PRESIDENT'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS 87 



Army (and it is the best test I know and the only reliable 

 test) we find it is declining more rapidly than any other 

 disease. But that is no reason why it should not decline 

 quicker, because I believe that out of the 25,000 blind people 

 that we have in this country from 30 to 50 per cent, of them 

 are blind because of infection from particular venereal 

 disease; and if this disease had been grappled with years 

 ago, as thanks to notification it can now be grappled with 

 in the first week of life, we would not have half the blind 

 people that we have in this country at the present time. I 

 urge you to grapple with this matter seriously, and above 

 all sanely. I ask you not to be stampeded either by cranks 

 or theorists, and above all I ask you to deal with this 

 problem from the medical, the material, the paternal, and 

 the human side, irrespective of any theories you may have 

 either for or against restriction or supervision. My last 

 word to you is this. Some will say, is the lower infant 

 mortality which you now record, as compared with that of 

 seven or ten years ago, good for the survivors ? I am con- 

 vinced that it is. (Cheers.) I am solidly convinced that the 

 lives saved by the lower death-rates mean healthier lives 

 for the survivors generally. I believe that a lower death- 

 rate for infants means a lower damage rate for youths, for 

 boys and girls, and stronger lives and longer lives for all 

 of us. I do not belong to the " better dead " school that 

 is my description of it the school who imply that the more 

 per thousand die in infancy the better the survivors are. I 

 cannot see either the wisdom of the argument or the reason 

 in such a proposition. Improved conditions that save the life 

 of the child help the mother, especially after the first child 

 has been born. I do not believe in " health by ordeal " 

 that, for instance, the health of 300 surviving children out 

 of every 1,000 is stronger because 700 per 1,000 children 

 go to what in my judgment is a premature and unnecessary 

 grave. I believe that contention is absurd and ridiculous. 

 On the contrary, I believe that the lower death-rate of the 

 doctors' children is the best refutation of health by ordeal. 

 I believe that the lower death-rate of the upper and middle 

 classes as compared with that of the artisan and labourer 

 classes refutes that idea, and I am glad that the " better 

 dead " school has not captured this Conference in any of 

 its aspects. 



In conclusion, may I thank the American, the Australian, 

 the New Zealand, the Canadian, and the other delegates for 

 their presence here to-day? May I also thank the devoted 

 men and women who without fee or reward but with the 

 dutiful pleasure only of inspiring others in this good work 



