HEALTH v. POVERTY

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 304, 19 September 1936, Page 25

HEALTH v. POVERTY

An Impassioned Plea for’ the Lives of Children “Why Keep Thein Alive?” by Paul • de Kruif (London: Cape). This work is an impassioned plea for the lives of children, poverty-stricken children who, in the midst of healing and plenty, stretch out their hands In vain for relief from pain and for enough to eat. Enough to keep them partly dlive is, in most cases, doled out by charity, backed. by what Mr. de Kruif has discovered to be the real enemy, “Sound Finance,” administered by a sleek, comfortable, well-fed minority whose feelings are not disturbed until their own children or -pockets are threatened. The author of “Microbe Hunters, “Hunger Fighters" and “Men Against Death” opens his campaign with an account Qf the marvellous scientific discoveries made by experiment and research, even in the last decade, in the fight against disease and death. Mr. de Kruif’s style may not please everyone. He hammers home his meaning in the words that seem to him most calculated to rouse and impress. the most comfortable or callous reader. His appeal-is the appeal of the -orator rather than writer, and the majority, having paused to listen to him, will slip quietly into a seat and continue to follow him with concentrated interest until he has had his say. He speaks, with numerous vivid illustrations taken from life, of tho wonderful strides made in the treatment of various common terrors of humanity. No longer need people despair and lie down hopelessly to die If —this is the pivot and kernel of My. , de Kruif s book—they have money to pay for this new science. A certain amount is doled out to the poor with surprising results considering the poor physical material there is to work on, but the author contends that until poverty is abolished, until everyone has enough to eat,- the benefits of science will remain practically a monopoly of the well-to-do. A this. The mere chapter lieidings. Indicate the provocative nature of its contents: “Discovery that Children are Forgotten,” “Drouth is a Blessing,” “Who Owns Our Science?.” “Should Children Eat?,” and so on. Under the heading, “Children Can Live!” the last chapter deals in some detail with the almost miraculous saving of the Dionne quintuplets from death immediately after hirth., A book of this kind naturally touches on all the vexed questions of to-day, unemployment, hunger in the midst of apparent plenty, charitable relief, birth control, and so on, and the author of “Why Keep Them Alive?”, handles the material withoi# gloves anji in nd gentle manner. The book is wofth fending for the mere vigour of its expression, though those whose circumstances .in life are. comfortable must be prepared for a joit or two.