Evening star., 1915-02-03
infant DEATH RATE
HIGHEST AMONG POOR
Children's Bureau Survey at Johns
town. Pa, Reveals Mortal
ity Facts.

Infant death rate is five times as
large in a poor. insanitary section of
a city as in the better residential dis
trict.
The death rate among children is in
inverse proportion to the earning ca
pacity of their fathers.
Babies die much more frequently
where the mothers are employed al
heavy labor.
These are among the findings of the
children's bureau of the Department of
Labor. a result of the Investigation
of infant mortality in the first city
where careful study was made. 1t is
proposed to extend this inquiry into
typical cities in all parts of the coun
try to get an exact measurement of
the waste of child life and how it may
be prevented
This first investigation was made in
Johnstown. Pa. because il is repre-
sentative of the type of town in which
there are no large industries employ
it's good birth registration permitted a
study with the limited staff that the
bureau could at first put in the field.
Other inquiries are now being made in
Manchester, \. H.; Brockton. Mass, and
Saginaw, Mich.
The report was written by Miss En-
ma Duke, one of the Investigators
Death Rate Varies.
The report states that the infant
death rate varied in different parts of
the same city. In the poorest sec
ton. where sanitary conditions were at
their worst, the rate was 271 per thou
sand babies, or more than five times
that of the choice residential section
of the city.
Babies whose fathers earned less
than $40 week died at the rate of
256 per thousand. Those whose ia
theirs earned s25 or more week died
at the rate of 81 per thousand.
The report shows that artifcially fed
babies died at a much more rapid rate
than breast-fed babies. In the earli-
est months of the baby's life exclusive
breast feeding appears to be the only
safe method. Only 1876 babies per thou
sand died under one year of age when
breast fed for at least three months as
against 1863 per thousand who died
when fed exclusively on artificial food
up to the age of three months.
Lodging House Babies.
In one group of nineteen mothers
whose babies all died fifteen had been
keeping dodgers, an arduous occupa-
tion among the foreign women, where
the wife without extEx charge often
washes and irons for the dodgers and
buys and prepares their food.
The city bears it's share of RESPONSE
bility for infant deaths. A high rate of
infant deaths was found in coincidence
with neglected streets and insanitary
housing. The report shows for 1876
miles of streets and alleys only Al
miles of sewers and SO outlets. only 81
per cent of the streets paved and but l
per cent of the alleys. In houses where
water had to be carried in from out
doors the infant death rate was 1913
per thousand, as against 11S per thou
sand where water was piped into the
house.
In her letter submitting the Johns
town report to the Secretary of Labor
Miss Julia c. Lathrop, chief of the
cnildren's bureau states that the sub
ject of infant mortality was chosen
for the first field inquiry because of
its profound Importance in our national
life.
According to an estimate of the
United States census bureau at least
100000 ba bies die annually in this
country, which means approximately
one baby out of every eight under one
year of age. Leading sanit3rians say
that if proper measures of hygiene and
sanitation were observed this number
could be indefinitely reduced. The chill
dren's bureau is trying to learn the