Omaha daily bee., 1883-08-15
The Prejudice Against children

Springfield Republican.
The American landlord hasa great anti
patty to children. Those who have ten
cmouts to rent are sure to draw the line
at n small number of children or to for
bid any at all. The New York Tribune
recently spoke of the great lack of q class
of small tcncmcnts whore n man and his
wife ''without children can live in com
fort and at n small expense; but if there
is u need of such %tonoments, how much
more is there a need for homes where
children will be tolerated. To have
brought children into the world and cared
for them through their period of total
helplessnoss and greatest burden seems to
be regarded rs not M honor, but u crime,
to be visited with penalty. Under an
advancing civilization there are a 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 en-
titled. But if a high premium is to
be put upon childlessness, in the
very essential matter of shelter
for families, this charitable dis
Io Slllbl Will w nv SllhlltlliNl.
In the United States the Sustaining
class of the population, counting all
those between the ages of 20 and 20, con
stitute not quite half of the whole. In
Massachusetts there are 759 dependents,
that is, persons under 20 and over 20, for
every one thousand between those ages;
in states where there is II 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 Political Economy, esti-
mated the cost of rearing children at $50
a year, which is certainly a moderate
statement, rs the average rate of raising
orphans by contract in England is S632
up to the age of IL. In Ireland, the per
cent of loss of those under 20 is fully
one-fourth; in this country one-eighth.
Counting in these lost years as costing
$50 each, it raises the average cost of
raising a child to maturity in the United
States to 81, liz ''This computation"
says Prof. Gregory, ''does not follow the
commercial custom of charging the cost
of all goods, lost or spoiled by the risks
of manufacture or transportation, to those
which come through safe
1t needs but Il slight knowledge of hui
man nature to know that marriage is the
surest safeguard of public morality, and
that rs a rule even in the modern state
children are natural and wholesome Incl.
dents of married life. We are not greatly
alarmed at the decline of the birth-rate,
for after all it is not the number of chill
dren born, but the number raised, edu-
Gated and made capable of ~self-support
who constitute the vital strength of the
community. For such there must be
homes and institutions-in short, room
everywhere. The present generation
has done it's work, made its mark, had its
failure and its success. But for the chill
dren there is ever the hope of a broaden
ing and Frightening era. They shall see
what we cannot see. They are the SOY.
ereigns and mastcrs of the future, before
whom we go, as foreriders before a king.
They can be taught as children to use
the world, as not abusing it, but let not
the surly landlords, themselves once
children, be too severe upon the knocks
and scratches inflicted by small boots,
the wear and tear of which is necessary
to the raising of our successors. There
is many a childless home where II smash,
ing girl or a romping girl would be wei
come to the best bric-a-brac. Bric-a.
brac all depends for its value on pos.
terity, and if posterity is to stop, where
are we?