SAVE TEE CHILDREN 
513 
upon patented solutions and methods. The latter are ex¬ 
pensive and often practically worthless. 1 
393. Save the Children. — The care which animals take in 
the protection of their young is one of the most fundamental 
instincts of their nature. But in civilized man his instinct 
is broadened and controlled by the power of reason and a 
knowledge of the laws of hygiene. Until man came to 
understand these laws, many of his efforts to protect his 
young were of no more avail than the brave fluttering and 
plaintive cries of a bird when a red squirrel is robbing her 
nest. 
During the last decade there has been an attempt to re¬ 
duce deaths among children. It is lower in America than 
in most countries of the world, in which fact we take 
pride. The state of New York has the lowest death rate 
among children of any state in the world of which we have 
accurate knowledge. Yet there are communities in this 
state where the waste of infant life is a disgrace to civiliza¬ 
tion. The centers where this high death rate exists are largely 
populated by foreigners whom we permit to live in unhygienic 
conditions. 
In a study of 9912 deaths among infants in New York 
State for the year 1916, over 55 per cent of these died from 
measles, whooping cough, bronchitis, pneumonia, broncho¬ 
pneumonia, and infantile diarrhea. All of these are due in 
large part to parental ignorance concerning the elementary 
facts of sanitation and the proper care and feeding of infants. 
The infantile mortality among the foreign-born mothers is 
much greater than in the native white mothers. Particularly 
high death rates prevail among the Polish, German, and 
Austrian mothers. 
It is difficult properly to measure the value of health to 
the community. When the wage earner is sick and is placed 
1 When practicable, it is well to have the local health officer discuss such 
subjects as disinfection and quarantine. 
