby college students who have had two years of specially arranged work in approved colleges may enter the regular course of training and at the end of the allotted period receive their degree of Bachelor of Science as well as their diploma of nursing. Already the University of Cincinnati is providing a five year combined collegiate and professional course leading to a Bachelor's degree and the Ohio State University hopes soon to of fer a similar opportunity.

Nursing schools throughout the country are in need of more pupils. As so many of the private nurses will go to the front, many more sick people will probably go to hospitals for care, and a larger student force will be needed to meet this emergency.

One real danger to be guarded against in the unprecedented call for nurses, is that women with insufficient public health training may be pressed into service. The mental discipline of a college education with the scientific knowledge acquired will very materially help in the training of a nurse, but I do not believe that anything will take the place of the hospital experience. After the war is over, if we have many health workers who fail to come up to standards which we have been fighting to maintain, we may have as difficult a problem on our hands as we have now.

One means of conserving the public health nurses who are employed by city organizations is by combining all the nursing forces. under one head. They are all laboring for the same 'end - better health and better living conditions. The tuberculosis nurse cannot fully understand her problem if she does not view it in its relation to the children; and the child welfare

nurse cannot be an expert in her line if she does not recognize the dangers with which tuberculosis threatens her little charges. The school nurse soon sees how closely her work touches pre-natal and infant welfare nursing. We are already forced to make our small supply of nurses go as far as possible, but such an arrangement of generalization can hardly be called an experiment or a makeshift, as it has already been so successfully carried out in many cities.

While the extra demand is being made by the American Red Cross upon our little army of public health nurses, the call for nursing service at home is daily growing more imperiative. Poor stricken France is warning us not to make her mistake. Her five hundred thousand tuberculous soldiers will be a sad problem for years to come. A half a million centers of infection! England has learned that the best way to replace the lives lost in battle is to try to save the lives of babies who die from preventable causes. Poland has no little children left. A generation has been wiped out. The New York Milk Committee after gathering statistics from 150 American cities with a population of 25,000 and. over reports that in these cities one baby out of every ten dies before it is one year old. There are 20,000,000 school children in the United States and these little citizens should not be allowed to grow up with defects which can be detected and corrected. Surely there is plenty of work for our 6,000 public health nurses.

For the public health nurse who sincerely asks herself "How can I best serve my country in the hour of her need?" there is a serious problem and no one can make her decision for her. She knows that

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