The San Francisco call., 1898-04-10
LOSS OF LIFE
 AMONG INFANTS
-ur Medical Record says: ''rhe fact is well known to medical men men
 that where infants are masseu
 together in large numbers their

-HE Medical Record says: rho 1aos
 is well known to meoicaI @
 that where infants are ina .,'s,.
 together in large numbers lneil
 l ohonces of living are immensely diroinished. Convincing proofs or lhls have recently been afforded in the case O. foundling hospitals In Italy and f1ahce' There is no need, however, 10 so aoioo for confirmatory evidence.
 At the Randall's Island Pounding hos- pital. an institution supervised by tne New York Department of Charities, or 5os infants under six months of age recelVeo during 1896 and treated continuously only 12 remained alive April 15, 1897. The aver age duration of life of the 354 who oleo was between five and six weeks. The death rate was 96.7 per cent, and only two of the survivors were bottle-fed A few historical comments will empha- size the needs of foundlings. Up to within three decades practically nothing was done for them in any English-speak1ng country. In England under the poor law of 1884 the young were merely received to die. and the few who struggled into life were trained only in ignorance, lole- ness and vice" In Philadelphia, until 1885. all waifs were sent to the founding ward of the Philadelphia Almshouse, | where the death rate was practically 1Oo per cent.
 l In New York, only a quarter of 8 cen- l tury ago. the child who was not at once destroyed by the despairing mother had no alternative but a lingering death in the | almshouse under the care of aged paul. l pers Reports show that of the infants so placed scarcely one ever survived At the present time except in New York city, Philadelphia and in Massachusetts condi- | tions remain the same.
 Michigan has it's placing out system for older children, and Minnesota and other States are helped by well-organized chil- | dren's aid societies. But except in Massa- chusetts very little effort has been ex- erted to change a system which at best seems only legalized form of infanticide. | We must, of course, except the purely To- cal and unorganized individual kindness | which has always in some measure, but very inadequately, coped with the need.
 The New York Founding Asylum on | Sixty-eighth street shows how needless and how criminal is much of the mortal | ity among foundlings. Its origin is due | to Sister Irene, whose fame is national. In 1S6s with only $5 in her pocket, she outside the door of her small house on East Twelfth street. That crib now stands within the present magnificent buildings of this charity. and on the af- ternoon of February 21 received its 30 ,091st temporary occupant.
 The system as evolved by Sister Irene and carefully continued by others since her death consists in paying a foster mother rom among the respectable poor lo care TOT founding, as well as her own babe. The care ceases at the end of three years and children are then returned to the asylum for kindergarten work and schooling, until finally placed in good families the country over In a. special interview with Sister Teresa Vincent, the present superintendent tho following noteworthy statistics were se- cured:
 In 1892 of the 2Ss1 children of various ages cared for, 611 died, an average of 22.S per cent; in 1893, of 2962 there died 5S6. an average of 2O.1 per cent in 1896. of 2SOO there died 573, average of PAS per l cent.
 In relation to the most recent 369 deaths | 1t is interesting to note that 95 of those who died were received under one year | of age, while 128 of the fatal cases were received between one and two; showing that while under the RandalPs Island barrack system it is almost certain death to mere infant to place 1t therein the Founding Asylum its chances are better l than if kept for while in neglect and | hunger and i'll treatment by it's mothsy