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Show 6 OOMMISSIONEB OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. I earnestly call npon every Indian Bureau employee to hap reduce this frightful percentage. Superintendents, teachers, physicians, matrons, nurses, everyone can do something by instruction or example, the physician with his science, the nurse with her trained skill, the matron. with her motherly solici-tude, all of us by personal hygiene, cleanliness, and sobriety. With this idea uPpermost, all employees whose duties bring themin touch with Indian families must work in closest harmony for surrounding the expectant Iridiau mother with favorable health conditions before and after childbirth. The sanitation of the homes of such women should- have special attention and no baby allowed to be born i& an environment germinating. disease, if prevention is available. The simplest rules of motherhood applied under intelligent and friendly direction would save most of the Indian babies who annually fill untimely graves. I want to send this safety, as far as possible, into every home of an Indinn mother, whether that home be a tepee, a tent, a dog house with dirt floors or a more comfortable abode. This means work, hard work, but the reward will he jiving souls,, I Shall expect each .superintendent to awuaint himself with the home con-ditions of every Indian family on the reservation and to adopt practical and effective means for qnick and certain improvement. Superintendents must'organfze such a system of cooperative information through their employees as will enable them to do this, exercising, of course, meat care and discretion in -g athering the reauisite information. I shall consider, on the superintendent's recommendation, a reasonable use of individual Indian moneys for the improvement of insanitary homes, where the family has such funds; In the absence of such moneys, every effort must be made tb secure clean and wholesome conditions throug- h ttie efforts of the adult memhers of the family. If there are no memhers physically able to labor. expenditure may be recommended from the funds "Relieving distress and pre vention, etc., of disease among India=!' The crux of. the matter is. this: We must, if possible, get rid of the intol-erable conditions that infest some of the Indian homes on the reservation, creating an atmosphere of death instead of life. It will be the duty of the.fieid-matron to learn of conditions existing in Indinn homes and of cases requiring medical attention and report them to the super: intendent. It will be her duty to see that the prospective mother knows what equipment is necessary for the proper care of her new-born babe, and the im-portance of the provision which the husband should make for the health and comfort of the mother and child should be early and urgently impressed npon him. Physleians must be promptly advised of all cases of prospective motherhood and they must see that proper attention is given before and after that event, arranging, if prbcticable, for hospital facilities where the home surroundings are unfavorable. Special effort should be made to see that the mother has nourishing food before and following childbirth. I am advised that the death rate among Indian'hahies is aost excessive after the nursing period when, through ignorance or carelessness, they are given im-proper food, such as green fruits, melons, or corn, made further harmful, per-haps, by the presence of flies, and from the use of which intestinal disorders arealmost sure to follow. There should be vigilant and unrelenting effort to impress upon parents the great importance of supplying food which will furnish proper nonrishment for the growing child. Tnere should be constant endeavor to educate parents to |