Welfare of Youth.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20207, 29 May 1937, Page 13 (Supplement)

Welfare of Youth.

EXAMPLE OF VIENNA. :: A MAGNIFICENT SYSTEM.

(Manchester Guardian’s Vienna Correspondent.)

NOW THAT BRITAIN has adopted a plan for the improvement of the nation’s health and physique it is timely to recall the magnificent system by which the former Social Democratic Municipal Government in Vienna succeeded during its fifteen years’ rule in changing the population of a town badly shaken by the vicissitudes of a lost war and by the effects of four years’ blockade, starvation, poverty, and disease into probably the Fittest Town Population of Europe. In the days after the war foreign relief administrations, such as the Save the Children Fund, the Society of Friends, and others, had a great share in saving the population of this town from the immediate worst effects of the catastrophe, but after 1921 the Social Democratic Vienna municipality had to bear the brunt of the work. The late Professor Julius Tandler (who died last year) was entrusted with the leadership of the office of health and social policy of the Vienna municipality in 1919. Professor Tandler was a scientist of great fame, an anatomist but he proved by his work that he could also make his mark in practical affairs. The worst effects of the war in Vienna were the enormous increase of tuberculosis and rickets, both results of undernourishment, the large number of orphans, and the enormous child mortality. Even amongst adults mortality increased by 60 per cent, as compared with the prewar days; child mortality increased by 100 per cent. Professor Tandler realised that his first efforts must be to eliminate the worst effects of the post-war privations. The previous municipality possessed a home for tuberculous children at Belaggio on the Adriatic Sea. Dr. Tandler, however, found that these children, though often cured in the warm, salty air of Grado, Relapsed When They Returned to Vienna. One must remember that tuberculosis was regarded as the “mortus Viennensis” —no big city in Europe had such mortality from this terrible sickness as pre-war Vienna. Tandler, after long consideration, decided that the children must be cured from this disease in an atmosphere, or in such climatic conditions, which would correspond to that in which they would be compelled to live later. He therefore erected tubercular clinics for children on the hills at the edge of Vienna, on sunny slopes of Baumgarten, Grinzing, and other suburbs. Day and night the-children had plenty of fresh air and as much sunshine as possible and were provided with wholesome food. This was only part of the campaign against tuberculosis. The huge “sunshine” tenement houses in Vienna were built with the view to bring up a healthier new generation. Only 30 to 35 per cent, of the ground space was allowed to be covered by buildings; the rest was left for gardens, parks, and pools. Each flat had large balconies, and the windows of these tenement houses were fixed in such a way that each flat might obtain as much direct sunshine as possible. But the other children were also provided for. Each child who had not enough nourishing food at home could obtain breakfast and lunch at the “Schuelerausspeisung” in the school. The food was prepared from wholesome ingredients in a central kitchen, and was then distributed to the various schools in fast vans. Only if both father and mother of the schoolboy were working was a small fee accepted. The welfare organisation of the municipality, however, began even before the birth of the child. There was an Extensive Welfare Organisation for pregnant mothers. If they registered in the sixth month of their pregnancy they not only received a complete outfit for their future babies worth about. two English pounds but, if they were willing to submit to an examination in one of the 36 “Mutterberatungstellen” (Advice Centres for Mother), they received not only free medical attention but also a benefit for several weeks after their delivery. There were years when ten thousand women enjoyed this benefit. There was also a similar benefit fund for women in the last weeks of their pregnancy, while many could go to the maternity home of the municipality. Each unemployed or destitute woman received one litre of milk per day for one year free of charge after her confinement. Immediately after the birth of the child the welfare

organisation stepped in. If a child was born in those days in Vienna one of the many “Fuersorgeraetin (welfare inspectors) visited the mother and, inquired about her wishes of the family. If the parents were well-to-do or were able to look after the child, then the inspector just congratulated the mother on the birth of the child. But if there was need or unhealthy living conditions, then the work of the welfare organisation began. There was, of course, no compulsion in the system. The Social Democrats, as their name showed, were enemies of compulsory measures. Their Weapon Was Persuasion. If the new-born infant was illegitimate, the Youth Office of the Welfare Organisation automatically took over the guardianship of the child. In the case of legitimate but poor children benefits as high as £1 10s per week were paid monthly. If the child was in unhealthy surroundings, or if the father was a drunkard, or if the economic conditions of the family would not permit proper attention, the Youth Office, through the district inspectors, intervened. The same occurred if the child was sick, or of poor constitution, or if the parents happened to be ill. On the recommendation of the competent inspectors the child then was taken to the Kinderuebernahmestelle, a central children’s home. This, however, served only a 3 quarantine, and the children were kept there only a few weeks, during which the doctors and the psychologists examined their physical and mental condition. If the psychopathic tests were favourable, the children were returned to the parents, and were kept in municipal kindergarten or schools in the morning, while their afternoons, in the absence of their parents, were spent at the Jugendhorte. , . , In case of adverse results to the psychopathic tests the children were taken to the Wilhelminenberg. This palace, built on a sunny hilltop within the boundaries of Vienna, used to be the residence of the Archduke Leopold Salvator, but was bought by the Vienna municipality in 1927 and converted into a children’s home. Dr. Tandler ordered this inscription to be placed on the wall: “He Who Erects Palaces for Children Breaks Down Prison Walls.” Here further psychopathic tests were carried out for several months, and then the children were divided amongst the various institutions according to the result of their examination. The present Government of Vienna discontinued the old practice, and the palace has become a convent of the Vienna Boys’ Choir —a choir of young Catholic boys who sing at Mass in the chapel of the former Imperial Sick and weak children were sent from Wilhelminenberg to foster-parents in the country, while some were returned to their parents. About 30 _ per cent, of the examined children were placed in municipal or private boarding schools, where the children were kept and educated at the expense of the municipality. About 20 per cent, of the boys and a smaller percentage of the girls had to be sent to reformatory schools, destined for the education of the morally or mentally deficient. The new tenement houses in Vienna, which provided homes for more than 240,000 of the population (out of the total of 180,000) had magnificent kindergarten attached to them and elementary schools adjoining them where the children obtained their primary education. The municipality had more than 120 such kindergarten. The school fees were small, and more than 40 per cent, of the children were freed even from that. The other municipal schools were equipped with fine gymnasium rooms. Frequent excursions to the surroundings j>f Vienna were arranged; sports were encouraged and sports equipment provided. . This welfare and youth protection organisation of the Vienna municipality was certainly the Best-thought-out and Most Efficiently Organised single system in the world. Unfortunately it no longer exists. Though the new rulers who came into power after the terrible civil war of February, 1934, were compelled to retain at least a fraction of the old institutions, the system, as such, has disappeared. But the benefits of it remain, and when the Schuschnigg Government introduced compulsory service in Austria it undoubtedly profited by the high percentage of youth fit for military service in Vienna.