Arizona republican., 1912-02-25

! | deaths.
 Tn a statement issued to policy i holders through its conservation de- 1 partment the Equitable discusses an angle of the question which the ad- vocates of larger families either ov- erlook or ignore. It takes the position that if our civilization has reduced the average size of our families, it has maintained the balance by pro- viding an increase in life saving knowledge wherewith to reduce the life waste of former years.
 Why should a life insurance com pany be interested in this question? IL is very simple when once under stood.
 "A more sturdy healthy and care fully nurtured race will reduce the present death rate and increase the average length of human life, and this will ultimately reduce the cost of life insurance to the public-hence the interest of the Equitable.
 Nathan Straus. who has done so much in recent years to reduce the infant death rate in our cities. called attention last summer at the Berlin conference 10 the enormous waste of infant life from preventable cause in the United States, and his statement was responsible for the interest talk en in the race suicide phase of the subject by doubtless the first great business corporation that has ever given it consideration"
 nf surance slogans and posers on the whole question of race suicide versus race preservation as theories. The Equitable's summary starts like this:
 "The statement gets down to funda- mentals at the outset. Here are some of them:
 An increase in the birth rate has been urged to guard against possible race extinction.
 If there is danger of race suicide 1t lies not so much in the decreasing birth rate as it does in our needlcssly high death rate.
 If our rapidly advancing civiliza- ton has reduced the native birth rate 1t has also provided us with life say ing Knowledge wherewi;h to offset it. Moreover. is it not true that small family of children will stand better chance to be properly nurtured and educated than a large family of children?
 'Ts not a large number of small families as good for the future of the race as small number of large fam flies?
 "Is not quality as important as quantity?
 Four out of every ten deaths in the United States are due To prevent able disease and accident. The saving of these lives would reduce the death rate from 15 to per 1000 population and thereby increase the surplus of births by just the number saved. The offspring of the lives thus saved would increase it still more.
 Does such a reduction in the death rate seem impossible? It should not, for il is already as low as 10 in at least two states in the Union. and is less than 10 in Australia and New Zealand.
 Tt is true that the average family is smaller now than formerly. but tine number of families would De vastly increased if we would intelligently apply the knowledge of disease pre- vention already gained instead of per hitting the present appalling and needless destruction of life to con- tinue
 Nathan Straus tells us that over 113,000 infants (under ] year) are de- 1 stroyed annually in the United States by preventable cause-chiefly i'm | proper and infected food.
 Communal manslaughter is a com mon crime.
 The guilt of the most of our cities and communities differs only in de- | gree. It is the tax rate versus the | death rate-and the dollar wins
 The opposition of the few who ob- ject to the cost or inconvenience pre- | vails over the judgment Of the many i who approve but who are indiffcr- | ent. silent and inert. Health officials | who lack funds and public support | naturally seek the line of least resis- 1 tance-and the communal man. slaughter goes on"
 And the document concludes suc- 
 And the remedy suggested is more 1 babies-to destroy?
 Which do we need the most more | babies or more human treatment of | those we have?
 Which is of the first importance an increase in the rate of supply or l a decrease in the annual waste of 1! lives already given us?"