The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-03-13
MEERR||CAA'S MEERR||CAA s BABY
 CROP IS LARGE More Important Than Either
 Corn or Cotton HITCHCOCK IS TIRED
Declares That He Is Growing Weary of the Game of Politics-Thc Climate Greatest Asset of
 the South
BY RALPH M. wHITEsIDE

Washington, March 12-(Special.)-We have had King Cotton, King Corn and lots of other crop kings. but they are all pretenders, with no legitimate claim to the crown.
 l The real and only king of American products is King Baby. Long may he reign. The average baby crop for ehe past five years has been worth to the United States not less than $5.oo0, ,0O0,0OO annually Before these figures all other crops sink into insignificance.
 In numbers the baby crop averages 2,25o,ooo annually, and the potential pro- duction capacity of each baby Is figured by the highbrows who know how to do that sort of thing at about 200 each. | How they reach these figures I don't know, but they do, and when a govern- ment expert in such matters speaks it may be accepted he speaks ex-cathedra. l Detailed information concerning the ba- by crop, it's distribution, variation in diff ferent localities, and the like, while nat urally not so complete as similar data covering the corn crop, is far more inter esting. As might be expected, New York; because of its greater population. pro- duced the greatest number of babies of any one state last year, with 200,865, or nearly one-tenth of the total. It was, however, not the leading state if the in crease in babies to each 1000 of the popu- lation be taken into account. Figured on this basis North Dakota heads the list with 36.5 births, closely followed by Utah with 352, Oklahoma with 337 and Texas with 32.9. At the other end of the list come Maine with 17.6 and New Hamp- shire with 10
 In general terms the figures indicate that the west is the best territory for ba- bies, just as It Is the biggest corn pro- ducer No hard and fast rule can be laid down because of the seemingly unex- plainable discrepancies which occur, as | for instance in the case of West Virginia and Virginia. The excess of the birth rate over the death rate in the former is 2s.4 per 1000 population, while in the lat | ter 1t is only '.
 | Perhaps the most anomalous feature concerning the baby crop Is that while 1t continues to increase. the size of the av- craze family Is decreasing In 1870 the number of persons constituting an aver age family was 5.1. Tn 1880 1t had de- creased to 5; in 1890 to 4.9 and in 1900 to 4.7. How, then does the baby crop con tinue to increase? ss...- ...s.,..s.s.s. 4, |, Undoubtedly Uncle Sam is conserving his baby crop. The birth rates in Italy. Hungary and Austria. for example. are all higher than in this country, but the excess of births over death Is far lower little more than one-ha1f, indeed, of the figures here. In a word, Uncle Sam Is saving his babies, and the manner in which he is doing it is one of the most remarkable stories of progress ever writ l ten. W
 uf~~ l. sy t<> necessity, and many of the benefits of | animal experimentation are. therefore | most directly appreciated through their | protection of children. But here, again, | an analogy may be drawn between the | baby crop and the corn crop. In neither | instance 1t is question of a single crop. | It is the future which counts and makes | the necessity of considering coming crops paramount. Improvement in the general health of parents means healthier babies, | and it Is for this reason that all over the | country research Is being carried on | looking toward the mastering of diseases | not alone peculiar to infancy but affect ing all ages.
 Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock is tired of politics What do you think of | that? If there is one man in the coun- try I should have picked out as the man | who never would tire of the game. 1t is the tall, fair-haired your gentleman with the ideal poker face who is the heads man of the Taft adStpistration, who l have no hesitation in saying plays the | game of politics as Demarest playest bil- liards Yet he has said it himself. Lis- ten!
 MT. Hitchcock was asked about numer- ous stories of his wish to get out of pol itics and his purpose never to manage | another national campaign.
 q have told some of my personal | friends said MT. Hitchcock, that ! would like to be relieved of the responsi- | bility of many political appointments, and | to one or two I have said that would | never manage another national campaign | if it could be adoided.
 '"The souths greatest asset in the in- dustrial development which has begun Is | its climate" said Thomas E. Eyon, business man of Chattanooga, Tenn.