CONTROL OF THE PUBLIC MILK SUPPLY 475 



ous notices of the station placed in the shops, drug stores and saloons of 

 the neighborhood help. Newspaper publicity is of great value but the 

 house to house canvassing of the nurses is most important. One criti- 

 cism that is made of milk stations is that they fail to reach those who 

 need help most. The overburdened discouraged tenement house mother 

 does not find the time and energy to go out for the relief that is at hand; it 

 must be brought to her. The nurse must not only interest the mother in 

 the station and make her its patron but must win her confidence enough 

 to be allowed to straighten out the home and to advise in the feeding 

 of other children. If extreme poverty exists, its cause must be found and 

 the effort made to alleviate it. Once the mother is made a patron of 

 the station she can usually be made to feel that she is doing well to spread 

 its virtues among her neighbors and bring them to it, too. The 6th 

 Annual Report of the Boston Milk and Baby Hygiene Association ^tates 

 that 40 per cent, of the babies came to the stations from mothers and 

 friends, 18.5 per cent, from board of health nurses, 10 per cent, from 

 district nurses, 13 per cent, from milk station nurses, 13.5 per cent, 

 from doctors and hospitals, 2.5 per cent, from settlements, 1 per cent, 

 from relief agencies and 1.5 per cent, from miscellaneous sources. Of 

 course, elsewhere it would very likely be different but this statement is 

 interesting as showing the influence of mothers and nurses in upbuilding 

 station work. 



The proportion of sick and well babies treated at different milk 

 stations varies a great deal and so does the infant mortality at the differ- 

 ent stations. The efficiency of station management, the character of the 

 population served, whether or not it stands in great need of the help the 

 station offers, and the activity of the nurses in ferreting out ailing children, 

 all are factors in determining the record of the station in these matters. 



The educational work carried on by the stations is of the utmost 

 importance. The distribution of leaflets in various languages telling 

 about the station, how to care for the baby and how to feed it are helpful 

 but the great work of this sort is the lecture and demonstration work at 

 the station. In carrying on this, effort should be made to reach the " little 

 mothers" both because it teaches them how to care for their charges and 

 because it prepares them for motherhood. Some stations distribute 

 small prizes to the children for essays on topics developed in the lectures. 

 The compositions are often naively touching and show the vital interest 

 taken. 



Milk stations by extending their work frequently become true child 

 welfare stations. They can do prenatal work among the mothers, exer- 

 cise control over the midwives by making them feel that their work is 

 under observation, follow up foster mothers in charge of boarded babies 

 and teach mothers how to feed and bring up children under school age. 

 This last work is very important for ordinarily these children escape all 



