Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-05-02
7HE proOiem Of tho babies is one of
the most important and the most
- heart ndnn o. tl,n &C..


heart-rending OF the great war.
The babies who were living in the wa,
devastated sections OF Belgium and
france at the outbreak Of the war have
III thousands OF cases lost their parents
IN equally numerous cases the parents
nave lost all trace Of their babies.
Children nf millionaires. noblemen and
peasants have been hopeless!y separated
from their parents. and if they survive
thev must depend on the mercy of the
state or OF private philanthropy.
How will the children OF the rich and
cultured develop when brough, up in chart.
1aoie institutions? will they show the
enects OF their birth and inheritance or
VIII they become just like the rest of the
chlldren brought up in institutions?
WI! the nameless babies who have been
huohed In many cases by wealthy people
snow the traces Of peasant or laboring
lass oiigin; or VIII they develop in har-
mony with their environment?
Evidently the war will throw 1iebt nm
some OF the most interesting Questions of
eusehlcs, the science OF race Improvement
~ may decide the great question between
those VINO argue that the qualities of an
.estors are transmitted and those who hold
tnat the only difference between a million
alre and tenement house baby lies in ita
environment - ~
me rate OF the babies has been generally
overlooked in America on account of tho
attenuon excited by military movements,
sne obstruction OF cities and the generaf
uepopulallon or flourishing regions hut
IL is evident that a vast number of traea.
dies ana menaces OF great human interest
aHectlnS the lives of the little ones mus,
have occurred
FOR instance, recent cable dispatch
stated that William #. p. Iollingsworth
representative OF the Wesinrhouse inter'
ests IN France. had returned TO Paris from
Scnaffhausen and Zurich in Switzerland
where he had been investigating the con.
ditlons or French civilian prisoners re.
turning from Germany to France on he.
Relief. iio"'e Tyr
The most extraordinary fact noted bv
MI Hollingsworth was that the trains
brought hundred French babies daily, a
week old and upward from Germany
What an unspeakable amount of tragedy
IN that sentence alone! The babies we're
not properly clothed and sometimes
wrapped in fragments Of shirts and shawls.
Ihey are unidentified and there is no wav
OF finding out who their parents are. MANY
oider children also could not be identified.
hiho-nearted Swiss women supplied
many or the babies with clothing at the
stations. Many Of the little victims were
on the point of death for lack of care. star.
walton and terror.
1t is only possible to guess how all these
babies came to lose their parents. Per.
maps IN some cases they were separated
from their parents when the latter vera
taken to civilian concentration camps In
Germany. In other cases they we're prob.
ably separated from the parents durinp
the long journey on crowded. ill-handled
refugee trains. Most of them will be
adopted by French families
There Is an even more painful aspect OF
the baby problem. 1t is certain that there
Will be very many born of French and Bel
gian mothers. but of unknown fathers ow.
ing to the brutal and lawless conditions
~hlch nave prevailed in the war-torn dis.
riot occupied by the German army.
In view Of this fact the French Govern.
nent has announced that the state will
axe care Of such babies and their mothers