, 1888-08-26
cIiugLrY TO CHILDREN.
Becomes of The Unfortunate Infant
of the Metropolis.

of the Metropolis.
For some time the business of baby
farming has been increasing in this city,
until at the present moment it extends
from the most squalid East Side localities
to the magnificent and luxurious man
sions OIL the ultra fashionable avenues.
In this city every year an average of
about 300 unfortunate infants are picked
up in ash barrels, in hall ways, on the
streets, and frequently in the river.
These are nearly all the children Of poor
and indiscreet young women, who in an
evil hour gave heed to the voice of the
tempter.
Many of these children find their way
into regular institutions which are incor-
porated for business of that description,
such az the Founding asylum, and a
number of religious concerns where pro-
vision is made for the little waits. But
by far the great majority are EARNED
out" to women who for a consideration
care for the children or help to end their
miserable lives, as the EFFICIENCY of the
case or the pecuniary interest involved
may require.
The mother in most cases is drawn
from the humber walks in life and can
afford to pay but a small sum for the
maintenance OF her child. She accord
ingiy seeks out one of the baby farmers,
who thrive in every part of the tenement
districts of the city, and there arranges
for the reception and care of her little
one. A fixed sum per week is decided
upon, ranging according to location from
81 to IS, and the transaction is con-
cluded. Perhaps the unfortunate mother
Is sometimes lucky enough to have as
partner in her guilt one who will pay the
weekly stipend. BE furnishes the money
for three or five or ten weeks, but with
each succeeding payment he grows tired
of the job, and finally he drops off alto
gether.
The baby farmer gets impatient. She
threatens the mother of the child and
perhaps succeeds in having her make
some personal sacrifice to help for its
maintenance, but the struggle proves too
much and the next chapter in the story
Is the announcement TO the erring
mother some day that the baby is dead.
OF course, If the child has died while en-
during some OF the thousand ills that
babyhood is heir to a permit for its
burial Is easily procurable, and that is
the last of the drama. BIZ in nearly all
cases 1t is very hard for even a skilled
physician to properly account for the lit
tie ones departure from this unfriendly
world, and no more is heard of the case.
But there are other baby farms, many
of them in the gilded neighborhood where
Ward McAllister's '400' society orna-
ments flutter, and there the procedure,
charges and arrangements differ, but In
the long run the result is invariably the
same. The prices chargedfor the reception
of infants in some Of these places run as
high as $40 a week, but in the majority
of cases the bargain is made by the pay
ment Of a lump sum which will cover
the cost of keeping the baby until it is
old enough to be received in an orphan
asylum or disposed of in some other way.
Generally the children of such people are
offered for adoption and in this wa
nearly 40 per cent. of the baby farm
children of the better class are disposed
of, because the mothers do not wish to
have them sent to asylums, where their
'fblue blood" may be furnished by COM
mingling with waits of the common herd.
AS the matter is at present conducted
In this city all applications from persons
''to keep and maintain infants are turn
ed over to the Society for the Prevention
Of Cruelty to Children by the board of
health. The society investigates the
moral surroundings of the applicant, and
the board of health looks after the sani-
tary arrangements. When everything is
found all right a permit is issued. The
establishment at that point is lost sight
Of, and the board of health or the Chill
dren's society may know no more about
the place or the number of babies kept
there or the way they are treated than the
emperor of Morocco. Safety for the lives
OF these unfortunate waits can only be
relied upon in the regular institutions,
where the utmost care that tender nurses,
aided by h most approved scientific ap-
pliances, a give, is administered.
The utmost efforts of the police authori-
ties or the Children's society to prevent
abuses in the system Illus far have failed
because of the numerous obstacles thrown
In the way Of reform. The villainous
women who, for a consideration, squeeze
the young lives out of so many little
waits year by year, adopt many and
clever ruses to escape detection in their
foul work, and they generally succeed.
These people give such an ~unenviable
reputation to places constructed and run
on a purely legitimate basis that the IN
fortunate mothers are more frequently
tempted to throw their helpless offspring
into the depths of the North or East
rivers than consign them to a fate that is
worse than death itself.-New York
TnYrpaI