bladder, when fully distended, holds twenty ounces, but that a discomfort begins when it contains more than four ounces. As one advances in years prolonged retention of urine causes ammoniacal decomposition, with consequent irritation of the bladder. If the retention is frequent, disease of the kidneys must follow. At present in most American cities there are few convenience stations available to the public outside of hotels and saloons. In nearly all hotels one finds a sign stating that the toilet facilities are for the exclusive use of the guests. This makes a stranger feel unwelcome. Saloons are open to the public, but one dislikes to make use of the sanitary privileges offered without purchasing something. То а man of mature age, who is perhaps in the habit of taking an occasional drink, this phase of the subject has little importance; but for a young man in a strange city, driven for lack of comfort stations into a saloon the question assumes a moral side. The only way to avoid the saloon is to make use of an alley or other dark place, thereby breaking a city ordinance and creating a nuisance which gives the offence a public health aspect. The frequency with which this is done is evidenced by the familiar sign "Commit No Nuisance." In London I saw a sign that to my mind was much less objectionable and equally effective; it read simply "Decency Forbids." The establishment of comfort stations at convenient points would I think contribute greatly to public health. JOTTINGS INFANT MOTALITY RATE IN N. Y. The January Bulletin of the Department of Health in New York city shows that the downward curve of the death rate during 1910 and 1911 was continued in 1912 and that the lowest point ever recorded in the city has been reached. In 1911 the death rate was 15.13 for 1,000, while in 1912 it was 14.11. The difference of 1.02 between the two years means that 5,276 lives were saved in 1912, for, if the rate of 1911 had prevailed last year, New York's death roll would have been larger by just that number. In analyzing the returns it is found that the decrease has affected those diseases which the Department of Health seeks to control; namely, the acute infectious diseases, tuberculosis of the lungs, and the diarrhoea of children. On the other hand, there is a decided increase in the mortality from those diseases which seem to be peculiar to our modern society and which are not under public health control, organic heart disease and Bright's disease. The infant mortality rate is low. Calculated on the basis of reported births the deaths of children under one year number only 105 per thousand born, and in all probability this is a little too high, for New York city does not claim to have more than from 90 to 95 per cent birth registration. The record is encouraging when compared with the figures for Great Britain and Germany. The rate for England and Wales in 1911 was 130; that for Berlin in 1910 was 157. HEALTH OF LONDON SCHOOL CHILDREN Only in the last few years has the law required every child attending an elementary school to be physically examined on entering and leaving and, therefore, statistics on the health of school children in England are only now available. About a million and a half children are now examined annually. The report of Sir George Newman, chief medical officer of the Board of Education for 1911, has just been issued. It shows the condition of 186,652 children in thirteen counties and sixteen urban areas and is far from satisfactory. Only in one urban area did the percentage of "good" nutrition reach 45, and from this figure it ranged down as low as 3.8. Of 200,000 children examined in London more than half were found to be defective and over 78,000 were recommended for treatment. According to this report the malnutrition is due in the great majority of cases to ignorance of the relative value of foodstuffs and the means of using them economically, and only in the minority to poverty. About .5 per cent of the children are feeble-minded and of these about one-seventh are of such low grade as to be uneducable. INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON SCHOOL HYGIENE The preliminary bulletin of the Fourth International Congress for School Hygiene announces a meeting, which is to be held in Buffalo, N. Y., August 25 to 30 next. The three preceding congresses were held in 1904 in Nuremberg; in 1907 in London, and in 1910 in Paris. The president of the congress is Charles W. Eliot, president emeritus of Harvard University; the vice-presidents are: Dr. W. H. Welch, professor of pathology at Johns Hopkins University and Dr. Henry P. Walcott, chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Health. The lists of vice-presidents and members of the international committee includes the names of some of the foremost men of science in Europe and Asia. Buffalo has raised $40,000 to meet the expenses of the Congress and to entertain the delegates. 3 TO 1 FOR TUBERCULOSIS HOSPITAL That the people are coming to favor taxing themselves for public measures to control tuberculosis is indicated by a referendum vote on the establishment of a county tuberculosis hospital in eight towns of St. Lawrence county, New York. The public health committee of the board of supervisors failed to draw up a question to be voted upon in all the towns of the county as instructed by the board. But eight town supervisors took an informal vote on the question. The question carried in all eight towns. The ballots stood more than three to one in the affirmative. This is the first time that this question has been submitted to a vote of the people in New York state. Three of the towns are distinctly rural and only one of the eight communities is a city. April 19, 1913. CALENDAR OF CONFERENCES CONFERENCES APRIL AND MAY CONFERENCES ALABAMA SOCIOLOGICAL CONGRESS, Birmingham, Ala. April 22-24, 1913. William M. McGrath, Pres., Associated Charities, Birmingham. BAPTIST CONVENTION, NORTHERN, Detroit, Mich., May 13-20, 1913. Cor. Sec'y. Rev. W. C. Bitting, St. Louis. BOYS, General Assembly of Workers with. Culver, Ind., May 17-30, 1913. Information may be secured from the Boys' Work Dept., Y. M. C. A., 124 E. 28th Street, New York. CHARITIES AND CORRECTION, New York City Conference AND Semi-annual CORRECTION, Conference. Colorado State Board of. Denver. May 13, 1913. Sec'y, William Thomas, Capitol Building, Denver. CHARITIES AND CORRECTIONS, Arkansas Conference of. Little Rock, Ark., May 13-15, 1913. Sec'y, Murray A. Auerbach, Little Rock. CITY PLANNING, National Conference On. Chicago, May 5-7, 1913. Sec'y, Flavel Shurtleff, 19 Congress Street, Boston. CONSERVATION OF HUMAN LIFE, Conference on. Portland, Ore., May 9-11, 1913. Information can be secured by addressing Reed College, Portland. COLORED PEOPLE, Fifth Annual Conference of National Association for Advancement of. Philadelphia, Pa., April 23-25, 1913. Sec'y, May Childs Nerney, 26 Vesey St., New York City. JEWISH SOCIAL WORKERS, Third Informal Conference, National Association of. Atlantic City, N. J. May 2930, 1913. MOTHERS, National Congress of. Boston, May 15-20, 1913. Sec'y, Mrs. A. A. Birney, 806 Loan and Trust Bldg., Washington, D. C. PEACE CONFERENCE, Fourth American. St. Louis, Mo., May 1-4, 1913. James E. Smith, Chairman, St. Louis. PLAYGROUND AND RECREATION ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA. Richmond, Va., May 6-10, 1913. Sec'y, H. S. Braucher, 1 Madison Avenue, New York. SOUTHERN SOCIOLOGICAL CONGRESS, Atlanta, Ga., April 25-29, 1913. Gen. Sec'y, J. E. McCulloch, Nashville, Tenn. WOMEN'S CLUBS, New Jersey Federation of Atlantic City, LATER MEETINGS INTERNATIONAL International BLIND, Fourth Triennial International Conference on the CHRISTIAN CITIZENSHIP CONFERENCE, World's. Portland, HOUSING, International Congress on. The Hague, Hol- STUDENTS ("Corda Fratres"), Eighth International Congress of. Ithaca, N. Y., August 29-September 13, 1913. Information can be secured by addressing the Cornell Cosmopolitan Club, Ithaca, N. Y. April 19, 1918. TOWN PLANNING AND ORGANIZATION OF MUNICIPAL LIFE, First International Congress on Art of. Ghent, Belgium, Summer 1913. General Sec'y, Paul Saintenoy, Brussels. UNEMPLOYMENT, International Association on. Ghent, Belgium, September 3-6, 1913. American Section secretary, John B. Andrews, 131 East 23rd St., New York City. NATIONAL CHARITIES AND CORRECTION, National Conference of. Seattle, Wash., July 5-12, 1913. Sec'y, Alexander Johnson, Angola, Ind. HOME ECONOMICS, American Association of. Ithaca, N. Y., June 27-July 4, 1913. Information may be secured from Marguerite B. Lake, Forest Hill, Md. INFANT MORTALITY, American Association for Study and Prevention of. Fourth annual meeting. Kansas City, Mo., Oct. 23-25, 1913. Exec. Sec'y, Gertrude B. Knipp, 1211 Cathedral St., Baltimore. MEDICINE, AMERICAN ACADEMY OF. Thirty-eighth An nual Meeting. Minneapolis, Minn., June 13, 14, 1913. OFFICIALS OF CHARITIES AND CORRECTION, American Association of. Fourth Annual Meeting. Springfield, Ill. June 24-26, 1913. Sec'y, W. T. Cross, Columbia, Mo. PRISON ASSOCIATION, AMERICAN, Indianapolis, Ind., Oct. 11-16, 1913. Sec'y, Joseph P. Byers, Trenton, N. J. SOCIAL INSURANCE, First American Conference on. Chicago, Ill., June 6-7, 1913. Sec'y, John B. Andrews, 131 East 23d St., New York City. STATE AND LOCAL CHARITIES AND CORRECTION, Ohio State Conference of. Akron, O., October, 1913. Sec'y, H. H. Shirer, 1010 Hartman Bldg., Columbus, O. EXHIBITIONS INTERNATIONAL PANAMA-PACIFIC EXPOSITION, San Francisco, Cal.. Feb. 20-Dec. 4, 1915. Social Economy Department-Frank A. Wolff, Washington, D. C. PANAMA-CALIFORNIA EXPOSITION, San Diego, Cal., Jan. 1Dec. 31, 1915. Director of Exhibits, E. L. Hewett, San Diego. STUDENT CHRISTIAN FEDERATION WORLD'S, Lake Mohawk, N. Y., June 2-8, 1913. Exhibits including "social study and service." Gen. Sec'y, John R. Mott, 124 East 28th St., New York. SCHOOL HYGIENE, Fourth International Congress on. Chairman, ComBuffalo, N. Y., Aug 25-30, 1913. mittee on Scientific Exhibit, Dr. Fletcher B. Dressler, Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. NATIONAL CONSERVATION EXPOSITION, NATIONAL, Knoxville, Tenn., Sept.-Oct., 1913. LOCAL CHILD WELFARE EXHIBIT, New Britain, Conn., April 25- JOTTING KENTUCKY SCHOOL LAW A newly enacted state-wide compulsory school attendance law brings Tennessee into line with its neighbor Kentucky. Attendance at school is required of all between the ages of eight and fourteen and of all between fourteen and sixteen who are not "actively and regularly and lawfully" employed or who are unable to read and write. This new law takes from the map printed in THE SURVEY of February 15 one of the five gray southern states that have had compulsory attendance only in certain counties. 127 THE COMMON WELFARE REHABILITATION WORK AT DAYTON If the immediate adoption of comprehensive, carefully considered plans, and the unification of all important resources of relief can accomplish it, the Red Cross work in the flooded district of Ohio will mean rehabilitation at every stage rather than merely the distribution of supplies. This is the end toward which the efforts of Mr. Bicknell and his associates have been directed. The state and local authorities readily grasped the idea, and showed a real sympathy with its aim. First of all, the Red Cross has itself received in direct contributions at Washington the sum of $1,750,000. Much the larger part of this was, of course, contributed with the appalling disaster at Dayton in view, though from the beginning it was recognized that there were serious needs elsewhere in Ohio, in Indiana and other states. The Ohio authorities received in contributions $611,632, and it was decided by the governor and the flood commission which he appointed, to expend this also through the Red Cross. Finally, the Dayton citizens' relief committee, appointed by the governor and presided over by John H. Patterson, who had taken complete charge of the situation even while the river was overflowing the levees and inundating the town, has been receiving donations directly. It has been selected as the channel through which Red Cross funds available are to be disbursed. While Edward T. Devine and Eugene T. Lies went to Dayton originally for the Washington Headquarters of the Red Cross, they also are doing their work under the authority and with appropriations from the local committee. They are assisted by Amelia N. Sears, secretary of Woman's City Club, Chicago, who took part in the San Francisco rehabilitation work; Rose J. McHugh, secretary of Funds to Parents Committee, Chicago; Ada H. Rankin and Johanne Bojesen of the New York Charity Organization Society, who helped in the relief of the victims of the Triangle shirt waist fire and the Titanic disaster; Grace O. Edwards of the Chicago United Charities; Edna E. Hatfield, probation officer, Indiana Harbor, Ind.; Edith S. Reider, general secretary, Associated Charities, Evanston, Ill.; Helen Zegar of the Compulsory Education Department, Chicago, who was in special charge. April 26, 1913. of the relief of Polish and other immigrant families at the time of the Cherry Mine disaster. These Red Cross agents are in turn aided by a corps of local citizens, especially principals and teachers in the public schools, members of spontaneously organized local committees, and others. There is no longer talk of plans for rehabilitation, for rehabilitation is in actual process. The careful Red Cross registration which was begun before the end of the week in which the disaster occurred, is proceeding rapidly. Four thousand families had been registered and the supplementary visits largely completed at the end of two weeks. On the basis of this registration, furniture is being provided, assistance in repairing houses and cash donations of moderate amounts, and other measures taken. All of these are intended to be a distinct step, even if in some instances not a very long one, towards the restoration of ordinary family life. Among the measures which have been adopted in the rehabilitation stage, as distinct from the emergent distribution of supplies, are the following: Houses which were occupied by owners of limited means and which were comparatively slightly injured are being repaired by gangs of carpenters who work in one section of the city after another. The work mainly consists of putting frame houses on their foundations, moving them back across the street, or doing such other things as an owner unaided cannot do, but which a gang of half a dozen men, some of whom are skilled carpenters can do in half a day or a day. This service is not rendered if the owner is in position to hire men to do it, or if the house is so badly injured that it involves much labor and expense. Owners of lots, whose houses have been entirely demolished, and who wish to rebuild on the same site, are to be given an army pyramidal tent equipped with cots and tent stove. These tents will be put up by a hospital corps, under the direction of an army surgeon who will advise where on the lot the tent should be pitched, see that sewer connection or latrine is in order, and give instructions as to the use and care of the tent, so that the investment of about $100 which the donation represents may not be wasted. The greatest immediate need after food and 129 The Survey, Volume XXX, No. 4. dry clothing, is for furniture and mattresses to replenish the thousands of homes whose furniture is utterly demolished, or so badly wrecked as to be practically useless. The first impulse was to ship in large quantities of furniture and give it away, or sell it at cost. Fortunately, a live furniture man, the president, in fact, of the National Retail Furniture Dealers' Association, was encountered accidentally early in the proceedings. He was asked whether the retail dealers of Dayton could not handle this matter themselves. One large furniture house was entirely destroyed, but twelve others remained. All were in the flooded district, but all proved to be uninjured above the first floor. On the first floor the more expensive kinds of furniture had usually been displayed. This was all gone, either bodily out of the window-these were the more fortunate or in a hopeless mess of mud and wreckage in the building. The less expensive kinds of beds, tables, chairs and dressers were largely stored on the upper floors. It was, therefore, only a question of cleaning out the first floor-getting the elevators into operation— often a hard job in itself—and securing trucks or wagons for delivery. This was a still harder job, for those that were not gone in the flood had been impressed into military or relief service. But the retail dealers held a meeting of their association, and agreed to handle the problem, and later the department stores which carry furniture came into line. By resolution they bound themselves not to increase prices. Requisitions are therefore given after the Red Cross registration is completed, for from $10 to $100 worth of furniture, according to the losses and circumstances of the family, to be selected by the purchaser at any one of a dozen stores from a list printed on the back of the requisition. These orders are filled in the usual way by the dealer and already such goods are being delivered. Transportation from Dayton and other points. for women, children and disabled men has been given by the railways through to the real destination after the usual inquiries and precautions familiar to those who work under the national transportation agreement. In the first few days refugees were carried free without question to points in the vicinity of Dayton, but on the opening of the Red Cross headquarters, this indiscriminate free travelling was at once replaced by the other system. The first considerable issue of cash and furniture orders was made on April 9-about $10,000. Since that time the number of registered families ready for decision has been so great that it taxes the energy of the central office in spite of the excellent facilities at its disposal. some instances these grants will have to be only first installments on account of a larger plan; In in many others, and it is hoped the large majority, it will be all that is necessary. In each envelop with furniture order or check, Mr. Devine is inserting, over his signature, a printed slip as follows: "The Dayton Citizens' Relief Committee and the American Red Cross beg you to ac cept this expression of sympathy for your losses and hardships and their best wishes for the speedy restoration of your prosperity and accustomed manner of living." FLOOD PROBLEMS TACKLED The date of the Third National Drainage Congress which convened in St. Louis April 10 to 12, seems almost to have been planned providentially. Just as significance attached to a similar meeting in New Orleans at the time of the Mississippi flood last year, the attention of this year's gathering was concentrated on the problems which the floods of the central states have so insistently raised. Important resolutions were passed in response to a suggestion from President Wilson that Congress should formulate some plan for the prevention of floods and their disastrous consequences. The resolutions were addressed to the President and Congress. They urged that the government, under the welfare clause of the constitution, should take adequate measures to control the water resources of the country, and continued: "We respectfully petition the immediate consideration of adequate provisions for flood control, for the regulation and control of stream flow, and for the reclamation of swamp and overflow lands and arid lands, and in furtherance thereof we pray that in your wisdom you create a body which will put in effect at the earliest moment possible such plans, in co-operIation with the several states and the other agencies, as will meet the needs of the several localities of the United States, and we believe the most effectual and direct means will be the establishment of a Department of Public Works with a secretary in charge thereof who shall be a member of the President's cabinet. "Be it further resolved that the wide scope of the problem of flood water control, affecting practically all the states of the Union, can best be conducted under the immediate supervision of the President of the United States in the exercise of such authority as is conferred upon him by the Congress of the United States." Control and prevention of malarial diseases were the subject of another important resolution. The prevalence of these diseases throughout the country, especially in regions frequently flooded, was declared to be a cause of "great disability, loss of earning capacity and a |