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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 2, 1913)
4 THE SUNDAY OHEGOXIAN, PORTLAND, FEBRUARY 2, 1913. Pbqsiqtie, Not Pedtitq, Is What Cotmts f IP.: Tfte Jfe3A Contests And Svj?eri7iteX(fefft ofTfbrfc rt United cPted'. . THE fertile state of Iowa, so long justly proud of Its prime pork and abundant, high-grade corn, now proposes to set a new style in babies. That's rather a big order these con fident residents of the Hawkeye State have given themselves, isn't it, espe cially In view of the fact that the cry "Healthier babies for all" Is a slogan that has only recently been considered anywhere? Nevertheless, the work is going' for ward and one of the big features at Iowa state fairs today is the baby health contest. The whole matter started with a lit tie woman living at Audubon, Iowa- Mrs. Mary Terrill Watts, who is also a prominent member of the Iowa Feder ation of Women's Clubs. Not only has she the backing and encouragement of the Federation, but also the enthusias tic support of the Mothers' Congress and the women physicians of the pub lic health committee of the American Medical Association. They are scien tifically seeking how the perfect child, that is, the healthiest, best propor tioned and strongest, may be produced and reared. One day Mrs. Watts noticed on a neighboring farm a curious contrast that struck her most forcibly, the hogs on the place looked remarkably plump, prosperous and lively; but the children of the family were peaked, thin, scrawny looking. It seemed absurd, brutally, criminally absurd, that this state of affairs could possibly prevail, or that any one would leave a stone unturned to bring about an equality of conditions between the pigs and the children. Why. if a pig died, it could, relatively speaking, easily be replaced, and yet so valuable a creation as a child was permitted to grow up 'any old way." So there sprang into her head the grand idea of a state-wide contest in which proud parents could enter their offspring, and have the youngsters rated according to stamina, physical development, etc Mrs. Watts showed by the method she selected for THE MASTERPIECE DOCTOR MAGGIOLJ was the oldest of a coterie of friends, men and women, interested in artistlo and literary problems, liberal in views and tendencies, who met frequent ly at each others houses. Their discussions were unfettered, entirely free from conventional considerations, and none was heard with greater at tention and deference than the ven erable doctor himself; although, as will be seen, many of his experiences bordered on the incredible. "What do you think of it, doctor?" asked Baroness LanarL "I did not catch Just what was said." replied Doctor Maggioli. "Nowadays young men act like old men, even in speaking. When I was young we all shouted and gesticulated in talking of ordinary things; In everything we did we put enthusiasm that later produced the spirit of '4S. Don't laugh, my boy." turning to the writer, who stood smiling by the side of the Baroness. "The spirit of '48 was worth something In Its day and perhaps without It but we are getting into politics. What I weant was that you spoke too low for me to hear what you said. I gathered that you were upholding a theory " "That some day we shall get rid of all our art galleries by selling them to the savages of Central Africa or New Zealand or perhaps to the Esqui maux. Our pictures and statues will answer as playthings for them until they are sufficiently civilized to do without them, unless they first destroy them to see how thew are made, as our children break their toyj from Nurem berg and Paris." The speaker was a lawyer, Veraldl by name, fresh from his legal studies and. like young Italy in general, full of heretical opinions. The doctor smiled Indulgently. "I wish you might have said as much to my old professor of physiology," he said. "He used to declare that In four or five centuries he was shrewd enough to put It far In the future there would be no masterpieces of painting or sculpture In the galleries, but that they would exist, neverthe- lam ' yum- calling attention to the need of care for babies that she understands human nature. Everyone knows how mothers will enthusiastically rush to enter their children in a beauty show. It s a nat ural and praiseworthy instinct, this mother's pride, that impels them to pit the excellent qualities of their ba bies against those of the same age. Only, of course, Mrs. Watts did not have beauty, but health, as the basis of considering the merits of the entries. In 1911 the Iowa State College want ed someone to take charge of a "wom an's hour" in their building at the State Fair held annually in Des Moines. The Woman's Federation, asking for a week instead of an hour, seized the opportunity that had presented itself and launched the big idea that had started In the brain of Mrs. Watts. She was naturally chosen to have charge of this unusual exhibit. Three hun dred dollars in prizes were put up; entries were classified according as the children lived in the rural districts, less. In the flesh. Immortal creatures that would give birth to other similar beings, and would probably form the nucleus of a new humanity." "But that is utterly Incredible!" cried the Baroness. "That is what I thought" rejoined Doctor Maggioli, "but I was obliged to change my opinion. The poor old man died, however, without seeing the Incarnation of masterpieces, as he called it." "Did he believe then In a Messiah for works of art?" "Tes, Baroness; and this Messiah he fonnd in the divine force that created them thought!" "You are trying to bewilder us, doc tor. "Wait until you have heard what I saw with my own eyes, and you will think differently." "What strange things you must have seen!" exclaimed the Baroness, a ban tering Inflection In her voice. "The Privilege of old age," replied the doctor, smiling. All gathered around the white-haired old man who began: "The professor had one great fault he was too modest He used to say that the more science advanced the more helpless it became, by which he meant that the clearing up of one mystery only opened the way to the revelation of other and still greater mysteries. Another of his maxims was that a truth out of place might do more harm than an opportune lie; and he was right. But if I repeat all his aphorisms I shall keep you here until tomorrow morning. "His theory of the incarnation of mas terpieces had this as its starting point; that human thought In producing a work of art could not act differently from divine thought in creating nature. According to him, they are merely two manifestations of what is essentially the same force; the latter acting di rectly upon nature, the first Indirectly In the world of art through the medium of the human organism. "I was then a confirmed materialist like you, my dear Veraldl," turning to the young Iconoclast; "and laughed In my sleeve at such metaphysical reason ing from a man devoted to an exact science which I thought ought to make him more of a materialist than L He believed, however, that the human fig ure painted or carved by the hand of a genius was something more than a Iowa Woman Develops New Method in Judging Prize Babies Which Has Been Adopted in Oregon Baby Snows Measurements of' Perfect Children Taking Care of Hie Little Folks ft city or town. The entries were also divided according to age, ranging from 1 to. Z years. First Contest la Held. The enterprise proved a big success. The babies were there in large num bers; so were the spectators to witness this novel display. It took as never a beauty show did. There was a whole tentful of the lively, crowing little creatures, with several women doctors in attendance to look them over and take care of them. Pink toes would kick out, chubby faces would wreath in smiles as with their garments first removed the litle boys and girls were carefully examined. An official score card, very compactly gotten up by Dr. Margaret Vaupel Clark, of Waterloo, Ia furnished the basis for the mark ings. They were gone over as to chest development, height, weight, circum ference of head, etc. In fact, not a point of any sort is overlooked on this score card. The system adopted has the approval not only of the National Congress of Mothers, but of the Iowa Public Com mittee of the American Medical Asso ciation, and the Department of Agri cultural Extension of Iowa State Col lege. It is invaluable in that It fur nishes an exact standard on which parents may go in correcting the phys ical defects of their children. In the first contest, Charles Elmer O'Toole. city born, and city bred, aged 2 years, won the grand sweepstakes, taking first prize with the very nearly perfect score of 96 points, the mark ing being on a basis of 100. Thus first victory fell to the Celtio race. The mere representation of life; that It could not be a mere artistlo play of color or outline if it awakened senti ment and emotion In the mind of the spectator. "He considered such a work as a creature with, potential life with an organism more complete, more delicate than ours, but latent as It were, on the canvas or In the marble awaiting the transforming power of thought to break its bonds and give It a place In the world of nature. "'It is a beautiful idea,' I said to him one day; "but nothing more." " Tt is a reality he replied positive ly; 'and I shall prove It to you." He led me to a room beside his laboratory. On one of the walls hung a woman's portrait which seemed strangely fa miliar to me. I was sure I had seen SUFFRAGIST to see In the high places of the nation only men who will fight for the upkeep of the sacredness of the home. The; deny that there are among them large numbers of old maids who have no children, or wives who find domestic duties irksome, but assert that they are mothers and wives who love their home and their children and want to fight for the protection of the same; women who feel that they are thinking human creatures and have Intelligence enough to take an active interest in the legislation which so vitally con cerns them. The floats which will be gotten up at great cost will portray the history of women from the earliest date and the great Influence they have and can have upon posterity. Many of them will represent the victory of woman's suffrage at the November election. Able Leaders at the Kelm. Miss Alice Paul, chairman of the Congressional Committee of the Na tional American Woman's Suffrage As sociation, has come to Washington to direct the great work of the pageant and the woman suffragists throughout the country are well satisfied that with Miss Faul In charge everything will be beautiful and impressive. The national efficers of the Woman's Off? 0 tee Fall of 1912, however, gave the cnam pionship to a little girl of German descent, also city bred, Dorothy Klus meyer, who broke Master O'Toole's rec ord by a difference of exactly five eighths of a point, she scoring 97 1-8. Her age was 2 years also. In this second contest, prizes to the amount of 1500 were distributed. In 1911 45 ba bies were entered; 1912 brought 263 of them to the big tent crawling, run. nlng, playing out, part of the time the soft pink and white skins of their little bodies totally uncovered. There wasn't much crying or quarreling, either. What self-respecting baby could be peevish or unhappy if it were robust enough to be entered in a state health contest? Measurement of Perfection. Here are the figures that little Dor othy Klusmeyer's mother points to with a just and pardonable pride, and the young lady herself will probably do likewise when she grows big enough to understand it all. Height, 36 V, inches; circumference of head, 20 inches; chest measure, 21 inches; weight, 32 pounds. Another young ster, a "boy from the country," of exactly her age, made a close second. His figures were as follows: height 37 Inches; head measure, 19 inches; chest measure, 20 inches; weight, 32 pounas. These statistics mean much or little, according as one knows what the Ideal baby should measure up to. The American Medical Association for the age of 36 months places the stand ard as follows: height, 86 Inches; head measure, 19 inches; chest measure 20 inches; weight, 31 pounds. Now by the use of the official score card, which every parent, by the way, should possess a copy of, the propor tions of one's own child can very It and admired it before, though I could not tell where, and this time I found it more beautiful than ever. "It was a half-length nfteenth-cen-tury figure and produced an extraor dinary Illusion of detachment from the background. The eyes were so bril liant that I fancied I could see them reflecting surrounding objects; the lips appeared moist the breath was appar ently fluttetring between the pearly teeth; the skin had a tint a brightness as if the veins beneath were throbbnig and giving it a freshness, a rosiness almost phosphorescent in character. '"What a masterpiece!' I exclaimed. " It is by Sebastiano del Plombo; take a seat there and watch it' he re plied, indicating a chair perhaps two yards or a little more from the picture. He also sat down, but much nearer. INVASION OF WASHINGTON OOXTIXCED FROM PAGE TWO. Suffrage organization. Dr. Anna Shaw, Miss Jane Addams and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt will lead the parade although it has not yet been decided whether they will ride In a carriage. The pageant will be divided Into divis ions by states and by professions In the states, and the chairman of each organization will lead her division All professions of women will be rep resented, many of the floats showing the women at work. There will be a special division of press women, which will be led by Miss Genevieve Champ Clark, the eighteen-year-old daughter of the Speaker, who has chosen jour nalism as a vocation. " At a recent poll of the wives of mem bers of Congress and Washington wo men in general, it was found that more than nine-tenths of these women were in favor of suffrage, so that on the 3d of March hundreds of these are expected to march down broad Pennsyl vania avenue to impress the new Pres ident officials and their own husbands with the fact that they are out for the vote. Among the leaders In the Congress ional set suffrage circles In Washing to x are Mrs. Robert M. La Follette and her daughter. Miss Fola La Follette. the latter, because of her stage train ing, being prominent In arranging the details of the pageant. Mrs. Herbert easily be ascertained and a compar ison made to see how closely they ap proach the standard set. The male is taken as the basis. Girls avera; the same height, but should weigh one pound less. At birth the weight should be 7 pounds; height, 20 inches chest, 13 Inches; head, 11 inches. At one year the measurements should be weight, 21 pounds; height, 29 inches chest, 18 inches; . head, 18 inches. At two years, weight 26 pounds; height, 32 Inches; chest, 19 inches; head, 19 Inches. At three years, weight, 31 pounds; height, 35 inches; chest, 20 inches; head, 19 inches. These health contests have taken Iowa by storm. The enthusiasm en gendered has gained such momentum that, not stopping at the state line, it has rolled across into Missouri. Ore gon, always alive to the tendency .of the age, has sensed the spirit and fallen into line, barely beating out, the matter of time, Colorado's prompt action in the matter. Plans are under way to have a baby health contest In every county in Iowa, but the promoters are not satisfied with going this far. They feel that they have but begun the work. They won't rest content until every county In every state in the Union has taken up the prize healthy - baby idea, ana with the prize winners of the county contests entered at the state contest. The plan then may be for the victor ious contestants to go to the National contest. Wherever this National con test may be held, there is no question but that the whole United States will take the keenest interest in it, and wonder, prophesy and wager, as to which one of the entries will be voted "the healthiest baby In the world." As has been stated, the contests as carried on are not beauty shows. The homely, snub-nosed, freckle-faced little towhead may have an equal chance wltih the handsomest baby in tne land; perhaps, indeed, a much better chance of taking the prize. However, as in the long ran health and beauty must necessarily go together, the out come of these contests will make not and extended his arms with the hands open in the manner affected by hyp notists when they seek to influence their subjects. "I soon saw that wnat I had taken for an optical Illusion due to chiaro scuro and a skillful management of light was Indeed reality. Little by little, under a magnetic effluence that seemed to flow from the professor's fingers, the painted figure became ani mated; the face assumed an expression of nleasura and from time to time one of suffering and even of suppressed rage, followed by changes of a more in definite character which defied analy sis. "At the end of an hour I could not heln believinsr that this portrait im mortallzed by the master hand of Del Plombo, had a life of Its own a me, Parsons, wife of the former Represen tative from New York, will come to Washington for the event and will lead one of the divisions. Mrs. Harvey W. Wiley, wife of the former chief of the Bureau of Chemis try, is one of the most interesting wo men In Washington, and is working hard to perfect the plans for her div ision of the parade. Mrs. Wiley Is very pretty and could well portray a picture of motherhood with her six-months-old son, Harvey Wiley, Jr In her arms. Mrs. MacVeagh, wife of the Secre tary of the Treasury, Mrs. Champ Clark, wife of the Speaker, and scores of equally prominent women, have ac cepted places on the various commit tees. Special preparations are being made to feature the band of marchers headed by "Gen." Rosalie Jones, which pro poses to walk to Washington from the metropolis. This female Coxey's army, probably clad In khaki walking clothes and rough boots, will have a prominent place In the parade. It Is expected that the pageantry of this demonstration In behalf of the women of the Nation who are demand ing the suffrage will be the most Im pressive and momentous performance that advocates of the ballot have ever put on. They expect It be to be epoch making, - only for superb health but for beauty as well. Keeping; Baby Healthy. Even the Indian women on the res ervations have been aroused to take an Interest. In the last Iowa state contest a squaw of the Sioux with her little brown darling came to make the entry. He did not average remarkably high, however. Harrlette Seward Hurd, one of the women behind the movement, says: "The term race suicide has become popular, but it is hoped by the means employed by the health committee not to make the birth rate less, but to lower the death rate by giving to the babies the care they need." The official score cards are carefully preserved in the files of the American Medical Association, as data upon which to make further study into this all important question of eugenics or race betterment. The hope is and it is a hope confidently held that from the results of those various health contests definite rules may be deduced and for mulated Into simple terms that any one can understand rules that will give practical instruction for the sci entific raising of babies. Among the things It is proposed to regulate by the new method is the proper feeding of children. Vast numbers of good, kind mothers are today not fully alive to what constitutes proper feeding. They don't know that because father and other grown-ups, after a hard day's work are able to eat corn, cabbage and cucumbers, that little Johnny's stom BY LUIGI too, totally different from that con ferred by the artist. And when the professor, exhausted, wearily dropped his arms and thus interrupted the progress of this miraculous effect 1 was satisfied that something of it re mained on the canvas; more than I had noticed on first entering the room, though it was far from being so pro nounced as during the process of vltal Lzation. The old man sat motionless. His face was livid, his eyes were closed, his head was bowed on his chest his breath came in slow, deep gasps. I took his hand; It was icy cold. But after a few minutes he re vived; then he raised his head and looked at me with an attempt at a smile. " 'Can It be possible?' I exclaimed. " 'Can you still doubt after what you nave seen? or are you one of those who would rather disbelieve the testi mony of their senses than give up an opinion? "I do not deny that I am one of those doubting ones. Before long I had per suaded myself that I had been hypno tized by the professor's mesmeric power; and yet whenever I glanced at the picture, I felt shaken in this con viction. The impression it made upon me was indefinable; it seemed neither a work of art nor a living being; it was puzzling In the highest degree. " 'You ought to help me,' he added. rising from his chair. "You are young, robust thoughtful, and one I can trust. He then told me the story of the picture. Some of you may remem ber the hue and cry raised by the news papers many years ago about the theft of a picture from the gallery of the Ufflzl. He was the robber. 14 "To put my theory to the test.' he continued, 'it was necessary to have a veritable masterpiece, one that would exercise a Btrong influence on the operator. This was indispensable to the experiment but I could not ask to have one placed at my disposal; I should have been considered mad. I bad often seen this portrait and had been profoundly moved by It. I ordered a copy of It but it was so poorly done that I refused to accept it. Then I determined to have the original at any cost. I have felt no remorse for the theft; my scientific alms absolve me from blame In my own eyes. You will not denounce me. I know.' he said with a smile, 'and when the time comes I shall give myself up as the criminal.' "Unfortunately the time never came. His sudden death put an end to the I t AV cf cored (?eorae tfcored 92 -2 Foxte. ach is not yet prepared to receive sot heavy a diet. Hence, if he grows thin Instead of waxing fat and shows an irregular appetite, sometimes apparent ly being surfeited and at other times ravenously hungry, it is taken for granted that he needs more food. As a matter of fact, of course, he is under fed, but not in the way the mother be lieves he is. That is part of the work being don at the Iowa health contests. The phy sicians, on learning from the parents what kinds of food the child has been reared on and other conditions relative to his well being, point out mistakes, and thus an excellent opportunity Is given to rectify them. The parent upon, returning home has not only a new basis upon which to intelligently cars for her child, but has become an en thusiastic propagator of the good! health tenets. From all this it looks as If there were bright lines ahead for the Infants of our land, doesn't it? The training of the parents them selves has not of course arrived as yet, but the day of preparing for parents hood will surely come. And the move ment that has been set on foot by the energetic Mrs. Watts is gaining an Im petus that is going, ultimately, to pro duce tremendous consequences for the welfare of the race. Meantime it would do no harm it every parent should ask himself the question: "How does my baby meas ure up to the standards set by the of ficlal score book used fn the Iowa baby; health contests?" CAPUANA experiment -before the experiment was completed. Only two days before X had been with htm in the laboratory watching the gradual animation of the portrait and had gone away half-incredulous. I asked myself: 'Is It pos sible?' then answered my own ques tion: ' 'You are worse than doubting Thomas!' I even dared to touch th cheek of that painted face with my finger, and withdrew it with an In explicable feeling of terror and re pugnance the sensation was. that of soft, warm flesh swelling gently from the canvas! "The day the professor died, after I had assisted In laying him out on the little iron bed that had been his resting place for so many years, I hastened to see the picture again. I had a presentiment that the professor's death would react unfavorably on It but was unprepared for the horrible sight that met my eyes. I recoiled In voluntarily. The masterpiece of Sebastiano del Plombo was irretrievably ruined. The fresh, womanly face, once a vision of radiant beauty, was like a shrunken bladder, wrinkled and dried, sticking to the surface of the canvas!" In Luxembourg Afoot. Some time in the forenoon the soli tude was broken by the appearance of a singular object I first caught sight of it upon the summit of a long hill up which my road was climbing, and it descended upon me with a rather start ling rapidity, seeing that It obviously was not an automobile. As It ap proached it resolved Itself Into three parts, a cart much like a glorified toy express wagon, a man curled upon It and a dog galloping ventre a terre un derneath. This, I discovered, is a fa vorite method of transporting one's self and one s goods about the ooun try. On level ground or uphill the dog pulls the cart and the man walks beside it; downhill the man climbs into the cart and coasts comfortably on his way, the unfortunate dog working harder than ever. It is scarcely fair play, but one cannot expect a Walloon peasant to unhitch his beast of burden and hoist him Into the cart by hur side. And after one of these animals had aroused an entire town by his savage barking merely because I stopped to look compassionately at him, I lost sympathy with the entire breet Outing. V