ABSTRACT
Public health doctors could agree that ‘maternal efficiency’ was the most important variable affecting infant welfare. The treatment offered under health insurance was limited, although Germany was more generous than Britain and included hospital care. The motivation behind much of the legislation of the Progressive period, tied as it was to the desire to improve national efficiency and racial hygiene, often made programs self-limiting, but the benefits to the population were nonetheless tangible. Most historians would argue that the social reforms of the Progressive period, health included, had as much to do with furthering the nation’s health and welfare as they did with securing individual rights. Public health doctors could agree that ‘maternal efficiency’ was the most important variable affecting infant welfare. In line with the shift towards personal preventive medicine, public health doctors put less emphasis on the need to improve sanitation and attend to unpaved streets and yards.
