30 ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT 



dread malady. In these few intervening years what tremendous 

 progress has been made! Hundreds of State and private sani- 

 toria have been built, and thousands of physicians and nurses 

 are devoting themselves to the prevention and care of this dis- 

 ease. But undoubtedly the most hopeful evidence of ultimate 

 success is the widespread diffusion of knowledge among the 

 people generally of the danger of tuberculosis, and of the means 

 by which it can be prevented and cured. 



Along similar lines must our special campaign for the babies 

 be waged. The pivotal point is the mother. She is the natural 

 caretaker of her baby. She must be instructed in the absolute 

 necessity of providing her baby during its dependent and helpless 

 state with such food and surroundings as are compatible with 

 health and life, and we who know and have must see to it that 

 we share with her our knowledge and means until her baby as 

 well as ours really enters into the possession of its birthright, 

 namely, the right to live, now so often denied it. 



Is it right that the mortality rate for infants under 1 year is 

 higher than for any age period up to 95 years, when it is much 

 lower for babies nursed at the breast and for the bottle-fed babies 

 of the well to do? This is because while we are properly caring 

 for our own babies we are indifferent to the cries of the many 

 Rachels among the poor. The law rigidly protects the life of 

 the unborn child and promptly proclaims it murder when it is 

 intentionally destroyed. Can it be called anything less when the 

 newly born infant is permitted by the public to live under condi- 

 tions which just as surely if a little more slowly destroy its life? 



At the sessions of the Conference which follow the various 

 factors which are most harmful to healthy infancy will be sever- 

 ally discussed and the most successful means of controlling them 

 pointed out. 



It will not be considered an invidious distinction if in this 

 public meeting reference is made to two or three subjects which 

 our Association thinks to be of outstanding importance and which 

 will be considered in detail at the subsequent sessions. And first 

 of all, we consider it fundamental in attempting to combat this 

 widespread infant mortality to have more accurate vital statistics, 

 and, particularly, prompt and uniform registration of births. It 

 is impossible to determine the proportion of babies that die, to 

 the total number of children, without knowing the number of 

 births. All statistical data in this country is more or less shrewd 

 conjecture and inference. In no State in the Union is there a 

 satisfactory registration of births. There is a woeful lack of 

 uniformity in our State laws. We are nearly the only civilized 

 country in the world where this dearth of accurate statistical 

 data prevails. Many of the countries of South America are far 



