Evening star., 1913-04-13

When Congress passed the act Great
| Ing the children's bureau. year age
the 9Th Of this month
Ue6nltl0n the duties assigned t.
Of Dut;e. it were as follows
Va Oosaos' '.The said bureau shall
investigate and report upon all mat
ters pertaining to the welfare OF chill
dren and child life among all classe:
OF our people. and shall especially in
vestigate the questions of infant NOR
tality, the birth rate, orphanage
juvenile courts. desertion, dangerous
occupations, accidents and diseases OF
children, employment, legislation at
fecting children in the several states
and territories"
When the bureau began operations
upon the passage of the legislative,
executive and judicial appropriation
bill. August % last, it had before 1T
one of the greatest propositions that
has confronted any bureau established
within recent years.
To investigate matters pertaining
Ito the welfare of children and child
life among all classes OF our people
meant to deal with a subject that
represents practically the entire coun-
try. There exist more than 2.00O.0 200
babies under one year Of age. and al
most one-third of our population is
less than fifteen years of age. And to
the remaining two thirds must be left
the care and protection of those little
ones.
Last August the children's bureau
was represented by a force OF fifteen
persons, and an annual fund OF $50,
600. With this small sum with which
to carry out the work-and pay salaries
what to do first was difficult, for there
was a. large field Of possible subjects
from which to choose. Birth registra :
tion was selected for first inquiry. and
that subject was at once investigated.
ago on that subject presents the situa-
tion in this country. 1t shows. for in
stance. that only seven states nave
proper registration laws. Michigan,
Pennsylvania and the New Ensiana
states; that some having laws do not
enforce them, and that four states have
no such laws whatever.
That investigation. however. was only
the first step in a series. The secono
step is being taken now. Any
Second bureau which has to do with
the question of babies has,
otoP' necessarily, a difficult PROPOSE
ton on it's hands. In making an investl-
cation dealing, say. with the care babies
receive during their first year. thor
ough canvass has to be made in which the
mothers themselves must be appeaied 10
for information. Until the monograph
on birth registration was issued py the
children's bureau. the general idea was
that birth registration existed every
where. This is especially true or resi-
dents of the District of Columbia, Where,
according to the experts of the bureau,
excellent laws exist-and are enforced.
This opinion, in fact, was held by the
staff of the bureau. and it was only on
making an actual investigation that the
true state of affairs was discovered.
Until the birth registration was de-
termined. then, 1t was impossible for the
bureau to undertake any serious work
The investigation under way at present
is going on in Johnstown, Pa. The rea-
sons which led to this choice are numer-
GUS. Serious consideration as to the
financial situation. of the bureau led 70
the conclusion that a large city could
not be investigated thoroughly, but that
one of between 1880 and 1900 births in
a year could be thoroughly dealt With
JohnStoWn, having 100 births In l9ll,
was the proper size. Also, the registra-
ton laws being good in Pennsylvania, 1t
was possible to get the names and ad-
dresses of those families In which a baby
had been born during that period.
Two woman agents OF the bureau are
now in Johnstown conducting the investi-
CATION. That city is what the bureau
terms "mans town." that is. one In
which the men represent the bread earn
ers to the greatest extent, thus leaving
the women in the home. The objects OF
the investigation are several: The care
which babies receive in their first year,
with it's result; the sanitary conditions
is sure to offer Interesting results. on
how small salary it Is possible prop
erly to raise family. The results are
being secured by personal talks with the
mothers themselves. and on account of
the scope of the investigation it will be
several months before any published
statement Is possible.
While these two lines of work represent
the principal labors of this new bureau,
they do not represent
Compiling all that has been done.
vrn For instance, one of the
AA"Aoooon' first things done was to
secure librarian reader and translator,
whose duty it should he to keep track Of
what is. being done along child investiga-
ton lines throughout the country and
even the world. The field being practi-