San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-12-21
The DRY OF THE NEW BORN

1t is agreed on all sides that we
are a very humane people. We
are liberal in charities. We pro.
tect the nests aud the young Of
birds and do much to prevent
cruelty towards ali dumb ANIMAL
At the present moment there is
bill in parliament to put down
cock-fghting in Scotland. Yes
the most innocent and most help.
less mem bers of our own COM
munity are destroyed by thou
substantially, without any great
cutlery being raised to save them.
They are dumb-these little ones
they cannot tell the tale OF their
own sufferings, but life statistics
and the reports Of our criminal
courts speak for them, and are in
contestable witnesses of their
wrongs. 1t is true many perish
from diseases, though these are
mostly preventible. But by super
adding those who are cut of by
strangling, smothering, drowning,
poison, starvation, cruelty, and
neglect, it has come to pass that
nearly one-f1ftk Of the newly-born
die in their fret year, and twenty
six in every hundred before they
reach their fourth year. Such a
wholesale waste of human life is q
grave discredit to our civilization.
- ~ oil Nnnlfnh
children born should die before
four years of age affects our
character either for wisdom, or
humanity, and should be regard
ed as terrible blot upon our
national reputation. II we grant
that the time is not yet ripe for
preventing some of the causes OF
these premature deaths, yet all
must admit that there are others
which call for immediate redress.
If we cannot prevent the unfit
from producing as many children
as they choose, we can at least dc
something to protect these whom
they have brought into the world
and that not merely by penal
statutes, but by endeavoring be in.
form and stimulate the public
conscience. For after all, it is
generol caliousness or lazy and
Indifference that makes such q
state of things possible in nation
like ours.
Some interest, however, is felt
in the matter.
A bill has just been proposed to
! make it punishable for any woman
! except a certificated midwife to
deliver another in childbirth there
by creating a new crime for those
who minister to the poor and
necessitous. II this should become
law, then in remote country places
many women in labor will be in
danger, owing to poverty or search.
ty OF cheap professional help, Of re-
ceiving no assistance at all, for
this is very frequently given gratul.
tously by some neighborly and ex
perienced matron or by the
patients own mother. The fussy
desire of legislators to interfere
with everybody and everything
and to multiply the provisions OF
the penal code, is an unwise revis.
ion to the system prevailing Gen.
turtles ago. 1t is substituting the
brutality of the bludgeon for per-
manent reform by instruction and
enlightened conviction. But blud-
geon legislation, from Moses to
Rosebery, has never been very sue
cessful. We may sometimes say
to our governments as Mirabeau
said to William ii, Of Prussia on
his accession: "Ah, Sire, it will
become you always to govern we'll,
it will also be worthy Of you
not to govern too much. ... The
King who shall examine whether
it be not the most wise not to lay
restraint on the general affairs
and business of men, is yet to be
born; yet this is the king who
would govern like God ; and, by
the ministry Of reason, leaving the
interest of each individual to him
self, would ascertain to all the
fruits OF their industry and their
knowledge. Where men are most
free, there, will they be most nu-
merous and there, also, will they
pay the most submission, and have
the greatest attachment to authori-
ty; for authority is essentially
the fruit of that freedom which it
protects. No man would require
more than to be left at liberty and
in peace"
Although this attention is nec-
esssry for adults, yet the young
should receive ample protection
from the law. Insanitary dwell
ings, even II "the owners combine
philanthropy with considerable