IRV 7 ING FISHER, PH. D. 41 



eggs, out of which on the average only two live to reproduce. 

 As we rise in the scale of life both the number of offspring and 

 their mortality are enormously reduced. In general the higher 

 the form of animal the less the waste in producing children 

 merely to be destroyed and the greater the energy remaining 

 for personal and race development. Aesop recognized this in 

 the fable of the Fox and the Lion. The fox was taunting the 

 lion about having so few children, and the lion replied: "Yes, 

 but every child is a lion." In the larger animals the birth rate 

 is smaller, and as civilization progresses it should be smaller; 

 it makes for economy; it means less drain on the resources of 

 the people, and particularly on child-bearing women. There are 

 a smaller number of children and a smaller number of deaths 

 among those children. The conservation of infant lives is but 

 part of the problem of the conservation of all human life, and 

 the statistics to which I have alluded, when applied to all human 

 life, show that the average duration of life in this country might 

 be prolonged at least 15 years if we simply applied our knowl- 

 edge of hygiene. As to how this is to be brought about, there 

 will be much discussion during the next few days of this con- 

 ference. I would like, however, especially as the chairman has 

 alluded to the matter, to speak particularly of one movement 

 the movement for a National Department of Health. In foreign 

 countries the governments have done more in the matter of 

 conserving vitality than in this country, but in this country the 

 movement toward establishing a National Department of Health 

 has made steady progress. We have now the indorsement of 

 the President of the United States for this project, also the in- 

 dorsement of a number of far-sighted and patriotic Congress- 

 men, as well as a large majority of the medical and hygienic 

 organizations, but there are some active organizations of the 

 United States opposing this department, and it should be under- 

 stood by all who are advocating the reduction of infant mor- 

 tality that this is not merely a question of academic or scientific 

 value, but it is a question of putting a value on human life above 

 the commercial values of certain interests. The problem of 

 special interests seems to get into legislation wherever philan- 

 thropy is concerned, and even this movement toward a National 

 Department of Health has encountered such opposition. A few 

 months ago a Mr. Charles Miller, who has at heart the destruc- 

 tion of this effort to establish a National Department of Health 

 and who was alarmed at the progress he saw made at the hear- 

 ings in Washington, appeared before a meeting of a live stock 

 association trying to get them enlisted in a fight against a De- 

 partment of Health. On what ground? That such a department 

 might interfere with their freedom in regard to transportation 



