The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-30
INFANTICIDE BY WHOLESALE.
CHILDREN's LIVES SACRIFICED ny
CARELEssNEss OF CITIES.

Impure Milk Furnished in Cities the
Cause Of Many Deaths Among Chit
dren-A Sensational Paper by Ma
than Strnus of New York Read BE-
fore the National Convention of
Mayors in CoIumbus-The Days
Work of the Body.
Columbus, O., Sept ga feature of the
morning session of the national confer
ence of mayors and councilmen that
aroused great interest among the dele
gates, was the reading of a paper con-
tributed by Nathan straus of New York
on "rhe influence Of a pure milk supply
on the death rate of children"
Most of the municipal officials here were
conversant only to a limited extent with
the work being done by Mr.. straus i'm
New York city. Naturally they were ea-
ger to learn all it's details, and listened to-
the recital of them with close attentions
The paper was read by Mr.. Ford of New
York, and its opening statement that
there is practically no milk delivered for
general consumption in cities that is fit
to be fed in its natural state to young
children" was sufficiently startling to-
challenge attention, If not contradiction.
The paper closed with the following ap,
peal
II think I have fairly demonstrated tha
proposition that many thousands Of in
fant lives are annually sacrificed by the
neglect to supply for the nutriment of
children milk, which has been subjected
to the process of pasteurizatlon. hold
that neglect to be criminal and 1 leave It
to you to fix the responsibility for 1t. We
punish murder with the penalty Of death,
and yet we allow murder to be committed
by the wholesale in every populous COM
munity Of this land with no thought of
its punishment and little thought of It's
prevention / appeal to you. gentlemen,
who are charged with the responsibilities
attending the government of cities, great
or small to study the conditions under
which this work is done, and carefully
note the results which attend the doing
of 1t. l appeal to you as If you were
standing beside great river in whose cur
rent were constantly swept past hundreds
of drowning infants. This stream is a
very real thing If people would but recog-
nize It's existence, and all its yearly tri-
butte of death is paid because of the public
neglect of some OF the simplest precau-
tions for the saving of children's lives.
You, gentlemen, have the means under
your control by which these drowning ba-
bies can be saved. 1 ask you, will you
not apply them?
''All that / plead for is the extension of
the activity of local boards of health into
sphere which is legitimately theirs but
which they have, so far, lacked the con-
Viction and the courage to occupy.
shall not have gnOxqp I'm vain + hau
succeeded in lmpressing you with the fact
that the dictates of humanity and of pub
lie duty combine in demanding that this
backwardness should exist no longer"
1t was II o'clock when the conference
was called to order this morning. The
first speaker was Mayor Silas d. Drake Of
Lincoln ~ j., the boom town that has
three women delegates from its council
here. He introduced to the convention
Mayor j. A. Johnson of Fargo who ar
gued for uniformity of state laws per-
tanning TO municipal organizations and
urged upon the conference the forming OF
a permanent committee on legislation, one
from each state, to formulate a plan
whereby the legislatures may make their
municipal legislation uniform as to police
powers the control of the social evil,
gambling and the reformation of crimi-
nails.
The appearance upon the platform of
Hon. Josiah Quincy mayor OF Boston, was
greeted with a welcoming applause accord
ed no other speaker so far. His address
was scheduled as Municipal affairs
administered In Boston," but its scope was
much wider. 1t presented a clear analysis
of the differences between federal state,
urban and rural administration and defined
the possibilities of municipal public servics
almost linitless.
After the noon adjournment there was
no further session of the convention to-
day. The afternoon and evening wera
given over to sightseeing and the enter
tainment of the delegates. When the con-
vention meets tomorrow the report of tha
committee on permanent organization Is
likely to cause n sharp discussion. Friends
of b. II. Gllkson publisher of City Cow,
ernment, are making a persistent canvass
for his election as salaried secretary of the
permanent organization, but both he
and his publication are pronounced advo-
Gates of municipal ownership of public
service plants much opposition to his elec-
tion is developing.
The conservative element in the confer-
ence believes that any permanent organ-
ization that may be effected should not be-
operated in the interest of either side Of
this question.