The Washington herald., 1910-02-27
BABY CROP GREATEST
Years Estimate Twice Size
of Corn Product.
CASH VALUE IS $5,OOO,OOO,OOO
of Births Shows West
ern States Lead-AIthOugh Average
Family Steadily Grows Smaller,
conservation of Babies Gives In
fants a Great Advantage.

King Corn is not really king. In spite
of the agricultural statisticians, the corn
crop is not Uncle Sans greatest. Figured
on a cash basis of dollars and cents even.
1t must give place to the country's one
greatest and most essential product, that
is the baby crop. Based on the latest fig
ures compiled by Boston economist, the
baby crop for 1910 will be worth the enor-
nous sum of s4,SS7. GOO, Even figured on
the basis OF former valuations, now ac-
knowledged to be too low, the figure
would amount to nearly $1,So0,000000.
Nor are these figures fanciful or based
on sentimental values. They represent as
nearly as possible the economic value 10
the United States, based on potential pro-
ductive capacity. of the 2.2J0,OOO babies
which it is estimated viii constitute this
years crop. According 10 the latest fig
ures the value OF each newcomer is <362
pound, or $21.72 for the average six-pound
youngster, giving a total value of nearly
$500 100000, or nearly three times that
of the corn crop
Data More Interesting.
Detailed information concerning the
baby crop, its distribution. variation in
different localities, and the Ike. while
naturally not so complete as similar data
covering the corn crop, is far more in
teresting As might be expected. New
York. because of its greater population.
produced the greatest number Of babies
OF any one State last year with 20oS65,
or nearly One-tenth OF the total IL was
not. however. the leading state II the in
crease in babies TO each 1000 OF the popu-
lation be taken into account Figured
in this basis North Dakota heads the
list with 36.5 births. closely followed By
Utah with So, Oklahoma with SS7. and
Texas with 500 At the other end of the
list come Maine with 17.s and New
Hampshire with Is.
But in spite of the low ratio for the
New England States, the figures show
that the proportiOnate Increase over the
preceding decade was greater there than
in any other group Of States. In general
terms however. the figures indicate that
the West is the best territory for babies,
just as ii is the biggest corn producer.
No hard and fast rule can be laid down
because of the seemingly unexplainable
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 2Ss per 1860
population. while in the latter II is only 7.
Perhaps the most anamolous feature
concerning the baby crop is that while it
continues TO increase. the size of the
average family is decreasing. In 1870
the number of persons constituting an
average family was 81 persons. In 1850
It had decreased to 3: in 1890 TO 40 and
In 1900 TO A. How then does the baby
crop continue to increase?
Conserving Baby Crop.
Undoubtedly Uncle Sam is conserving
his baby crop. The birth rates In Italy,
Hungary. and Austria, for example, are
ell higher than in this country, but the
excess of births Ove< deaths is far lower
little more than one-half. 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
written
An increasing baby crop is an economic
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 is it 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.