The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-03-02

100000 youngsters The Esti-
1910.

ne agricultural statisticians. the
rorn crop u not Uncle Sans great
~. Figured on 4 cash basis or dol
IAfs ana cents even, It must give
place to the country's one greatest
the baby crop. Based on the latest
figures compiled by Boston econo-
mist, the baby crop Of 1910 viii be
worth the enormous sum OF 44,S87.-
100000 Even figured on the basis
" former valuations, now acknowl-
kdged to be too low, the figure would
amount to nearly $1,000, 900. 900.
Nor are these figures fanciful or
based on sentimental values, They
represent, az nearly ~ possible. the
sconomic value to the United States.
based on potential productive capac-
lty. Of the 2.z5o.oo0 babies which II
b estimated will constitute this years
crop. According to the latest figures,
the value OF each newcomer n 1852
pound. or s2,I72 for the average
Six-pound youngster. giving q total
value OF nearly 5000, 10000 or
aearly three times that OF the corn
srop.
Detailed information concerning
the baby crop, Its distribution. varia-
ton in different localities and the
like, while naturally not 30 complete
ms similar data covering the corn
crop, Ia far more interesting. Az
might be expected. New York, be-
cause OF Its greater population, pro-
duced the greatest number OF babies
Of any one State last year, with
xUU.SB5. or nearly one-tenth OF the
total. It was not, however the lead
Ing State, II the increase in babies
to each one thousand of the popuia-
ton be taken into account. Figured
on this basis. North Dakota heads
the Hist. with 36.5 births. closely fol-
lowed by Utah with 35.2. Oklahoma
with 33.7 and Texas with 32.s. Al
the other end of the list come Maine
with 176 and New Hampshire with
rs. But in spite OF the low ratio for
the New England States, the figures
show that the proportionate increase
oyer the preceding decade was great
er there than In any other group OF
States. In general terms. however,
the figures indicate that the West
n the best territory for babies. just
10 II II the biggest corn producer. No
hard and fast rule can be laid down.
because Of the seemingly unexplain-
able discrepancies which occur. as,
tor instance, in the case Of West vir-
gtnia and Virginia. The excess OF
the birth rate over the death rate
tn the former In asa per 1000 pop
ulation. while In the latter 1t Ia only
Il.
Perhaps the NEST anomalous fes-
ture concerning the baby crop Is that
.Ehffe 1t continues increase. the
size of the average family Is de-
sreasing. In 1879 the number OF
persons constituting an average fam
kly was 81 persons. In 1859 1t had
decreased to g.; In 1850 to -. and
In 1864 to ~. How, then, does the
baby crop continue to increase.
Undeniahiy. Uncle Sam is consers-
tnx his baby crop. The birth rates
In Italy. Hungary and Austria. for
example, are oil higher than in this
country. but the excess Of births over
dHafhs iy far fower--iittie more than
pne hair. indeed. of the figures here
Iii d word, Uncle Sam 10 saving his
tables. and the manner In which he
u deing IL il one OF the most re-
markabie stories OF progress es*f
written.
There Is. OF course, no Federal sec
Rotary OF infants. such as the secre.
tary OF agriculture. who advises farm
ers In thousands Of pamphlets yearly
eoneerntng the best methods 10 pur-
sue In raising crops- But all over
theErountry, In laboratories and uni
Yarsitiss. thousands Of physicians are
carrying on the fight in behalf OF
the baby crop. Experiments on ami
mails form the basis OF all this adj
vance, for since the discovery of an
aesthetics and aseptic surgery re-
suits have been obtained which other
wise would have been impossible. Al
ready many diseases have been con-
quered by this means which a gene
ration ago were the terror OF moth
erA
Just how results obtained alons
these llnes have benefited the baby
crop may be shown by a complete
illustration. Thirty years ago. accord
Ing 10 figures collected by the censua
bureau, diphthertA caused one death
out OF about every nineteen that oc-
Cured. Mortality from this cause
among children under I'VE years wa
enormous, and the disease ranked
third us a cause or death. More than
III. 900 persons died Of IL In 1880. But
In 1900, in spite Of the greatly in
creased population. the deaths caused
by diphtheria- according to the een-
nus figures, were only 1856. or about
one@ffth OF what they would have
been on the 1859 basis. Out OF more
than 100000 children under Ave
s.sAars only about 5000, or one In l.soo,
died from this former sccurgc. Al
result, diphtheria has now fallen
from third 10 twentieth place as q
cause OF death.
similar figures might be given Of
other diseases. ouch a. smallpox. men
fngitts, yellow fever and many others
which once r1vaged the baby crop
but which now, as resnit OF infpr-
NATION gained by experiments on AMI
mails. are robbed OF their terrOrs.
n b stated On high authority thai
tthN discovery Of the dtphthcrfa anti.
|tpxin has resulted In the annual say,
Ing Of 5000 lives in New York city
2 Alnue. proporttenateIy for the whole
fcpuntry. the annual saving Ok life Il
many times this number. Curfously
enough, while diphtheria has I'm.
dou btediy existed for thousands 81
years, the chemical nature OF the anti
toxin by which II il subdued u mol
known, We cannot tell except by
tests on animals whether \ given
d serum has much. little or no anti.
t0xln In It. The governments OF the
world, therefore, require that ever,
producer shall test on animals tht
khtifoxic strength or the serum sen'
y out from his esta blihhment. The anti.
t0xin 70 ust not only be produced FOL
u by animals. but must be, tested
unon them, and Without such tests II
4 a. eealA ret ~ continued
while thu experiments which led e
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