Putnam patriot., 1910-08-26
infant Mortality.


 cerns every human beiag. lie says:
 "I speak Of the problem of infan mortality. That the child is the futur' citizen of the state, and that th' strength Of inc State Is measured by the number and strength Of it's citizens are facts which are patent to every one l If then the State Is to preserve it' strength, the health and lives of iis young children must be safeguarded sc tbal they will develop into strong and I healthy men and women.
 II has been demonstrated that intel lectual development depends largely upon physical developments that the boy and girl who is underfed or over worked, or who does not find natural outlet for his CT her activity, k, by just 70 much, pushed downward toward the rank of the deficient, the mentally y inaleft, the vicious and the criminal.
 But fl strong childhood k import ant as basis for mature strength, a good hysleal start in infancy is of even greater importance, as the child Is much more susceptible Of sickness, dis ease and death in the period immedi- alely after birth than at any other time throughout iis whole life, and the pro. lection ef the infant. therefore, is an essential fact ia the rearing of children and in the development of strong aud efficient citizens.
 In the light of this truth, let Us face the facts. Last year there were born 5,0ee infants, equalipg, approximate ly the population of New Haven. Of these babes, one in every eight died De. fore it reached the first year of age. In two hot weeks, last Yeati iooo tuner alsof babes occurred in New York city. Mere deaths of babes occur under one year of age, annually, than the total Of deaths for aIl years during the entire period of G0 To l00 years. There are more baby deaths annually than there are deaths of the most dreaded of all diseases-tabereulos in all the yeefs of life.
 To determine the comparative nor taIily rate among babes in rich, mid. dle class. and poor districts, the New York Milk Committee selected the pe- fiod of the two hottest weeks i'll the summer of ia07, when the danger to babes was greatest. In the wealthy re- sidentiul section and in the middle class section, there were no deaths. II the rate In the tenement section had continued throughout the year. the en- tire population would have been wiped out.
 The above facts are startling when one considers that the babes of the poor are probably possessed of greater vital 1 fly at the moment of birth than the babes Of the rich, being, in large nun. | befs ot instances children of peasant descent, whose parents have recently I come to the United States and have I spent their whole lives in manual labol or In healthy outdoor occupations l These babes die because they lack ma ny things which the babes of the rich possess, but principally because they lack sufficient nourishing food and In. | telligent care.
 Now, nourishing food and intelligent care, commodities which can be pur. ! chased. They can be provided for the babes of the poor just as they are pro ! sitied for the babes of the rich. The | New York Milk Committee has beer furnishing food and intelligent care fol poor babes, at its Infant milk stations at a cost of about sao year per baby l The MIX Committee has demonstra ted in II infants milk depots that from | 5o 10 eo per cent of all deaths of babe are needless and can be prevented bs | furnishing sufficient noutishiag feoe and intelligent treatment. That Is |, say, of the 5000 deaths et babes whicf occur annually in New York city, al | least s.ooo are needless, and tne State through their deaths, Is robbed of \ ,eG l potential citizens. More than this while saving the lives of good pro portion ot the s,0oa babes, which di, under pres sent conditions, the vitality and resisting power of the remaining s ,Na would also heiinereased, and ths foundations laid iof strong and healthy adult,
 Al the present. tune Il costs sia on an average to bury a dead child, Atihi, rate the cost of bury Aing the ,ute babe, who ,lie neealessly Ia New York oits annually, would be s3oa,aa, which sum would save s,eA babes and pre- serve them 10 ihe Staie, fl II were spent in aa organized sad effective WAY. The Milk Committee believes 1t 1. the duty of the State and that som, day this duty will ee assumed by il, [, see that tts future citizens de not die ir infancy that their development k nol impaired by hunger and impure food and that women and young girls at' | taakht tHe V>seatia iASks ut maternity and infancy And now il rests mitt philanthropy To lay the foundations 8 this work, and with newspapers aus all persons who possess the faeIs, so k spFead these facts that public opinion will be educated oa this subject, ang public sentiment aroused against thi' |
 The Committee appeals To all per