Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1870-11-15
BABY FARMING.


The fearful social crime connected
with the system of baby-farming,
unknown in this country under the
peculiar form in which it is practised
IN Europe, is now attracting the
serious attention of thoughtful
men both in England and
france. The recent disclosures that
nave been made are calculated to
E; ns. all loversof progress, max
.ns one familiar, as they do, with
some OF the most inhuman crimes
ana ices OF the most barbarous of
savages. 1t has come down to ma
from the time of Aristotle in Greece
that it was so essential part of polit-
| zeal science ito expose to the wealth
er, in other words, to murder such
infants IS seemed unlikely to make
perfect physical men and women
And to this day this philosophy is
carried into practical effect in China,
| where the havoc of infant life is ter
riblc. 1t has been left for England
and France to initiate, if not to rival,
the revolving practices of pagan
Asiatics.
A writer in . medical journal in
England has recently pointed out
that ut least oue-half Of the infants
born IN England and Wales die with
in three months OF their birth, and
discovers a state of facts which, if it
does not permit the exaggeration re-
Gently INDUCED in by a church Jour
nal to the effect that 'the metropoi-
tan canal boats arc impeded, as they
are tracked along, by the number Of
drowned infants with which they
come IN contact is nevertheless SUIT
fcient 10 excite the sympathy and
horror Of mankind. We are told
that while iIlegitimato infants are
not necessarily, or even usually, put
out OF the way directly, they are to
a great extent destroyed By indirect
means. From the statistics Of the
General Registrars Office il appears
that ia The tive years 1868 !. out Il
8,398 violeut deaths ltla.- ugdsr
no year * 81
be lus an, Ut U utn
I'd tfU, 80 n4fea IL
~ Il m.ulg ul ..a m.os .aal
\ ar} sal aam usa rs
q ~ - a 81 .e founders Gfa
arUag ea-s
ID la. ialai towns q, Gz
...,0- u@,ao ot boarding.
aeHMe killing ln-. u. anea
taia percentages
IL France Oo"yvee. .hi system
has assumed va-ter proportions, ow.
ing, perhaps, mainly to the fact th.t
the Gallo and Saxon standards OF
social morality are not the same. 4
century ago Rosseau was accustomed
to lash tins vice Of Partisan mothers.
which did not prevent him from
sending his own children to the
EydHS Ir0ureS. II has been shown
that the infant mortality of France
is double that which exists i'm En-
gland and Russia. or the 10000
children annually sent from Paris to
tho provinces to nurse, it has been
shown that about $4,000 die from
want Of care, Throughout entire
France the average mortality OF
children in this condition is from
seventy-fivc to one hundred per cent,
and to this fact among others has
been Justly attributed the cause Of
the lack OF increase in tAe population
Of France. of course this baby
farming is mostly confined to illogil-
innate children, but the extent viii
be apparent when it is known that
in the year 1858 Of tho 969, 3l3 chill
dren that were in France. 1908
were born out Of wcdlock. In 1859.
Of l,017, SEQ births so, 400 woro illg-
climate children.
A priDeipal cause OF this is attrib-
uted to the military law, which pro
hibits late marriages, and which 50
alarmingly increases the numbers al
those children who, like woman ia
"king Lear"
"IIada son f5r her cradle enc .hcl.,d husband a
her bed
However that may be, il is 10 be
hoped that in this sense at least the
boast CT tho French that there IL
only one Paris may be realized. One
Of the causes OF this monstrous
system in England ia attributed to
to tho bastardy laws, which compel
the father to contribute 50 insignif-
cant an an amount to the support of
his natural child that few mothers
will resort to legal process to compel
them to DO il, and consequently have
recourse 10 baby farming Aside
from such generalizing Us this, no
remedy has yet been suggested or
attempted to suppress this social
enormity