New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-06-29
DEATH OF. BABIES
COST $4O,OO0,OOO
City Lost That Much in
1918, Welfare Experts
Estimate.
MONEY NEEDED NOW
TO SAVE THOUSANDS
Many Day and Night Nurseries
and Other Such Charities
Lack Funds.

Wanted: 81 100000 to save babies.
Il is not only that babies are nice
dimpled things which ought TO be kept
alive for the pleasure they give the
world, but that just as business prop
osition it is cheaper to have them than
% let them die from bad milk and
germs. II Is estimated that If New
York invested 100000 now in saving
babies the community would gain 3d.
600 900 in the services OF those BABIES
after they grew up. e1
These figures are based on the md
;rgs az the National Conservation
Conmission. which puts the average
,.aIne of n baby at $4,000. This estl-
20 ;s attained by subtracting the
cost Of bringing up a baby from the
average earnings of the adult:
On This basis New York City lost
EN- ooo 600 in 1913 through infant
,roytaIitv. Il spent only $l.OOO,OOO to
geen the babies alive. OF TINS amount
orIT 5000 600 was contributed by the
c;ty government, 100000 being private
charity.
Continue Baby Week Campaign.
Attention is drawn to these facts by
,ba Rehv Week Committee, wnlch "
foilowiny up its campaign OF last week
hv sending out statement oil the neeos
~ tbe various infant welfare agencies;
Ono million dollars should be addea
20 tbe amount spent last year; IL an
Tho babies are to be saved. mere 10
in,mediate need of several thousanus
Of doIIars TO be used in safeguarding
the babies against the not "ea'he'
in the next few weeks g. .ho
THE committee calls attention 10 tne
needs of several of the agencies aS
Five Five: thousand dollars is needed needed,
- increase the work of the baoies
Welfare Association, which IS tne
oiaarino house of some ninety
, organizations doing infant relIel
wort Only 90 of the 800 such or
oon;zations are members II the ass0,
ee;at;on however. and more funds VIII
no necessary before the central once
| IL ohIe N extend its activities: Inc as
soc;ot;or co-operates with the boaru
of Health and with its various branches
70 nrevent duplication of relei worA
and 10 establish new agencies IN us
tricts where they are most hecue9
n il the belief that the work OF tne
Baby Welfare Association shoulu mo-
be confined TO the poorest section? u
the CITY. Mothers in the better nelsh.
borboods often find it difficult 10 gee
lure milk for their children, ana many
of the well-to-do mothers S.'e no WIS.,
in the care of their babies tnan are
tho tenement house mothers. lhese
Fathers should understand, the COM
r,;ttse believes, that this Is not
charity. but merely a service the com
n,unitv should do its members as
measure of intelligent seit-interes''
Nothers should take their children W
the milk station just as they take them
to school.
Five Milk Stations Needed.
Five new milk stations are needed
in the worst neglected sections OF lne
c;tv-two in The Bronx, one at Le3oX
-, and 13Ath St. one in the Maspeth
soct;on Of Queens. and the fifth at
lexington av. and 96th st. This last is
elreadv under way, thanks to the
mothers clubs Of the nearby public
schools hut more funds are needed. -.
Tbe Now York Diet Kitchen, Of
,ebich Mrs. Henry Willard is president,
which conducts seven private MIR
stations. is in need Of SZ,0OO Tor us
summer work. 4.
The division Of child hygiene of the
BOARD of Health needs twelve nurses
"a carry on the work of prenatal in
struction among expectant mothers, in
connection with the milk station work.
]
Condition of the Poor, which has
begun this prenatal instruction WORK
AZ Caroline Rest, asks for $4,000. The
Henry Street Settlement needs 1unds
70 carry on the same work by means
Of the nurses who visit the homes of
tho Moor on the lower East Side.
The New York Milk Committee needs
money 70 enforce the laws concerning
pure milk and to fight the milk trust"
Hospitals Lack Baby Beds.
sixteen hundred baby beds are
available in the city hospitals, but
these are not enough. Brooklyn has
only four hundred baby beds. st.
Christopher's Hospital asks for sl50,-
GOO TO enlarge its infant ward. 81.
John's Guild needs more money for its
work on Slater Island ana at tne
Floating Hospital, while Queens and
The Bronx have practically no baby
beds at all.
MANY of the convalescent homes for
babies would be kept open during the
winter If funds were available, among
them being the homes Of the Tribune
Fresh Air Fund and the Children's Aid
Society,"
pay nurseries and day and night
shelters. where children can be cared
for during the illness of their mothers,
are also appealing for funds. The
BROOKLYN Children's Aid Society con-
ducts both seaside and a country
home for suck babies, but its funds
are much lower this year than ever
before.
The Criche, which cares for twenty
FIVE hundred babies at Englewood, n.
J.; the Negro Fresh Air Committee, at
white Plains; the New York Children's
Aid Society Of Manhattan, which sends
babies to its home at Coney Island,
and the Salvation Army Day Nursery
are also deserving charities which
raod snec;al help for their summer