Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-27
SAVING THE BABIES.
Methods Used to Prevent Child
Torture in England.
PECULIARITIEs OF BRITISH LAW.
A Mothers Evidence Worthless as Against
Her Husband.
HOW ANEW ACT OF PARLIAMENT WORKS


HOW ANEW ACT OF PARLIAMENT WORKS
CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DIsPATcH.1
LONDON, October 14.-There was only
one bill passed by Parliament during last
session which really interests the public,
and this was passed, not by Cabinet Min
lister, not even by Member of Parliament,
but by the Rev. Benjamin Waugh, the
founder of the Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Children. This act, giving fresh
powers for the detection and punishment of
child torture, was drafted by him, pushed
Ly him, and to him belongs the honor and
glory of victory. It SO happened that I
called to see Mr.. Waugh at the ChiIdren's
Shelter, in this city, on the very day that
the new "Act for the better prevention of
cruelty to children" was to receive the
Royal assent of Queen Victoria. So our
talk naturally turned on what had been ac-
complished, and Mr.. Waugh was joyful at
the result. II am amazed and delighted at
our success" he said: sit is more than L
ever dared hope for, and all of the main
points have been laboring for have been
won."
As until now American legislation has
been distinctly ahead of US in England as
regards children, while the new act places
US in some respects ahead of America. Mr..
Waugh was very anxious that I should
convey to American readers some impress
sions of the changes effected by the new act,
Of which the following is br ief summary
First-To .illtreatt neglect abandon or ex-
pose" child, Is made an offense subject TO a
nne, or to imprisonment up to two years
Second-Child protection Is raised to IA years
for boys and l6 years for girls.
Third-Any person, not the parent, in charge
of a child is made liable for its maintenance.
Fourth-An ill-treated child may be handed
over to fresh guardians, the cruel parent being
held liable for its maintenance-thus giving the
police courts the same powers as regards poor
children as the Court of Chancery possess for
rich.
Fifth-Not the child beggar, but the person
who induces 1t to beg, will in future be held
guilty.
SiIth-Child-hawking in the streets Is abso-
lutely prohibited between the hours of 10 at
night and in the morning
Seventh-No child under 10 may perform in
theater or circus except by special license,
only granted to children over years.
Eighth-Where 1t is suspected that a child Is
cruelty locked up search warrant will. be
granted.
Ninth-The oath is abolished for children,
ana parents are allowed 20 give evidence
against one another.
INHUMAN PARENTS.
OF course the sphere of action Of the So
ciety will be enormously increased BY the
above provisions, and Mr.. Waugh conf
IDENTIFY anticipates that they will leave but
q very small loophole of escape to the in
human parent or guardian. No clause Is of
greater importance than the one last mem
toned. In the original bill, the parents
were to be competent and cnmpelable"
witnesses against each other, but this was
reduced In the House Of Lords to "com-
petent" merely.
"Six hundred children" saws Mr..
Waugh, Idle in London every year in the
presence of parents alone. No one being
competent to give evidence, the Coroner re-
turns verdict of accidental death. If
father deliberately suffocated his baby be-
fore his wife's eyes, under the old law she
was helpless. Not long ago a poor woman
with bruised and beaten baby appeared
before one of the Magistrates NV good
woman, answered the Magistrate, II can
do nothing for you; there is no evidence but
your own, and you are not competent
witness against your husband In blank
despair the mother carried her baby straight
from Police Court to the Thames, and threw
herself into the river. They were luckily
rescued, brought to our shelter, and after
much persuasion the woman was induced to
return to her husband, on the understanding
that one of our detective officers should
take room on the same staircase and
watch the household. This was done, and
few weeks later we had the satisfaction of
landing the father in jail
'oThese women" added Mr.. Waugh, "are
SO loyal to their husbands. I don't care
what he does to me-, they will say, but I
can't stand seeing baby knocked about
"As rule, mother is very seldom de-
iberately cruel to her own child. In the
worst cases the society has to deal with, it
is usually the father. the stepmother, or.
most brutal of all, the baby-farmer, who is
the prime offender. One fertile source of
child-torture is the present system of child
insurance. By the new act an extra fine
will be imposed in cases where it is proved
that the child's life is insured. Ultimately
/ hope to make all child-insurance illegal,
substituting form Of burial club, in which
the club money will be handed over direct
to the undertaken, thus precluding the pos
sibility of the parent entertaining any pc.
cuniary interest in the child's DEATH"
THE cHILDREN's SHELTER.
Before leaving naturally asked my in
formant to show me over the Children's
Shelter, that I might see with my own eyes
some of the little rescued victims. The
Shelter is open day and night, and every
child brought to the door is admitted, pend
ing inquiries. The rooms are made bright
and homel1ke, with colored pictures and
toys; the rows OF little beds are scruDulously
clean and neat, and yet it is impossible not
to feel profoundly depressed by the whole
establishment In the darkened nursery
two babies lay asleep in their little
cots. "This one," said my guide. "was
picked up in backyard, where it had no
one to take care of it, and that one had had
its little back scraped with an iron file"
In another room the little girls were play
ing merrily together. The father of one. a
thin slip Of child aged about 10, was in
prison for beating her with poker. sThe
father Of that one," said Mr.. Waugh, fused
his child as football" and there in cor
ner sat poor little hunched-up mite gazing
blankly before it; its head still blue and
swollen with the blows, its little body, was
told, being simply a mass of bruises