Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-05-04
WAR BABIES SOON
A BRITISH PROBLEM


/ n
ent time. l have information of one
county borough. which is said not to
be exceptional. where there are mere
than 1000 young women and girls in
this condition. The total number of
Iillegitimate children shortly to be born
is very many thousands, not a few of
the prospective mothers being little
more than children themselves,
Now these facts open up prospect
which, unhappy under any circum-
stances, will be nothing short of disas-
trous unless men Of authority in
church and State resolve without de-
lay TO prepare for 1t and to handle 1t
with all the wisdom, courage, and
boldness they can commend. 1t is
lust such problem as the British pub
lie is prone to hide away and to say
and think as little about as possible.
But to ignore or conceal the truth
would be moral cowRrdioe of the deep
est dye. To allow events to take their
own course, without recognizing an
imperative public duty toward the
young unmarried mothers and their
offspring, would be a national crime.
1T is not as IL we were merely faced
with the problem of illegitimacy on an
unexaInpled scale and In an acuter
form than ever before. All the circum-
stances are unprecedented. Sacred as
are human life and character at all
vigorous of our manhood sets q stamp
OF exceptional value on the approach
Ing increment of population. This ef
fort should be spared to secure that
these children come into the world
under healthy conditions, and are
reared SO as to be credit, both moral
ly and physically, to the country, and
1t is not less imperative that the moth
ers, both for the children's sake and
their own. should be saved from the
degradation which too often follows a
single lapse from virtue. We must
resolutely cast aside established theor-
les, pre1udices, and formulas about
setting a premium on immortality
In the middle of a national life
and-death struggle, even the most
censorious-and especially those pious
personages who exhort US to forgive
the bestiality of our enemies-may
surely look upon the frailty of our own
men and women with an eye of sympa-
thy and forgiveness undarkened by
blame. Very many of the men whose
children are about to be born have
already amply redeemed their fault by
giving their lives for their country and
for us; and it Will never be possible to
bring home responsibility Tor their
error to any who may ultimately sur
vive the battlefield. But let 1t be frank
ly acknowledged that the women are
no more blameworthy than the men.
The strictest justice, then, demands
for the women complete and whole
hearted forgiveness, sympathy and as
slstance. AT this great and memoir
able period of our history let there
be no repetition on large scale of
the horrible hypocrisy that idolized
Nelson and lett the woman to starve
whom he committed with his dying
breath to the nations keeping.
What" asked Mr.. Mcneil lis to be
11G q nf i~l F.n
nearing the ordeal of womanhood,
racked with shame and terror of
the cruel censure OF the world they live
IN. Many are already tempted to GRIM
inal means of escape from the conse-
quences of unchasdty; some may be
tempted later even to the capital Of
Tense. For the vast majority there is,
at all events, the prospect OF child
| bearing in unprepared conditions, al
most certainly without proper attend
ance either of midwife or doctor, and,
as regards locus, with a choice be-
| tween their own narrow, crowded
home, among angry, outraged and CEN
serious relations and neighbors, and
flight they know not whittier. And
what about the children, who will
form an appreciable proportion of the
next generation of Englishmen? Are
they, the offspring of the heroes of
the Marine, of Ypres, of Neuve Chap
enc, " carry tHTOuSH lie the Stigma Oh
shame for irregular birth? Are they,
who, on eugene principles should be
the most virile of our race, to be
handicapped from the start by impov-
erishment both of physical constitu-
ton and of moral character, through
the ignorance. prejudice, and injustice
of their earliest environment?
"A certain amount of charitable
amateur effort is being MADE to meet
the needs of the case by ladies who
have become aware of the facts. These
ladies propose to start schools for
mothers, where the girls may learn
how to care for their own health and
that of their babies, and may also be
helped to preserve their self-respect
This is the right spirit and a move in
the right direction. But it must fall
far short of the requirements. What
is wanted is for the religious leaders
of the nation, in the first place, to
come forward with an honest and
courageous pronouncement that under
existing circumstances the mothers of
our soldiers children are to be treat
ed with no scorn or dishonor, and that
the infants themselves should receive