DR. HELEN MACMURCHY'S PAPER 119 



Our people are asking for information on this 

 important subject. The Chief Health Officer of 

 Ontario, Dr. J. W. S. McCullouo-h, sent out in 1912 

 a small pamphlet entitled "A Little Talk about the 

 Baby." Forty thousand have been issued. Five 

 hundred copies were requested for the Child Welfare 

 Exhibition in Montreal. The Manitoba Government 

 asked permission to reprint it in full, and they have 

 also sent it out by the thousand, and the eagerness 

 with which the people took it showed how ready they 

 were to learn. As one woman said, " Could I have 

 a copy for my daughter, please ? I would like her to 

 have one in case she were to get married." 



Infant mortality in Canada is still too high. But, 

 on February 20, 1913, Dr. C. J. Fagan, Secretary of 

 the Provincial Board of Health, and his deputy, Dr. 

 Bapty, could report officially for the year ending- 

 December 31, 1912, to the Hon. Dr. Young, Pro- 

 vincial Secretary of the British Columbia Govern- 

 ment : 



" It is safe to say that, had the delinquent parents 

 been compelled to register, the total births for 1912 

 would have amounted to 9,500 instead of 8,008, and 

 the rate of deaths for 1,000 births would have been 

 changed from 91 to 77. And in Nova Scotia for the 

 year October i, 1911, to September 30, 1912, the 

 infant mortality rate was 102 per 1,000 births. 



Every province in Canada will now set before 

 itself the standard already reached by Nova Scotia 

 on the Atlantic and British Columbia on the Pacific : 



Infant mortality, 100 or less per 1,000 birtks. 

 As soon as we have reached that, then we must 

 standardize again at : 



Infant mortality, 50 or less per 1,000 births. 

 Do we think imperially ? Do not let the thought 

 of the city crowd out the thought of the settler, the 

 farmer, and the pioneer. Post offices are needed in 

 new districts, but not more needed than some succour 



