The Benton weekly record. [volume] (Benton, Mont.) 1880-1885, 1883-09-08
The Prejudice Against Children

The Prejudice Against ChIldreI
: The American landlord has great al
tipathy to children. Those who have ter
ements to rent are sure to draw the line 8
a small number of children or to forbi
any at all. The New York Tribune re
Gently spoke of the great lack of a class 9
small tenements where man and his wifi
"without children" can live in comfor
and at small expense; but if there
a need of such tenements, how much NOR
/ is there need for homes wher
children will be tolerated. TO hav,
brought children into the world and caret
for them through their period of total help
lesness and greatest burden seems to bt
regarded not as an honor, but a crime, t.
| be visited with penalty. Under an ad
vancing civilization, there are good many
married couples denied natural children
and many such have a mission to fulfill by
bringing up the waits, who have by a
similar mysterious Providence lost the
homes to which they are entitled But il
high premium is to be put upon child
lessness, in the very essential matter OF
shelter for families, this charitable dispo-
sition will be much straitened.
In the United States the sustaining
Glass; of the population, counting all those
between the ages of 20 and 20. constitute
hale rf III Tn
chusetts there are $50 dependents, that is,
persons under 20 and over 10, for every
1000 between those ages; in States where
there is large colored population, the
proportion of children is greater. DR..
Jarvis in the Massachusetts health report
for 1874, as quoted by Prof. Gregory in
his ssPolitical Economy, ESTIMATED the cost
of rearing of children in this country at $50
year, which is certainly moderate
statement, as the average rate of raising
orphans by contract in England is $632 up
to the age of II. In Ireland, the per cent.
of loss of those under 20is fully one-fourth,
in this country one-eighth. Counting in
these lost years as costing $50 each, it rails
es the average cost of raising child to
maturity in the United States to SLIP.
'sThis computation" says Prof Gregory,
E'does but follow the commercial custom
of charging the cost of all goods, lost or
spoiled by the risks of manufacture or
to those which come
through safe.''
1t needs but slight knowledge of hui
man nature to know that marriage is the
surest safeguard of public morality, and
that as a rule even in the modern state
children are natural and wholesome incl
lents of married life. We are not greatly
alarmed at the decline of the birthrate, for
after all it is not the number OF children |
BORN but the number raised, educated and
made capable of self-support who consti-
ute the vital strength of the community.
For such there must be homes and institu-
ions,-in short, room everywhere. The
present generation has done its work,
made it's mark, had it's failure and its suc-
,ess. But for its children there is ever
he hope OF a broadening and Frightening
,ra They shall see what we cannot see.
they are the sovereigns and masters of the
uture, before whom we go as foreriders
before a king. They cannot be taught
wen as childcen to use the world, as not
Ibusingit, but let not the surley landlords,
themselves once children, be too severe
upon the knocks and scratches inflicted by
mall boots, the wear and tear of which is
necessary to the raising Of our successors.
There is many childless home where
mashing boy or a romping girl would be
Welcome to the best bric-a-brac. Bric-a-
rae itself all depends for its value on
re we?-Springfeld Republican.