Norwich Bulletin Newspaper, December 5, 1917, Page 9

HEREVER the wave of war has rolled across stricken France, broken babies have heen left to drag their malmed. shattered, disecsed bodies through the stagnant back-wash of the grim red tide. Many of ther have died. More have almost unbelevaby managed to keep the spark of uncertain life alive through three terrible years, until foday the frst infant welfare unit of the American Red Cross has reached Its destination to save the children of France from annihilation. The unit is facing a tremendous human problem. Those who have visited what Is left of the little French ha lets that fay in the path of the Invader tell tragic tales of the battlefleld chil- dren. With the Eray lines from Ge- many. when only half-starved women and aged cripples were left to care for them, son.e were h led like cattle into Tamshackie barracks. Others were Hide Gen away in deep moldering cellnrs above which sag the Shot-torn frames of houses. And when the barracks and the cellars were filled to overflowing with the little refuges, those who were 1aft were taken “to the caves,” the deep recesses which radiate from shelly Craters. . T Comes from Toul a dispatch telling of a recent bombasdment by the enemy ‘in which gas bombs were used. Because it is not feasible to use gas masks with little children, it found necessary to remove all children from Toul and the surrounding villages. With 7501 children suddeniy thrust upon him for | protection, the prefect of the depart- ment telegraphed to Paris for assist- Ance. The next day a dgetor. a murse, two assistant nurses, a bacteriologist, | an’ administrative director and two Women to take charge of the bedding, clothing, food, etc, were rushed to|and suitable food provided. A system Toul. Upon arrival there twenty-one now has been established to care for of the children were found to be Jess | these children which includes supplies than one year old and none was over | for recreation, education and vocational eight They were herded together in|training, and the Red Cross staff in an old barracks, dirt: practically un- i charge of the work has been increased furnished and latking all sanitary ap-!in expectation that 400 .or° 560 more pliances. Sick_children mingled with | children will be Dlaced in its care: Phe well N | “An automobile came into a Irench Two days later the children had been!town " In the = Amiens section = just thoroughly cleaned and transferred 10| evacuated by the Germans. In it were new clean barracks. Medical care lnd{Amerlvan ‘hurses, come to care for the | ehildren, to remove them to a place @ | short distance away. where they could be properly cared for. |+ “And where were they, these little ones? EFrom everywhere, apparently. came a | @ull monotonous sound, a crooning noise. It came from “the caves Some babies there were, {wo vears old. who had never secn the light of day. Tt was feared they would 'become. biind if suddenty taien into the light. Some there minds had become a blank as a result of shell shock. Others were maimed by ex- plosions or flying splinters. Convuisions Brought on by inhaled gas had Teft many crippied. T the dead of nisht the help- lest children were taken from their aw- ful réfuge, and, in a long, limping line, taken to a place of security and care. - nurses were secured for the babies, * % There is an incident told by a French- man in this country: It was early fn the war, and he was | serving in his native town with the Amer- ican Ambulance Corps. For many weary hours the wounded had gontinued to be brought in. It was late at night, he was tired to the point of exhaustion. -Among the last to be brought in was a tiny gol- dier, surely a baby, he was 50 small. Yet his hat of red, his uniform. and his gun prociaimed him to be a_soldier. stigation showed that the but a lad of eleven. Playing; play uniform and gun of wood. DR WILLIAM P. LUCAS, THE UNIT, HEAD OF were whose | CHILDREN. Then through the air sang a huge sheil and a deafening report. The child brought to the hospital had had one leg blown off at_the thigh. 1t is to meet such a need that the American Red Cross sent to France the infant welfare unit, made up of physi- cians, specialists In -child welfare work and nurees. The project i3 being financed Filliam Lowell Putman of Bos- of Dr. Lowell, president of rd, who is an enthusiast in the | use of infant and child welfare work. The unit will give such immediate aid as is possible to eradicate disease andd alleviate undernourishment among _the Chilaren of France. = At the same time it will make a general survey of condi- tions and lay the foundation of a system which will be nation-wide In its scope and will be carried on by units to fol- jow this one. Trance is to have a “better baby” cam- ch as has placed the United in the forefromt Of those nations h give modern treatment to their ba- <. something which at present is un- i by both physicians and the moth- ers of France. Several weeks ago Maj. Grayson M. B Murphy, head of the American Red | Cross commission now In France, cabled: sere is a crying need for effective work among children,” and it | is this call which the infant welfare unit will strive to fospond to. 1y adanted for the partic- ular work ahead were chosen to make up the personnel of the umit, to- gether with several womeg who are Well known here for their work among chilaren. Df. William P. ducas, who ds the unit, Is professof of pediat- < ‘at the Unjversity of California, ing been called there from Harvard. Not only has Dr. Lucas done much ex- perimental work in immunity an infa tile paralysis and meningitis, and writ- ten extentively upon those subjects, but he was with Herbert C. Hoover in Bel THE RED CROSS “INFANT WELFARE UNIT” WHICH RECENTLY WENT TO FRANCE TO CARE FOR FRENCH gium, and was the originator of the save a Belglan baby” movement> that count Dr. J. Morris Slemons, who “accom panies Dr. Lucas, is professor of the diseases of women at the Yale Medical chool, and a graduate of Johns Hop- kins. He ranks as cne of the . best known obstetricians in this countr: and has written many books on allied subjects which are considered authori- ties upon the subjects of which they treat. Dr. Julius P. Sedgwick, another member of the uni professor of pediatrics at the University of Min- nesota, and is well known for his wark in physiological chemistry. He has studied abroad and is among the most prominent children’s physicians in the United States. Accompanying their husbands are Mrs. Lucas and Mrs. Sle- mons. both infant and child welfare specialists. Other physicians and memw bers of the party are Dr. John C. Bald- win, specialist in the diseases of chi aren: Dr. Clain F. Gelston, Dr. Lucas’ assistant at the University of Califor- Dr. N. O. Pearce, another special- Miss Elizabeth Ashe and Miss Rosamond Gilder, daughter of the poet. * * % B Recently - compiled statistics give ample proof of the seriousness of con- ditions among the children of France: Even béfore the war alarm was felt. The birth rate so death rate that fear for the future was voiced by scientists. Last year, how- ever, conditions had become even more’ alarming. Deaths were reported ‘to have risen to 20 per 1,000, not including deaths in the military service. Against this was an average of but- approxi: mately 8 births per 1,000. Prior to the war the estimated. popu- nearly equaled the | latign. of France was 39,500,000, At the present time the military force is esti- mated ‘at 4,500,000, leaving the popula- tion upon ' which' these figures were compijed at . 35,500,000. The annual desth rate before tho war, based upon the entire populstion, ranged from 725,000 to 776,000 annually, the birth Tate being practically the same, In ‘1916, however, figuring upon the basis of 35,500,000, ‘the death rate has risen to 700,006, while during the same pgried the births had fallen to but 313.008. In the military establishment the death rate was estimated at 400,000 for the year, making a total mor for the year of 1,100,000, as agai 312,000 births. The discrepancy is 78 000 more deaths than births in & single year. In Paris alone, where 48,917 bables. were born for the yea® ending Augtist 1, 1914, during the subsequent twelve mionths the number of births was but 26,179. Not oniy did Dr. Lucas make an In- vestigation in France before the finit was sent there, but his work in Bel- gium has glven him a deep insight into weneral conditions among the children of the war-stricken countries. In April, 1916, Mr. Hoover asked Dr. Lucas to make a survey of the health conditions in Belgium. For more than two years the commission for relief in Belgium had been feeding 10,000,000 people. and he desired to learn just what the consequent state of -health amog the children was. The manner in which Dr. Lucas accomplished his tasi Is vividly told by Mrs. Lucas. She | said: “He traveled over the occupied terri- tory of Belgium, watched, listened and examined, studiéd records, talked with doctors, \oollected evidence, saw bables in cantedns, saw long lines of hungry kiddies: whiting for soup. He went to hospitals and schools, to orphanages 2nd homes. Dr. Lucas’ report showed that while conditions were extremely bad, under the circumstances they were far from what might have been expectad. Suffering from shell shock, many chil- dreri had become blind, deaf or lost their readom; while a continually increasing number- showed symptoms of tuberculosis or . actual tubercular conditions. And What conditions were in Belglum then, they are in France today. Added to this| n_the great lack of’ food and ‘sucient | clothing: It is the great army of half- | clad, half-starved bables and children | Which 15 the most sripping tragedy of the war—the awful price being paid by | the innocents. ] Tn Belgium the situation of Insuffclent | dren since-tho beginning he said. “Before and after child the youns mother fo the solicitude of tha the allowance she receiv band is mobilized Is Increa * erably. If she is * % factories and also If The sending of the infant welfare unit l‘}"“‘:d ("(j)nnf’r‘nv X“r‘w s to France grew out of a conference of a |LECd [0 Elve her # v committee of the American Pediatric AS- |ing from one month 1o sociation with Herbert C. Hoover and physicians who had worked in Belglum. A committee was named at the request of Mr. Hoover to consider the situation and possible methods of dealing with it. The committee was composed of Dr. Fritz Talbot of Boston, Dr. Samuel L. Hammil of Philadeiphia, Dr. W. P. Lucas of Bos- fon and Dr. Bedgwici of Minneapolis. [SVe" Placed Dr. Sedgwick is a member of the Ameri- |9} A \' ‘v“ 'l L can Pediatric Assoclation and chairman [Mother may tal of ‘the section_on children's discases of |mMoment of lci the American Medical Association. and particu A series of conferences was held at |institutions which it was determined to Inaugurate | a” trom = 'childrens’ health ~campalz he | 1 Unit which salled for ¥France a shor first step in food was met by the establishment Of canteens; canteens for tiny babies, where milk was supplied; canteens for the §TOW- ing boys and girls, where a supplemental meal was given them, and canteens for ex nt mothers, where they, too, re- ceived special food. 1s able to can confide “When she oceupation she to the care of es ‘poupontiteres,’ or charge. Certain of even placed thei resume S Elichmanis that | ranks | Classes the |are older, and the | instruction, & “Outside of t time ago was the gigantic campaign. The unit With staff hospital organizations, hysiclans having commissions in Tnited States army. : Just before leaving Dr. Sedgwick said: “We expect to work with the |nothing ha French physicigns and save the chil- |system in dren and give ®rance a bigger chance | munity « aftor the war. The work will extend |losses, b to every hamlet. We will teach the | tired mother and try to give every ehild di- |the absent rect and continuous medical attention. | “In the s The work will have to extend beyond fa difficult the wai |is raisea, But perhaps the most graphic picture |ger zone? Bu of what lies ahead of the men and |to the abnorn Women who have braved the ger | warfare, which, of war and disease in order that they |guns, result in may mave innocent children, was given |zone, from which Dby Mrs. Lucas. when she said | possible to remove Y.Tnis particular work for children |done in tho neig will of necessity have many sides, medi- | lines. Doubtles Tal and surgieal first. But also the |authori children must be taught once more to | transportation to (i Work and laugh and play, to forget the 1o lack of charitable sound of big guns and not be " | generous private I The method in which France |¥erior of the countrs dling the situation was told by a native ; opening dor who has seen condi- (almost incredible how tions there since the war, and has but {portion of civilians who ¢ recently come to this country. Pheir home nce is too proud of her place in |portion of the world, too conscious of the require- | the impul ments of the futurs of her race, not to |immedis Rave taken steps regarding her chil- |cou Speetal Correspondence [ WASHINGTON, D. N order that the federal child labor 1aw, which went into effect Septem- ber 1. may reap the full benefit of its intent to the millions of children in the United Saes who are engaged In gainful occupaions, the Secretary of La- bor has caused to be created a new di- vsion of the children’s bureau, delegated o enforce the law With the entrance of the wat into its fourth year and the uneeasing prepara- tions still going forward, which are swallowlrig up billions of dollars, Great Britain, . France, Belgium and Germany have found that in spite of the woeful need of economy siong overy line, now boiled down to the last dregs, there must be no economy exercised when it comes to the cae of babies. young children. and mothers. These are the bulwarks upom wdhich the warring nations must rest after the carnage has ceased and normal conditions mest be re-established New Uivision of Labor Department t kened to a realization that the strengthening and extendin: of preventive work already ed for the weifare of voung chiliren fs paramount now that the country is in war and that everything long these lines must be done for the upbuilding of a more united people after . the war, when new blood will taks up the burdens’ which must inevitably rest hipon 1t Vital to the upbuilding of this mew generation is the federal child labor law enacted by Congress. This lav for- RS THE: KR rroe—s v ot atrntnan TAGE WIHO WORK' LON O commerce of the product of a manufac- toring establishment or of a mine or aiiarry. in sthe United States within thirt; of " the Jishment, have in_which, davs prior to the removal uct ffom such _estab- mine or/ quarry, children been employed contrary to the “following provisions: . First, no child under fourtean to be em- Ployed at any time in any mill. cannery, -IWorkehep, factory or manufacturing es- blishment; second, no child between the -ades of fourten and sixteen years to be employed in establishments speci- fied In the first provision for more than elght bours in ‘any day, or more than siX days in any week, or betwen 7 p.m. and § a.m.; third, no child under sixteen Lo be empioyed at any time in any mine The Attorney General, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of Labor constitute & board to make regulations for carrying out the provisions of this act. The problem of .enforcement ' is complicated and inadequate:; provisions in many states have had a fendency to frustrats the very purposs for which child legislation has been willingly passed. In six states child labor laws have been passed which da not: call for the and the result is wholesale violation of the law. While some states recognize the fieed of such euforcement to the extent of providing ‘oficial, with & clerk, to administer the. Jabor law, to gollect and publish manufacturing and agricultural statistics and to perform other varled and numerous which render it impossibl tice ko the work, the Deither. the spirft nor thi . |1aw is tuifiiied. MiISS GRACE ABEOTT OF CHICAGO, semonith, Carolin. for instance. - HEAD OF NEW DIVISION OF DE- i setting forth the qualification of the commissioner of PARTMENT OF LABOR. iaborare. so varied and complicated duties to do jus- sult is. that letter of the appointment of an enforcing -offickal; | that it would not only take a person of supérhuman strength physically to carry them out, but.a person of encyclo- pedic learning condensed to the Nmit. * S [ This officer must have a compétent knowledge of agriculturé, manufactur- ing and general -Industries, commerce, chemistry and publicity. He is also charged .with the work of looking to thé promotion of agriculture, manufac- furing and other industries, cattle rais- ing and all matters tending to indus- trial _development of the state; with the colection ~and- publication of in- formation in regard'to localities, char- acter and accessibility, cost and modes of utilization of soils, and mors specifl- cally to fhe.lnducement of capital by the “dissemination of information rela- tive to the advantages of €oil and cli- mate, dnd- tife natural resogrces and in- dustrial opportunities offered in that state. He must be an animated statisti- cal bureau for collecting from farmers and landowners of the state and listing information as to lands, stating the number of dcres, 1ocation and the terms | upon which-they may be bought. He must Jkeep:a land registry, and ip con- nection therewith, érom time to time. publjcation shall be: made descriptive of “such ‘listed agricultural, mineral, forest, trucking. lands and factory sites as may be offered to the department for or .share, which publication shall be In attractive form, setting forth the ecounty, township., number of _acres. names and ' addresses of owners—and such other information as may be help- ful In’ placing fnquiring homeseekers in communication - with landowners. | Added to this officer’s dutles Is the re- sponsibility for the enforcement of the .jand furnjture and th manufacturing establishments. the exhaustive list of duties has been fulfilled 1€ can readily be imagined where the children will suff The children's bureau of the Depart- ment of Labor has not only been far- reaching in its work .for the woman and child welfare of the present gen- eration, but has been farseeing in its plans for resulting good to those who will come later. The mew child labor division, is the logical outcomé of this Worl. e young woman -who i beén placed at the head of it is one Whose lifewoFR has been spent along the ~pratctical lines, a knowledge . of which will go_far toward making the. enforcement of the new federsl law. a. success. s . This woman is Miss Grace AbBJtt of Chicago, who brings to the work & broad experience in industrial matters, both in this country and abroad; ex- fcutive ability of a high erder, and an interested and compelling influence over those with whom she cames .in eontact. For a month or mare befors the law went into effect she was at work on the details of the administfa- tion of the division, with a staff of temporary assistant: in order 'that there might be no delay in enforcing the law. The ' pérmanent assistants will be taken from those experts pass- ing a competitive examination.in -chiid welfar, i Miss Abbott lived for many years 1 an industrial neighborhood and was & resident of Hull House, cmu?. for | seven years. She has vultqld Europe repeatedly fo observe Industrial con: ditions, Gspecally {n countriés - fro which immigration has been lange ‘im recent years. Since 1908. she lsa been actively engaged in work on industrial problems as they have affected im- When chiid labor law in something like 2,000 migrants, part of the time as. exscu. tive secretary of the Massachusef m,‘; ars {migration commission, ang more re- cently as director of the Immigrant's $rotective League of Chicago. Tn horthern and western Hungary and Cracow Miss Abbott lived among the people, studying their habits, their en- Vironment and religious and _socfal conditions which had a bearing on their daily lives, thus making it easier for her to help immigrants from those places to léarn to readjust themselves to conditions in America. * . * * ‘When studying the districts in Galicia, northern Hungary and Croatia, she, in company with the village priest, visited the people in their homes, went to the parish church where they worshiped, to the public square where thelr amu ments - were carried on and to the felds where they worked long hours of the day. Flowever, Miss Abbott studied other and deeper psychological forces which Bore upoh the question. She says: “At fitat one felt the appeal of the pictur- for the flelds were gay with the bright ‘Deasant ‘costymes of the girl and the low, thatched-roof cottages h been freshiy ~whitewashed and had fowers in the queer little windows, But there - was nothing pleturesque aboiit the dirt floors, the absence of chimneys long distance that all' the water had to be carried. ‘Whefi {t was dark most of thé popula- tion @athered in the vill square, whére the girls were paid ~about 35 cents: for the day's work. I followed them into-the little church for the ve per sorvice, and, as I looked at the pa- Hlent, tired faces of these girls, 1 under- stoed why it was that they could not start for America until letters had come “Singine tham tickets from the Galician Vihieo. - .o cicy i tie United States wherb a brother or sister or a friend is already. established. I understood, too, why, when the tickets came, they would steri, without hesitating at the .dan- ‘they might meet on the journsy or the possibility that failute might awalt them at the other end.” = % owing types of immigrants as she docs, Miss Abbott has been able to hu- manély and intelligently help them to solve: the problems which confronted: them here and to adjust themssives to 2 new 1ife. She has studied and investi- £ated the conditions under which the Hittle children of America labor, has at- tended them to the juvenile courts, feiped them to solve the definition of iberty and to understand why the land atd’ not literally flow with milke and i-Good ‘citizenship to het knows weither creed nor nationality. It is just In-assuming the diMcult task which confropts her in the enforcement of the federal child fabor law she brin .,1}»..‘&“::‘1 and experience in constl- ttlo agministrative law, in wmu#‘-x ‘was graduated from the law df the Chicago University. She 2185 has a4 master's degree from tha university in -sacial economies, and B. A. from the University .of Nebraska, ner Bative state. When the federal child r Iaw went into effect. Miss Abbott was. n; North Carolina. in the Fedesal court._when Judge Boyd réndered his pinlan on the unconmstitutionality of the law. This decisioh will be the ve. Ricle for bringing the questioh before the Bupreme Court of the United States. &s anl aid to the children's bureau in tijo_snfoFdement of the child labor law Swemens committee of the ‘Council of Natignat Defense has just issued an Sppeal to.all women who wish to help merican youth .in war time, urging 0 . see .t 11 children under are enrolled'in achool And news e =zal o Enforce Child Lab@r Law BOY ABOUT FOURTEEN YEARS OF AGE WHO HAS WORKED IN THE . DARKNESS OF A COAL MINE FOR THREE YEARS. forward to the committee exemption; sixteen mining states per- about thelr own, com- mitting children under sixteen to work in mines; three more by cxemption: nine states allowing night work of children under sixteen, five more by exemption; twenty-four 'states allowing _children under sixteen to work more than elght hours a day In factories, four more by exemption.” ing them information munity. The new_ law will reach the following conditions “as set forth by ths natlonal child labor committee: ““Three states, per- miitting children under fourteen to work in factories and mills &t all times, and ninétéen more states permitting it by. 204 Lt