Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1890-11-29
CRUELTY TO CHILDREN.
"hat Becomes of the Unfortunate Tnfar
of the Metropolis.

"as becomes OF the Unfortunate TEfar
of the Metropolis.
For some time the business of ball
farming has been increasing in this cit
until at the present moment it extent
from the most squalid East Side localiti
10 the magnificent and luxurious mai
slons on the ultra fashionable avenue
In this city every year an average
about 300 unfortunate infants are picke
up In ash barrels, in hall WAYS, on n
streets, and frequently in the rive
These are nearly all the children of DOC
ana lndiscreet young women. who in
evll hour gave heed to the voice of Il
tempter
Many of these children find their wa
INTO regular institutions which are inco.
/ porated for business Of that description
such as the Founding asylum, and
number of religious concerns where prt
/ vision is made for the little waits. Br
by far the great majority are "farme
/ out to women who for a considerable
care for the children or help to end the
miserable lives, as the exigency of Ill
case or the pecuniary interest involve
may require.
I The mother in most cases is draw.
from the humber walks in life and ca
afford to pay but "a small sum for IN
maintenance of her child She accorCG
lngly seeks out one of the baby farmers
/ who thrive in every part of the tenemer
/ districts of the city, and there arrange
for the reception and care of her littl
one. fixed sum per week is decide
/ upon, ranging according to location fror
/ 81 to 50, and the transaction is cor
/ Guided. Perhaps the unfortunate mothe
Is sometimes lucky enough to have IA
/ partner III her guilt one who will nav thJ
/ weekly stipend. He furnishes the none
for three or five or ten weeks, but wit
each succeeding payment he grows tire
OF the job, and finally he drops off alto
/ gether.
/ The baby farmer gets impatient Sh5
threatens the mother of the child an,
/ perhaps succeeds in having her max
some personal sacrifice to help for it
maintenance, but the struggle proves to
much and the next chapter in the stor
Is the announcement to the errinl
mother some day that the baby is dead
/ Of course, if the child has died while en-
| during some of the thousand ills tina
babyhood is heir to a permit for it
burial is easily procWable, and that
the last of the drama. But in nearly al
/ cases 1t Is very hard for even a skilled
/ physician to properly account for the lit
tie one 5 departure from this unfriendN
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 tiutter, and there the procedure,
charges and arrangements differ, but in
the long run the result is invariably the
same. The prices charged for the reception
/ OF infants i'll some Of these places run as
high as $40 a week, but in the majority
OF cases the bargain is made by the paw.
ment of a lump sum which will cover
the cost of keeping the baby until it is
old enough to be received i'll an orphan
asylum or disposed of in some other way.
Generally the children of such people are
offered for adoption and in this way
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
"blue blood may be furnished by com
mlngling with waits of the common herd
As the matter IS at present conducted
in this city all applications from persons
ito keep and maintain infants" are turn
ed over to the Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Children bv 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 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 the most approved scientific APP
/ planes, can give, is administered.
The utmost efforts of the police authori-
! ties or the Children's society to prevent
/ abuses in the system thus 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 I'M
fortunate mothers are more frequently
tempted to throw their helpless offspring
into the depths of the North or East
rivers than consign them to fate that is
worse than death itself. New York
Journal.