New-York tribune., 1916-02-23
he Editor OF The Tribune.

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: When a bunder is huge enough, 1t
becomes magnificent or at any rate digni-
fled so it is without shame that | report
my descent upon New York the other day TO
exist there. whereas in New England but
let me cite instances.
In the Charlcst stown State Prison there is
at present a degenerate negro whose white
foster child, a girl OF nine, had been sub
jected to unprintable abuse. When she
was a baby he got hold of her by answering
one of those Misunderstanding advertise
ments in highly reputable Boston daily.
As the law makes no provision for in
vestigation before the Probate Court sane
tlons an adoption, such caamites are not
only possible, they occur. If the negro has
4 white wife, the arrangement is easy. She
secs it through while he keeps in the back
ground.
In Shawmut Avenue, one Of Boston's dis
graced streets, there is a card reader and
clairvoyant who for years has been system
atically following up advertisements of in
fants for adoption. She never adopts a
differences from fairly outspoken clrcum-
stances are as mistaken as they are natural,
is to gain a grip on unmarried mothers and
draw them into the white slave trade.
As for serious applicants those in earnest
about adopting a baby-a considerable pro-
portion want money 81 900 is the fee usu-
ally asked. One demand went as high as
$4,000. Obviously, people coarse enough 20
stoop to this sort of thing are unfit to be
ntrusted with an infants future. II is a
kind of blackmail. Some observers 90 the
length OF concluding that there are profes-
sionals who make business of adopting
babies, passing them on, and adopting more.
This is guesswork, of course; but within the
last fortnight there appeared in a Boston
newspaper an advertisement by couple who
"for remuneration" would take a child"
All these things have been exposed. For
two years and half committee of Boston
experts in child saving obtained from a
clipping bureau the adoption advertisements
printed in Massachusetts papers. After in
vestigating four hundred cases, the commit
tees secretary, Mr.. Darlington Howard, pub
lshed the results in the Survey. That has
not stopped the advertisements
1t need hardly be added that the majority
of the babies offered are unfit for adoption.
Some, though apparently white, have negro
blood. Many are the offspring of feeble
minded mothers. Some have inherited the
most battling and abominable of all diseases.
Yet every few days comes an appealing an
nouncement, worded IN some such style as
this: "For adoption: Blue-eyed baby girl
three months perfect health"
Now. while blackmail-or its less british
i.
papers, it also takes advantage of maternity
hcmes. In Boston, recently, an unmarried
mother paid $40 to have an adoption arranged.
The foster mother also paid $40 Two days
after the child's birth came doctor. max
ing his first visit to the mother and collect
ing s25. When she protested, he brought her
to terms by threatening to expose her in the
New England village from which she had
come.
Occasionally, however, things rather fine
as concerns motive. at least-occur in ma
tcrnty homes. For example instances where
the father OF an illegtimate child will VOL
unfairly pay $1,000 to finance is adoption.
Nevertheless. there remains the question as
to who adopts the baby. When maternity
home makes a business OF exploiting unmar-
ried mothers 1t is not safe 10 imagine that
the people who run it are in a position to
find suitable foster-parents or particularly
conscientious about trying TO. ! have seen
I"All Babies Adopted" printed on the station
ery of a professedly reputable maternity
home in Connecticut.
In baby boarding establishments baby
FARMS" as you call them in New York-it is
sometimes less a question of adoption than
of nfanticide. The recent alleged revela-
tions by the Maryland Vice Commission, sem
sational and all but incredible though they
were-"bural mounds" and that sort Of thing