Symposium on Speech, Voice, and Hygiene of the Vocal Tract
NEWS AND COMMENT.
A comprehensive symposium on the improvement of speech and the hygiene of the voice, in the April number of the Journal oj Ophthalmology, Otology and Laryngology is one of the fruits of a campaign for the improvement of the voice and speech of Americans inaugurated by the committee on American speech, whose organization was authorized in 1915 by the National Council of Teachers of English. This committee consists of a large number of volunteers from all walks of life. The plan of the symposium was worked out by a physician (Dr. Burton Haseltine), and a professor of English (Dr John M. Clapp). Prof. Clapp calls attention to the fact that “the standard of speech among Americans is the worst in the civilized world,” “American voices are strident and harsh,” largely as the “result of careless habits,” while “our vicious speech habits are a serious handicap to national efficiency.” The catholicity of the symposium is indicated by the professions represented among the contributors, and the nature of the topics discussed:?deformities, diseases, and imperfections of the vocal organs which injuriously affect speech, and the required treatment (three papers); speech defects of childhood, the relation of speech efficiency to business needs, particularly to the telephone service (four papers), to social demands and to the demands of the stage; the school’s function in speech improvement, and the need of a “scientific system of voice measurement, voice production and voice training.” Five of the contributors are physicians (George B. Rice, Joseph C. Beck, Smiley Blanton, LeRoy Thompson, Burton Haseltine), one is a dentist (Frederick Bogue Noyes); five represent the profession of teaching (John M. Clapp, Shirley M. K. Gandell, Fred Newton Scott, James E. McDade and William Bachrach) and one the stage (Otis Skinner); one is connected with a telephone company (John W. Bradshaw) and one with a department store (W. B. Towsley). The symposium marks the present-day tendency toward cooperative attack on problems of national concern. Language is the chief carrier of thought, and speech is the most effective vehicle of expression. Too much emphasis cannot be given to the desirability of developing uniform standards of.American speech. J. E. W. Wallin.
Sanitary School Surveys.
An experiment has been completed by the Bureau of Welfare of School Children, New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, with the purpose of working out a system of school surveys. The object is to ascertain “the sanitary conditions in a group of typical schools in New York City.” When the facts are in hand, the Bureau plans “to bring to the attention of the proper authorities such defccts as can be remedied, but which might be overlooked through inadequate administrative provision for this kind of work, due to insufficient allowance of public funds for this purpose;” and at the same time “to evolve a standard score card for urban school surveys; this score card to represent the result of the practical application of all known standard tests for school hygiene and sanitation.”
The report of the preliminary survey was contributed by Mr. J. H. Berkowitz, special investigator for the Bureau, to the March number of The Modern Hospital. “The Bureau, in cooperation with the Bureau of Educational Hygiene of the Department of Education, made a survey of a large public school, with an enrolment of over 1900 pupils, in one of the more congested sections of the city, which is typical of a large number of school buildings in New York. The survey disclosed some interesting facts, among which might be mentioned the following:
“1. Conflict in authority between principal and janitor because the latter is not, as he should be, the subordinate of and responsible to the principal directly. “2. Inadequate care of the school plant, due to negligence of the janitor and his helpers in the matters of hygiene and sanitation. “3. Reckless exposure of children to elements injurious to physical wellbeing through the indifference and perhaps negligence, or even ignorance, on the part of some teachers as to the elements of school hygiene. “4. The remarkably rapid change in standards of school architecture and sanitation, as was indicated by the structural shortcomings in a building little more than a decade old.
“5. Commendable efforts made by the school authorities to improve conditions, notably by the installation of sanitary equipment and otherwise to bring the old provisions as nearly as possible up to present-day requirements.” As a result of the preliminary survey, “enough has been accomplished and data of a sufficiently suggestive character have been secured to justify the Bureau of Welfare of School Children, in cooperation with the Department of Education, to proceed with the plan of extensive school surveys.” Reduction of Infant Mortality.
“There is hardly a community in the whole country which can be said to be more than half-way trying to prevent the waste of infant life.” “No community with an infant mortality rate of over fifty can claim that its babies are getting anything like a square deal.” These are the statements made by the New York Milk Committee as a result of a survey of the work done and results accomplished during the past ten years in a large number of cities throughout the U. S.
In a bulletin which the Committee has just issued and addressed to mayors, health officers, editors, citizens and taxpayers, are given the statistical results of the investigation. The Committee’s questionnaire was sent to the health officers of 252 cities. Infant mortality statistics were obtained from 144 of these. From the remaining 108 either no reliable data could be obtained or the health officials were unwilling to supply the information which the Committee requested. Out of the 144 cities furnishing information; 46 were cities of 100,000 or more population, 32 were cities of 50,000 to 100,000 population and 66 were cities of 15,000 to 50,000 population, according to the last U. S. census.
Of the cities with a population of 100,000 or more a baby born in Omaha, Neb., was found to have four times as good a chance to live to celebrate its first anniversity of its birth as a baby born in Nashville, Tenn., or Fall River, Mass. In cities under 100,000 and over 50,000 population, a Salt Lake City baby has over three times the chance of surviving the first year of life as a Passaic, N. J., or Holyokc, Mass., baby has, while in cities between 25,000 and 50,000 population a La Crosse, Wis., baby has an advantage of more than six to one over a Montgomery, Ala., or Perth Amboy, N. J., baby. Mr. Taylor, Director of the New York Milk Committee, maintains that it is the community rather than the individual that has power to reflect the ultimate credit on itself and its individuals in baby saving as in everything else. He holds than no community can excuse a high infant death rate on the ground that conditions are unfavorable. We know that conditions which endanger the health and lives ctf babies can be corrected if only the known preventive measures are applied. It will, of course, cost more to safeguard babies in some communities than in others, but is not baby saving a duty and the real basis of future city, state, and national preparedness?
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