The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-10-22
THE MURDER OF CHILDREN.
'Nourncrs" That arc Not BurdeneI with
SOrrow--To Save Expense.

"Nourncrs" That arc Not BurdeuctI with
SorTow--To Save Expense.
Persons living on West Madison street viii
notice that there Is almost every hour OF the
day small funeral route 70 n cemetery
lying n few miles west Of tho CITY Thesa
professions consist Of ono carriage. or
two, and occasionally they reach the dignity
of having as many Is three il line There Is
never any hears; and the ONLY Indication
that burial Is in prospect Is to be found in
n small, plain, wooden box, which is carried
on the fCotboard of the drivers seat on the
first carriage.
The 'mournersn donot seem overwhelmed
with sorrow. There arc always woman or
or two and some men, and now and then some
children. The men smoke pipes and auDcar
to be enjoying the trip; the women gossip
with fearless eyes, and appear as il they were
bound to the woods for picnic. The beer
saloons at and beyond the limits arc patron
lied on tho outward and inward Journey.
There is no grief, no appearance Of distress,
no indication of sorrow or regret
This rusty hack with its rough, wooden
box, its unClean driver, and its fearless. pipc-
smoking ''mCurners,n Is one of the factors
connected with the infant mortality for which
Chicago Is 50 famous. 1t is the vehicle which
plies between certain homes and the crave
yard, and in a sense it is the cart of a scavcn-
ger. The infant material which 1t carries
beyond the town to bury, as is done with
other forms OF oiral, is as willingly sent away
from the various houses Us if il were 50 much
refuse, and with as little regret. Civilization
Is hoTTltiell over the custom of savage tribes
who toss their aged relatives out to die when
they become useless, but civilization docs not
even reprehend as vile n custom which pre-
walls in its midst. Here in Chicago infant
murder is carried on almost by wholesale and
without hindTanCe-
There Is IL this city a very large population,
mostly or wholly foreign by .tivity, among
whom child murder Is as common as eating
and sleeping. Among them each sickIy child
Is slain by a process rs certain rs poison. II
IL Is the least weakly at birth it is At once aar-
doned TO death. II is not actually, Per
haps, strangled, but it is refused attention.
medicine and noUrishlncnt, and th;ls is assas-
sinated as certainly rs if the work were done
with knife. Whether or not a ncy.lv-h0rn
child should he rourished and cared for or A.
lowed to die depends wholly on its physical
condition. The question Is purely ono Of dol
lars and cents, II the child Is aiIin-. i- VIII
not pay to rear it; it can not be Of assistance
when 1t grows up, and its maintenance. viii
be a useless expense.
There IS Il suggestion OF Spartanis.l in this
disposal Of weakly infants, hut it IS basel on
different motive. Tho anciCnts slew in order
TO strengthen tine race, those people destroy to
save the expense of medicine, to prevent the
support Of ailing children, and to socurl
strong assistants in the future wcrl, of money
getting. There are people who viii conclude
that the moro this class destroys its young the
better Or society ana civilization Eevertlc-
less, the existence Of the practice of allowing
the ailing to die simply to avoid the trouble
and expense of caring FOR them Is brutal. De-
grading and a scandal To the community in
which it has c&i-,ence.-Chicago Times.