MOTHERCRAFT

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 89, 9 January 1919, Page 3

MOTHERCRAFT

"A PROBLEM FOR SOCIETY AND ' ' . . STATESMEiN." • . . If tljp appalling sacrifice, of human • lifo which the war has 'demanded.does nnt stimulate us to conserve life after i- Mie war by an adequate consideration of the problem of infant welfare, and an rainiest attempt to reduce infant mortality to its minimum, it may : reasonably bo argued that the war will have been fought in vain. It will be "now or never." - ".'.,■' To a large extent the interest of tho ration hae already Ijeen awakened to j the need for' effort. A vast amount of . energy, has been expended in all parts ! of the country in the endeavour to firing j niothercraft and infant welfare: "to the , ' ! forefront of national problems, 'to exericise tho nation's conscience, and, in the ■j meantime, ro 'grapple with the'present j emergency. Hence the remarkable I growth of "welfare centres" - both in i London and the provinces. The, quesi tion will soon have to be determinedj whether all this effort is proceeding | along the lines best calculated.to,serve ,| the object in view: whether an iritelli- :| Rent and far-seeing spirit of corordinai tion will not be necessary to , make the I iuilest use of the energy expended and I to remove the risk of antagonisms and I overlapping.' As to the question whether' the work is being pnrsiied everywhere, uiion the rightiines it is difficult to', determine who. should be the judge, though it would at least (tppt-or to be sound policy to . establish soil".- menns of scrutinising all theories ana nieihuda,. •with a view-to securing. .a uniformity j of progress and to : correcting error. | ■ 111 this connection, it is : .nteresting to " note that Dr. Truby King hasi issued "a plea for the drawing up and circulation throughout the whole community .of simple, reliable, consistent standards for guidance , in- the rearing of normal. inI fante." l)r. v Tmby King, on acknow- | ledged authority, is a general 'president | of tho'Royal New ,Zealand '''ooiety for | the Health of Women and ehildren. During an extended visit to Europe in I the capacity as an Army doctor, he, has . been-actively'-concerned with the Babies of the Empire Society,, an orsinisation. v'liich has set.u'p a .babies' l.otp'tai and niothercraft training, contra,'at Earl's C'oi/rt.- 2\'ew Zealaiul, of i;our:-ie, is 'a country the infant death-rate of .which is one of the most favourable in \the world. .. . .\\ ' \ i. To what extent the views-for which Dr. Truby King stands vary froih those generally, adopted over here we are unable to ''■ say. .Very largely,. no t doubt,; they .cover . ■common ground. At some points, prob- ' ably, there acute difference; possibly ! at vital points. One .of the points urged . by, him is that the crusade is advanced more effectively "by appealing in" the first pfac'e ~to-the most intelligent, to the ; most - highly receptive members of the community; than by restricting the appeal to .those, of lesser intelligence.". Over here, in the. Old .World; he has discovered that i we have to cope with the stupendous ' problem of appalling poverty and "this 60 dominates the situation that attention is restricted mainly tolthe question of, philanthropic patronage and doles, or the ( giving of advice, of the very simplest ) character to people of,the more or lets ( submerged classes." . ■ ' • . 1

"So much help is needed for ttje poor," ho says, "that the paramount need' of practical education for all classes in domestic ,hygiene and mothorcraft has , been' lost- eight of. The only way to place rnothe'rhood on a' broad, sound, successful national basis is.. to ensurofor thoso who are to be the mothers of the, future, normal, all-round development of. their whole: being in infancy, and to maintain this throughout achool life and klolescence." . . . •

In the first place, among essentials for which Dr. Truby King pleads is 'the natural, as opposed to the artificial, reading of "infants-;- ■ "One of the .worst aftermaths of ..-war," he declares, "will be the increased crop of inefficients twenty.yoars hence, due to the wholesale'abandonment of babies to artificial feeding, who in more normal times would .have been nursed by thpir mothers: There is no graver problem in 'reconstruction' for society, .and our statesmen to ■ solve."— "Westminster Gazette."