w the eye better than we do, its normal use and its
limitations; the reform is architectural--our architects and boards of
education should realize that the seating and the lighting of school
houses should receive most careful consideration; the reform is
economic--we should come to appreciate the unwisdom of being "penny wise
and pound foolish," and recall the old saw, "a stitch in time saves
nine"; the reform is medical--we should get our people to see that thoro
and regular medical inspection of all our school children is the only
sensible method of procedure. And so I might go on naming phase after
phase of the problem. It is so many-sided that we can not hope for its
immediate and perfectly satisfactory solution. But there are certain
quite specific ends in view that should at once and all the time be kept
before us. Touching the matter of medical inspection, our state law,
instead of being merely permissive should be mandatory, and should be
made to apply to every school community in the state. Of course, the cry
of expense would be at once raised, but it could easily be shown, were
there time at my disposal, that it would be an economic mesure rather
than one increasing the cost of our schools. Because every time that a
child repeats a grade in school, that year's school work in the life of
the child has cost the city or school community twice as much as it
should. Whenever, as in the case of St. Paul, already cited, a child is
two, three, or six years behind normal grade, there is an extra heavy
burden of taxation placed on the city. Medical inspection, wherever it
has been made effective, has resulted in lowering, very materially, the
amount of retardation. And it is looked upon as saving the community
very much more than it has cost, saying nothing at all about the added
effectiveness of the child for the work of the school nor of his greater
happiness. This statement could easily be substantiated were there time.
But that is not necessary. It is so apparent that he who runs may read.

But the time when we can expect such a law to be put in force is, I am
afraid, considerably removed from the present. Large bodies move slowly;
we must have patience. We must keep steadily at it preaching the good
gospel of reform. But in the meantime can we not hasten the glad day of
full and complete medical inspection, and at the same time bring relief
to a very large number of little sufferers, by throwing emphasis,
whenever