Vicksburg weekly herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1868-1883, 1870-05-21

| Dear little tAingB'l How readily
the words rise 70. every woman's
lipsl And tosOns meas, too, for
that matter.
We refer, Of course, 10 babies.
They are dear little things and
no mistake. Dear 10 che mothers
heart. Dear to the fathers purse.
Dear in every sense n which the
word Is used il domestic encono-
my. Dear also In the sense which
that word bears IN the econ.
omy Of nations. Dear, be-
cause 3 source Of nnproftableex-
pense. Dear because large con-
Sumers, yet utterly uhprOdhctiye.
How many people ever think Of
babies as essential elements 10 POI
litical economy Yet the costli-
ness Of babies furnishes a solution
Of many important problems.---
Notably does 1t give an admin.
bic answer 10 the question, why
new countries aud colonies
advance so rapidly In wealth. At
a very low estimate, the expense
Of rearing a child can not be less
than fifty dollars q year for the
first ten years Of lis lie, even
among thepOoreF classes Among
the rich, or even those in modeF.
ately comfortable circumstances,
it Is, Of course, far greater, and the
average In this country ID prob.
ably not less than sixty dollars q
year. At this rate, without even
counting those who never arrive
at their teens the expense Of
bringing up Q child to Its tenth
year, would be about six. hundred
dollars. For the next Eve years
the cost is probably still larger;
90 that II is not unreasonable to
estimate that each child arriving
at the age Of fltteen, has caused
its parents an expense not far
short Of a thousand dollars. a,oy
This expense has been incurred
for food eaten, for clothes worn,
for home and shelter, and similar
things. Whatever the child has
consumed, enjoyed or destroyed,
was 90 much wealth produced BY
labor, and consumed without add
ing one particle TO the production
Of the country. Until is fifteenth
or sixteenth year every child 10 q
consumer without being O pro.
ducer. The nation, as q whole,
has TO produce each year products
of the value Of sixty or seventy
dollars for every child under flf-
teen years Of age. For every
hundred thousand children, the
nation at large has to produce an.
nuallv products Of the value OF
elk or seven millions Of dollars,
which are consumed without add.
ing to production, Every hum
dred thousand children arriving at
the age Of fifteen has consumed
national wealth to the extent Of
one hundred millions of dollars,
without adding one dollar TO pre-.
ductiOn.
II these hundred thousand
children had not been born; aud
production had continued un.
changed, one hundred millions Of
dollars would have been added to
the national wealth instead Of
having been consumed. It is very
true that when these children ar.
rive at the age Of fifteen the ma.
jority Of them become producers
Of wealth in some form or other,
and are, so 10 speak, well worth |
the money. But suppOsing some |
one else had been at the trouble |
and expense Of raising them, |
would they not be just as vain.
lbleP Of course they would be.
And, indeed, this is precisely what |
axes place. II our annual i'm. |
migration averages two hundred |
thousand grown people, we can |
airly state the case as follows:
All Europe labors industriously |
% produce and raise for us, and |
o furnish us free of cost an an.
lual supply Of ofproduetive power
which we could not have furnish
ID ourselves at a cost of less than
wo hundred millions of dollars.
The despised 'pauper labor of
Europe, that our Protectionists
riends pretend to be so mortally
'fraid OF, presents US each year
nth a free gift ofno less than two
millions Of dollars, with
ut counting the money or other |
roperty that these emigrants
lemselves bring with them ! Tru. f,
7, a more than royal gift! Is 1t q
'onder that we grow rich? Are
e doing all that we ought to do to
lerit the continuance Of such
IvorsP
.TnE4N n pAppv faynil;nvt,.