New Britain herald., 1915-05-19

Why?
 Why does death clalm 00,oo0 babies every year in this country? Three hundred houssand-which means approximately one baby out of every eight brought into the world All these babies, hundreds of thou sands of them, die under one year of age, their little lives snuffed out al- l nose before they have begun. Its butchery-simply butchry! 1 What those mothers go tnrough--and l then to have their babies dic!" said one woman recently.
 Due to Civic Neglect. 1 "It's the crueilest, the most sense | less waste aside from sheer warfare y said Miss Julia c. Lathrop, chief of the Children's Bureau of the United States Department of Labor at Wash 1 ington. "At least, half or these babies would now be living had we as in diyiduals and communities applied these measures of hygiene and sanita- tion which are known ana available. Here is a vast and unmeasured loss of infant life due solely to individual and civic neglect. "It was once thought that high in liant death rate indicated a greater degree of vigor in the survivors that the rate of mortality among chil- dren who had not reached the first anniversary of their birth was a wise dispensation of nature intended to prevent children with weak constitu- tions from becoming too plentiful Now it is agreed that the conditions which destroy so many of the youngest lives of the community must also re- suit in crippling and rafming many others, and must react unfavorably upon the health of the entire com Tnunity.
 Since the beginning of civilization the scientific care of children has been neglected. Much energy has been ex- pended on pig culture and the cabbage culture, but child culture has been left to an instinct unsupplemented by scientific training and careful thought.
 Intelligence Supersoife Mother In-
 stinct.
 Motherhood is the one pursuit very complicated, very demanding, upon which we have presumed en- tjrely too much, relying upon the mother instinct instead of bringing in-
 
 children. This tends to explain the death of many children. the i'll health If more and the disruption of house. holds.
 "Sir Arthur NeWsholme, the great English statistican, has said that "in- fant mortality is the most sensitive index we possess of social welfare. If babies were we'll born and we'll cared for their mortality would be negligi- ble.''
 Work of Bureau. Therefore, because of this great and 1 unnecessary slaughtering or the inno- cents, the bureau chose for the first field inquiry the subject of infant mortality. it's work, as it IS, restricted to investigating and reporting upon all matters pertaining to the welfare 1 Of children and child life.' Thus the l bureau is a center of information useful to all the children of America 1 to ascertain and to popuIarize just standards for their life and develop 1 ment. The bureau has no power to dc 1 administrative work, nor can it make i regulations concerning children Ol create institutions for them. But does not this lack of power l curb the effectiveness of the bureau?' 9 l the chief was asked. "It it not fandi-
 capped in being unable to effect cer.
 tain remedies that it surely must com l prehend better than any individua l philanthropy
 1 Bureau Relies on Community Con- l science.
 I Miss Lathrop smiled. Look a Johnstown,' was her quiet comment
 And while her secretary went it search of records of "Johnstown be 1 fore and after she went on to explain
 tkat if the government can "investi
 gate and report, upon infant n1or
 tality the conscience and power O
 local communities can De depended upon for necessary action.
 Frequently they do not sec tn,
 conditions that exist around them fhe bureau is undertaking to poin out these conditions The rest ma,
 be left to them, for if people under stand their situation they will neyel
 tolerate a bad one''
 l Miss Lathrop picked up a recent, l. completed pamphlet on infant nor } tality prepared by Miss Emma Duke 5 of the bureau, one of the. women in
 vestigators who made a field study c The infant mortality conditions il , Johnstown, Penn.
 Remcdied by Community Action. "The report shows a coincidence 0
 rnderpaid fathers, overworked am
 ignorant mothers, and those hazard
 10 the life of the offspring which in
 Gividual parents cannot avoid or con i trol because they must be remedie, by community action. All this point | toward the imperative need of ascer : taining a standard of life for tn
 American family, standard whicl
 must rest upon such betterment 0
 conditions of work and pay as vii
 permit parents to safeguard infant