Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1909-07-15
PROBLEM Of BABIES
HAS CHICAGO
GUESSING
Free Distribution of Ice Has
Only Notched Sword of Death
Which Carries Off Infants in
SmeItering Summer.
Especial correspondence 10 Morning Journall

Especial Correspondence 10 Morning JournaiI
Chicago, July 12,-More babies,
more neat, higher milk and higher
cost for mere existence of parents this
year have made the problem of the
baby in Chicago. n presumably 9TH
er cities, more pressing than ever be
fore. over acres of hot tenements
and square miles of huddled homes
the midsummer specter of the infant
mortality has loomcd up again, big
ger than ever, demanding its solution
or more baby sacrifices than ever.
Free distribution of ice was begun
several years ago, but it has been
found that it only nickcd the sword
Death swings almost mercifully. But
hen the ice box is merely a rickety
oil pail or box. or the Washtub or
dishpan a ten pound lump of ice
doesn't last very long. The Infant
Welfare committee of the United
Charities was dismayed. The health
departments last bulletin said
with the advent of hot weather
comes the serious problem to many
poor families of how to properly pre-
serve the baby's milk. Clean milk re-
quires not only cold to preserve it.,
but very few poor families possess a
refrigerator. The cost of an ordin-
airy ice box and the expense of icing
is really too great for many families"
The department described how an
ice box could be made for small cost.
but the settlement workers have tried
that and with encouragement from
club women they have seized upon
the ~so-called "thermos" bottle which
by mean of a acuu keeps liquids
at a fixed temperatures, pointing out
that the free ice would be "A hundred
times as useful if it wouldn't melt so
soon as it does in a tin pail on the
windowsill of a Bunker street tene-
ment in a homemade ice box. This
plan contemplates a municipal appro-
priation for the Infant Welfare COM
mittee for the purchase of thernos
bottles, to be loaned at a nominal
rental to the residents of the CON
gested districts through the milk dis
ponsing stations. Also special efforts
to raise funds for private contribu-
ton for the purchase of these bottles.
Thus the. device used by the rich for
picnic lunches and automobile re-
freshments seems likely to be i'm
pressed into the service of the poor.
1t has been found that fresh milk.
cooled, can be kept in one of them
at stationary temperature for twelve
to thirty-six hours. Instead Of leav-
ing the milk exposed to the air Of
squalid homes and germs it can thus
be kept Theoretically sealed.
Pure milk when it leaves the dis
pensing station may be very impure
milk before it has been In n tenement
home for an hour n of C~hicago's
most indefatlgable charity workers.
Mrs. Herman Falkenstein. said.
Crowd a whole family into two or
three rooms. and a couple OF boardcrs
or more and "a sick and ailing baby
and then mix the whole up with a
heavy dose of Chicago summer wealth
er. what happens? How long does
twenty pounds last I'm FOUR up-to-
date lee box or refrigerator. even I'M
der the best of couditions2 Not very
long. does it? Then how do you ex-
poet ice to keep baby's milk sweet
during the hot summer days or nights
in the Sitting tenemcnts? II Is no
exaggeration TO say hat the Ghetto
buries a city-fuil of babies every sum
mer. The money that purchases 500
pr 900 cofins every warm season
would buy food for a great many
babies. wouldn't it now"
eff the city can afford to put up
turning poles and lay out Fairgrounds
for children from six 10 sixteen years
Of age" said Mrs. Catherine Waugh
McCulloch. justice of the peace in
Evanston. lit seems TO me that they
can afford to provide life preservers
for children Of more tender years.
Certainly the babies deserve municip-
al aid to the extent Of receiving
everything necessary 10 the preserva-
tion of life. II the parents through
poverty or ignorance are unable 10
furnish il. II j. civic duty to purvey
representatives. Of infant mortality