The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-04-24


people OF the country best qualified to
speak in behalf of children-not only
those who were interested IN dealing
with delinquent children and with de-
fective children were urging the bill,
hut those S well who he'd been stirred
by the lack of education and the work
OF little children, those who were In
terested In establishing standards Of
health, those who we're working to Sc
cure a new view of the necessity Of
hcaithful recreation. people OF every
creed and of every form of activity for
children Joined in the effort to secure
this bureau.
They worked for 10 years from the
time when the project was first
broached by Miss Wald and Mrs. Kelley
and others who worked for the bureau
were people who lived in settlements
epd who knew well the dumb misery
which they desired this bureau to make
articulate
They have made its charter broad.
lts duty Is to Investigate and report
unon all matters relating to children
and child life among all classes of our
people, Its staff is small. consisting of
Ii persons, and 1t has between $4,000
and $4,000 a year to spend. This is a
small beginning. but perhaps 1t Is not
entirely unfortunate that this Is true,
because the work of this new bureau is
necessarily tentative and experimental,
and 1t is las well that 1t should be
compelled to begin carefully and In
small way
Most of these children are happy,
Wnolesome, normal children but we are
faced with the fact that there are 5000
blind. 1900 deaf children in the popula
ton and that there are 100000 children
In our orpnanages and homes, 1900 in
our poorhouses, ZOO in our institutions
for the feeble MINDED and thousands of
others who should be In institutions, and
that each year we are committing 5000
or more children TO our prisons and ju
venile reformatories under sentence to
serve time In those institutions, and We
are trying nobody knows how many more
and filming them, and in some instances
sending them to prison because they are
unable to pay their fines.
THE great concern of this country is
to see that every child has his chance
in the world, to find out what are the
conditions necessary to give him that
chance. and then to make whatever sacri-
fices or changes are necessary to secure
that chance
1.-THE law enumerates certain subjects
on which the bureau shall place especial
emphasis, and the list begins with infant
mortality and the birth rate Have you
cans to know with precision anything
about the birth rate in this country? And
have you thought why we cannot know? :?
We cannot know, because we do not know
how many children are born year by year
in America. because we do not know how
many children die. Yet at best, birth
registration is bookkeeping expedient,
valuable only as 1t serves human ends.
and one OF the most compelling of these
ends is that subject first mentioned In
our law-the subject of infant mortality.
We know, without having perfect statis-
ties, that too many children die-Dr. Will
bur of the census bureau has told us
that probably nc less than 100000 children
under year old die every year in this
country, of whom at least half could be
saved by methods with which, as indi-
viduals and as communities, we are al
ready well acquainted. In the 10 years
between the federal census of 1900 and that
OF 1910, by the most careful ealcula-
tion which the sta;isticians can give us.
there died in this country 2,50O,0oO babies
less than one year old. Here is the prom
ise of state cnce and a half the size of
Alabama, destroyed
III 1t is true that half and more than
half of this waste could be prevented,
then it is a call we cannot disregard
After careful discussion the burea II
decided that it would take this subject
of infant mortality for its first field in
quiry. 1t was not possible with the small
amount of money at command to go into
the great cities. and indeed 1t did not
seem the most urgent field, since volun-
teer societies have made clear the needs
of the graf cities of the country and have
done much to serve them.
1--WE decided. then. to choose a series
of small typical industrial cities which
could be examined one by one and re-
ported upon finished. Again. we re-
turn to birth registration, for we found
that we could go into cities only where
there were records of births This was
not to be medical inquiry dealing only
with death records-we wished to know
how many babies had been born In that
community in given year and to trace
through every case to find out whether
the child had survived or not. We want
ed to know the sort of home into which
he had come, the sort of work the par
ents did, the kind of care they were
able to give him, the kind of protection
the community could give him-whether
1t could secure for that family pure
milk and pure water and safe disposal
of sewage and a wholesome house to live
in--in short. we want to have a picture
of every home into which a child has
come in that town. And we want to
show beyond peradventure under what
surroundings children flourish best
"The law says that no agent of the
bureau shall enter a private house over
the protest of the head of that house.
We have gone further and said, not only
are the wishes of those who live in in
dividual houses to be respected but the
humbest tenement dweller has an equal
right to respect, and the poorer he may
be, then the more should the govern
ment recognize his dignity. We have
said to our agents, Go into no family
where you are not welcomed: first be-
cause you have no real right. and second
because without the cooperation of the
mother you cannot learn the facts you
wish to ascertain"
I'm the community in which the bu-
reau's agents are now at work. there
has been eager cooperation on the part
of the press and the public, and the j
mothers have welcomed an opportunity
to cooperate with the government in an