The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1912-12-23
COUNTRY COMING
TO BABIES AID.
Children's Bureau of Department Of
Commerce and Labor to Begin
Work at Once.
INVESTIGATING WHY
MANY DIE YOUNG
Expert Investigators Will Travel
and Get First.hand
Information.

The Federal government which has been
for years providing for the welfare OF
cattle, hogs. potato plants and sugar
beets, Is at last actually coming to the
rescue OF the babies
Beginning Immediately after Christmas
i the newly created Childrens' Bureau of
the Department OF Commerce and Labor,
OF which Miss Julia Lathrop, of Chicago.
is the chief. will begin to save the lives
of babies under one year OF age.
This will be the first inquiry under
taken by the bureau. Investigators will
go into typical communities In every
section of the country and make a house
toulouse canvass.
''The purpose OF the inquiry is to find
out why the babies live. and why they
die said Miss Lathrop.
"Of the 10000 babies under one year
Of age dying yearly in the United States,
at least 10000 could be saved by the ap-
plication OF methods with which We are
already as a people well acquainted.
The death rate for the total poplIla-
tion is slowly but surely declining.
Adults are living on the average longer
lives. but the death rate for babies less
than one year old is not declining
The estimate of DR.. Cressy l.. Wilbur.
of the United States Census Bureau. that
at least 10000 babies die annually in the
United States means that one baby out
of every eight dies before It is a year
old.
I'm certain unfavorabIe localities the
rate is much greater.
Babies in poor neighbOrhoods in an
American city, for which averages are
available. die at the rate OF 373 per 900
babies under one year OF age, while the
corresponding rate for babies in the good
residence nf he oil IL
lJf. The new death rate for babies is
but siXty-elght per 1000 births. The
great point about this inquiry is that II
begins with the birth record Of the child
and follows II through its first year, in
stead Of taking the mortality record and
working backward. Its method will be
To secure a list OF all the children born
within Il given year in the communities
under consideration.
study of Every Angle.
The schedule has been very carefully
prepared to cover the questions OF hous-
ing. feeding. and care OF the child. the
milk supply, Industrial and economic
condition OF the parent. and sanitary
conditions Of tho neighborhOod-in fact,
the hygtenic surroundings OF the child.
The method Of this inquiry will nee
essarily be that OF visits to parents by
the women experts OF the bureau. It
will be seen that this is an absolutely
democratic inquiry. involving, as II does.
visits to every mother Of a baby born
within a given period OF time
AT first. smaller towns outside the
large urban areas will be chosen, so
each city can be complete in itself for
study. comparable with later studies and
furnishing types Of varying social and
industrial conditions.
An the cities in which this inquiry
will be carried on have not yet been
selected. II is certain. however. that at
present cities can only be studied which
are in that portion OF the country desig-
mated as the birth registration area;
that is. the New England States. Penn
sylvania. and Michiban. These are the
only States recognized by the Census
Bureau as having records OF birth which
can he used for statistical purposes. and
this inquiry depends upon using the birth
records"