PROTECTION OF MATERNITY. 
39 
cians of Worcester and Fitchburg, Mass., presented a notable brief 
against the bill. After showing that prenatal and postnatal laws in 
Germany had not produced the “superman” but an inferior man, 
and declaring that “control by the individual is democracy and 
control by the State is autocracy,” these physicians assert that it 
is a step toward State-control of the practice of medicine. 
Moreover, they say, “physicians have been told that this legisla- 
tion must go through and it is better to steer it than oppose it, turn- 
ing that the physicians of Worcester don’t want to steer it but 
oppose'it, because it leads to socialism and because it is radically 
wrong. . 
Isn’t it time th*l we found out about the lobby that is trying to 
force this bill through Congress ? Surely unsound sentimentalism is 
a bad guide to follow. Certainly the great mass of mothers ot this 
country believe in self-respect and self-help, and it seems to me that 
the fathers also can aid in solving these problems without Federal 
interference. 
Dr. Frank Goodnow, president of the Johns Hopkins University, 
does not approve of this bill, nor of the Smith-1 owner bill, nor does 
Dr Jacob Hollander, professor of political economy, as they both 
feel that these bills stand for a usurpation of power by the federal 
Government, which is exceedingly dangerous. The fact that one will 
cost us hundreds of millions and the other a few millions makes no 
difference in the principles which are at stake. 
It seems to me that after reading the hearings before, we certainly 
do not need any further investigation. I think that the American 
Child Hygiene Association can give you all data in regard to infant 
mortality and in regard to maternal mortality. We agree that the 
death rate has been high, and that it is a very important subject, 
hut those urging the bill state that the principal thing is due to the 
shortage of doctors and nurses. Another thing is that ignorance is 
also a factor, and they say that rural isolation is another thing and 
that lower incomes is another. I do not know just how the I ed er at 
Government is going to handle the doctor question, but it seems to 
me that it should be handled by medical men. It should be handled 
by doctors, by specialists, by obstetricians and by pediatricians, 
who understand the care of mothers, and who understand the care of 
babies, and it is a very difficult question. You can go to the highest 
authorities, and you will find that none of the hospitals have the 
facilities for training and giving them the experience that they ought 
I talked with a specialist in Boston, an eminent obstetrician, and 
.he said that unless a hospital can have at least a thousand obstetrical 
patients every year, that hospital is not in a position to give the 
training that they ought to have, and unless you get these very well- 
trained men, you are not getting the best, for it is a fact that the 
ordinary practitioner is not as good as a trained midwife. Never 
theless, we do not wish the standard to be the midwife standaid, 
but we want to have the doctor standard, and I do not see how these 
amateur investigators are going to get very far in tint regain. 1 
think that the mothers and- the children have the right to have 
proper medical care when a child is born, and if you are going to have 
this maternal hygiene given by an amateur, where are you going to 
get ? Of course there are many other things, such as kidney comphca-