The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-08-09
ICE PRICES KILL
BABIES, HIVES PAR HEAVY rolf IN
CHICAGO.
Settlement workers. Csnfsonsea bv
PRObiem Of .Fsurnishingl Pare Coei
MIX With0nt Ice---Fight III.
norahee Amehg Aiiems. /.


Chicago. Aug. s.--tspeciai J---Ad-
vanced prices OF the ''1ee Trust" and
official reports OF a growing infant
death fate that contrasts alaftnlnEly
with Chieago's general mortality re-
cord has set the angels Of the slutns at
work ON d new problem: How to cool
milk without iee.'
The City Council has taken up the
poor baby's case and appropriated $40.
600 for relief ana remedial werk by the
infant welfare COMMITTEES Of The Unit
ed Charities. But $4,000 Chicago ba-
bies live In reekihg slufns. In homes Of
dire poverty. NTH and Ignorance and
don't ret good riilk-in fact, Health
Ccmmissi5ner W. A. Evans has the
greatest alfficuity In keeping aown the
quantities of sauerkraut. corhed beef,
whiskey, beer. coffee and roast pork
that IL fed to mere infants from "a
hours to "a months old.
Pure milk. properly cooled and pro.
tected from germs. fiies and dirt Is the
need, but the problem Of getting II this
summer in the face cf higher costs and
stumped DR.. Evans. Mrs. Esther Falk-
stein, who IL struggling In constant
need OF funds at the Falkstein settle-
ment House, Miss Mary e. Mcdowell.
and the visiting nurses Of the United
Charities ana the other workers.
Mrs. Faikstein IL q member Of q
committee who Is trying to secure
from the city In lieu Of Ice q quantity
of so.called thermos bottles. which by
the vacuum principle maintain milk at
an even temperature fon seventy-two
hours, a period that in hot teiiements
and their lack of Ice boxes would res
ouire q dozen times the amount Of Ice
that the mothers can buy at present
prices. DR.. 1. A. Abt medical advisor
To the Infant welfare Committee, is
having a careful test and bacteria
count made Of milk but into these bot
ties. Commissioner Evans Is also In
yestigating for the possible solution
means much In practical relief Of con-
ditions among the babies. The recent
victory of the present ordinance re-
ouirinR pasteurizing OF all milk prom
ises some relief and science is called
upon as never before to help save the
babies.
The death rate among babies has In
creased 2 per cent. this year and last
year a third of the city's deaths were
babies, 10 per cent. of them less than
years old sixth Of THE total was
the record of midsummer. July, Au-
gust and September. Figured In money
only, the cost IL enormous-a pitiful
and portentious waste--foP every little
funeral costs at least $50 and that Is
a staggering debt In a tenement home.
Even economically. any means to less
en- the infant death rate will be a great
saving.
yersity OF Chicago Settlement House,
and one of the most widely known and
highly skilled sociological workers on
the continent. Is another woman who
shakes her head over the infant NOR
tality records. Like Mrs. Falkenstein.
Miss Mcdowell is in a position to know.
For the children in the tenements die
like fiies; twenty-six in one day, in
one week 1s6. in one month so7. foot
ing M to the approximate total of TO-
900 Infant burials In one year, be-
cause these helpless ones we're denied
the barest demands Of existence.