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Show I Hoover Will Name 'Luckiest Children' One Million Dollars Set Aside to Be Spent in Three Cities to Prove What Can Be Done in Saving Lives and Improving Health of Youngsters. I By CAROLYN VANCE Special Correspondent of The Stand -MriMBsJUlUnor (Copyright. H'22 by Th Standard-rOxfiminor. Standard-rOxfiminor. ) WASHINGTON, Dec 23. Health, as a priceless Christmas gin n prom-lied prom-lied to thr children or thr.- cities in tho United States, children who tnlffhl veil be railed "the luekl.-st kids in , America." I Herbert Hoover is to play the role of Santa ClSUS. As head of the newl powerful combination of child health organizations in America he will administer ad-minister a fund of one million dollars In puttins" child health demonstratons I in three widely selected cities. For; three yean the children ot the fortunate fortu-nate communities selected Will have! every attention that science has devised devis-ed for promoting their health. These demonstrations will act as object 1s- sons to the rest of the country' in i showing what can be done In saving the Uvea and Improving the health of little children when practical are consistently applied- We need the lepson badly. "Eighty per cent of all children are normal at birth." said Mr. Hoover. and less than 17 per D.1 are normal when they reach maturity " HOOVER IS BUSY MAS These plans were announced for the first time in an exclusive interview given tho writer, by this grave man. He looks for big things from the am-almagatlon am-almagatlon of the American Child Hygiene association and the Child Health aasociatlon of America This combination of two powerful forces will result in a new deal f r boys and girls from the most crowded city to. tho Isolated country district Instead of many private groping for the solutions of the problems prob-lems of high Infant mortality, undernourishment, under-nourishment, and too low vitality; we now have the American Child Health association, with Its far reaching plans for bringing health and rigor and sound citisenshlp within the reach of every baby born. It was the pros- , -pect of having Hoover as the presid el of the new organization. which brought about the amalgamation to take place January I. It deems to bi the fashion these days when "anything needs to be done to "let Hoover do it " He has probably I m greatest collection of jobs that have ver fallen to the lot of one man. These three- cities will be helped with funds from the commonwealth fund, which has laid aside a million for this purpose. Advice will be given in safeguarding the life of the mother-to-be, in laying a good health foundation foun-dation for children In the early sensitive sensi-tive and formative period of their growth and in the health .supervision and the formation of essential health habits in school children The work will be so developed as to enlist the co-operation of physicians. publi c health nurses, and all other agencies Interested In health and child welfare. It will be vital that all sources of public pub-lic opinion be won over to the cauc. The co-operation of each City's government. govern-ment. Its clubs and all it? societies must be secured. The new organ izatlon will try to provbe to the mother that the power exists to make her son grow up strong and healthy and attractive Then the fathers must be convinced. When B father holds out he Is lea? amenable to reason than his wife, he can be as stubborn as a mule Then there are the grandmothers who humor the children b allowing them to eat what they want to. Grandmother Is sometimes some-times a hard problem. She can be more stubborn than father. WILL SELECT CITIES The first city to be selected will probably be In the upper half of the Mississippi valley region. This city will be announced in a few days. The other two cities In other sections of the country are to bo selected after work has been well started in the llrst. The city must show a desire to co-operate in the work during the three-rear three-rear period and have a reasonable prospect of assuming responsibility for carrying it on In the future Well-to-do parents will say probably that this "public child health" talk Is only for the children of the poor. Don't we employ the best doctors doc-tors In town?" HaVen't WS got good homes"" Don't wo feed our children on the fat of the land?" "Yes." the child experts agree, bu: the often over-humored one or two children of the well-to-do have more detects than the larger families of the poor." |