Many of the mothers, especially of our immigrant population, are quite unable to read, and literature is wasted upon them. It will be seen, therefore, that the propaganda of health by literature is subject to several important restrictions. While admirably adapted to simple, homogeneous communities in which there is a small percentage of illiteracy, it fails to meet the needs of our great cosmopolitan cities. If it were possible to have all births reported at once to the Health Department by telephone, in order that each case might be visited by special maternity nurses, it would be comparatively easy to give special, personal attention to those cases in which literature would be worthless. This plan has been adopted in Australia with conspicuous success. The State Children’s Department appoints women inspectors to visit the children of the poor. These nurse inspectors have to report, not only upon the condition of the homes, but of the children. The mothers are furnished with printed instructions as to the kind of food to be given, the proper quantities, methods of preparation, and times of feeding. If the child does not thrive satisfactorily, the nurse inspector calls in one of the physicians of the department. If milk cannot be properly assimilated, something else is tried. In short, all that skill and care can do to protect the lives of the infants is done, with the result that the infantile death-rate has been reduced from 15 per cent to 8 per cent.[169] [Illustration: A MAKESHIFT: HAMMOCKS SWUNG BETWEEN THE COTS IN AN OVERCROWDED DAY NURSERY ] VIII