Omaha daily bee., 1909-08-29
ECONOMIC VALUE OF A BABY
Youthful Boss Of the Home Consid.
cred as a National Asset.
EFFECTIVE REGISTRATION LAWS
Matters of vital Importance sefved
ny an Accurately kept ReEister
Of Births - stRter.. and
cities Dereltct.

cussion at the conference on the preventios
OF infant mortality to be held In New
Haven next November under the auspices
Of the American Academy OF Medicine.
is the economic value Of IA baby considered
as a national asset.
As a matter Of fact so low a valuation
has been placed upon the babies in this
country that it has not been considered
necessary to have an accurate registration
OF their births. England and other countries
have thought differently, and away back
IN 1885, Great Britain passed the necos-
sary laws. Having been instructed by pre-
cept and example by the mother country
In the way in which they should go sta
tistically, the British colonies are as careful
in this regard as the home land.
Massachusetts was the first state in the
United States to require the accurate reg
i%stration Of births. but the Bay states laws
have been on the statute books for only
thirty-eight years. other states have adop-
ted registration laws since then. and a
large number of cities are enforcing reg
i~stration regulations Independently of the
states in which hey are situated. Laws
requiring the registration Of deaths have
been operative for over sixty-five years,
and the records are accepted as author
ltative by the United States Census Bureau
for about one-half the total population OF
the United States. While IL is possible,
therefore, to have a fairly accurate idea
Of the ratio OF deaths to the population for
the country as a whole, since the birth
rate is obtainable for scattered sections
only, it is not possible to gauge accurately
the relation between the birth rate and tho
death rate for the entire country.
Incomplete Statistics.
Public health officers and statisticians
who have made a careful study Of the sit
uation, claim that much OF the periodic
alarm at the alleged decline Of the birth
rate below the death rate is without foun-
dalton. Or. JOIN S. Fulton, secretary gem
eral of the international Congress on Tuber-
culosis, held in this country last year, now
secretary-genera of the international Con-
gress on Hygiene and Demography to bo
held in Washington next year, expressed
the opinion recently, that an examination
Of the records would prove that the birth
rate is not lower than thirty In any part
Of the country. The death rate, per thous-
and, for the registration area. is given in
the census report as 16.1. One reason as
signed for the apparent decline Of the birth
rate in some sections was the carelessness
Of physicians who neglect to register the
births. Another was the latitude of the law
in not requiring practically immediate re-
turns on the part OF the physician. It was
claimed that such legalized delay was
responsible for much Of the taclt disregard
of the obligation.
Once in n while, it is possible for a
country to see itself as others see It. Take
Australia as an illustration. Having oc-
casion to look up a reference in the AUS
tralian Year Book for the current year.
DR.. Fulton said that he turned to the
chapter on vital statistics. In It Aus
tralia's death rate was compared with that
OF thirty-two countries. The United States
was not in the list, not because such sta
tistics were not available, but because
they we're not considered sufficiently re-
liable to warrant their publication. In the
same chapter, a comparison was made of
the Australian birth rate with that OF
other countries. Again the United States
was conspicuous by its absence. This time
not because the statistics were unreliable,
but because they were non-existent. In
this connection, a statement made by Mr..
f. Dana Durand, the director of the CEN
sus, on the subject Of vital statistics in this
country is significant. The statement
follows:
The states having effective registration
laws of death are as follows: California,
Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana. Maine,
Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New
Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Penn
sylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota,
Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin,
Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Da-
kota, Ohio and Utah have recently adopted
laws whose results are now under obser-
ton. Other states have registration laws
which do not meet the requirement OF this
office. The vital statistics reports Of the
bureau relate solely to deaths, no state,
nor even a single city being yet certainly
known TO have a complete registration OF
births $50 per cent Of all births that oo-
our-minimum standard) to warrant lts adj
mission to the registration area for births"
II the registration of births were re-
quired merely to satisfy some bureaus in
satiate statistical hunger, the record might
be dispensed with and nobody would suffer
from the omission. Its close connection
with the life and future health OF the
babies is what makes 1t imperative. But
there are indirect advantages TO be gained
from it as we'll Many Of the relations OF
the individual to the community and to the
state hinge upon what is legally known
as the attained age" On the side OF the
individual are the right to hold property,
the right to vote; on the part Of the state,
the age at which jury duty, military
service, ETC., may be required. Many OF
the difficulties experienced In the practical
solution Of the child labor problem are
vitality affected, also by the existence OF
non-existence OF an accurately kept regis
ter Of births. Therefore, leaving the baby
with his immediate rights out Of the ques-
tion and counting up only the advantages
10 the grown-up, IL soon becomes evident
that the accurate registration Of births con-
serves the right Of the adult as well as
those Of the baby.
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