Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1919-01-03
INFANT MORTALITY DUE
 TO INADQUATE CARE OF :, MOTHERS BY GOVT.
Says Mss Julia LatIrop i'll Her Re- port on Child Labor to |. ;. De- partment of Labor.

Washington, Jan. 2..-Ihe failure of the United States 70 provide ade- quate care for mothers before and at the birth of their children and the great loss of maternal and infant life which results are cited by Miss Julia c. Lathrop, in her sixth annual re- port as chief of the Children's Bp- reau of the U. S. Department of la bor as evidence that the United States should develop on q national scale facilities for protecting ma ternity and thereby for cutting down the maternal and infant death rates The adoption ot similar measures for the protection of mothers and babies in England and New Zealand has been followed by material re- ductions in their infant death rates.
 The English government ill Au- gust, 1918, passed measure eXtend- ing local provision for the care of mothers, with government aid New Zealand has for several years pro- vided special facilities for mothers and has reduced it's infant mortality rate for S6.S in 1907 to 4S,2 in 19l7- rate less than half that of the Uni ted States. The report suggests pro- visicm in the United States through government contribution 10 state ac- ivities in manner similar to that in which federal aid is now granted for vocational education, better farming, and good roads.
 The bureaus studies show that adequate. care before and at child birth is now available for few moth- CTS in cty or country Scarcely mother in any of the widely scpa1a. ted rural areas studied by the bu- raau had prenatal care measuring up to an accepted standard of ade- quacy, and more than three-fourths had no medical super !sion or sd- vice. The report states that even III the cities in which pioneer work IS being done for prenatal care many mothers have no skilled care either at childbirth or before
 The seriousness of these condl- tions is emphasized by the fact that in 1915. for instance, more than tWo- fifths of the infant deaths cccur- ring in the birth registration area of the United States Census Bureau were from diseases directly trace able to the care and condition 2f the mother during pregnancy and confinement. That is, at. least one baby in every p born ded from these causes.
 The actual loss of Mfant life in the first month shows no decrease from year to year, although inc 1'e- suits of infant welfare work have begun to appear in a lowered death rate among babies which have sur viyed >t the hazards of early infancy. This decrease is chiefly ill deaths from gastric and intestinal diseases. Fit is to be noted that in 1915 about Ltwice as many babies under one year of age died from causes related 10 the care and condition of he mother as from gastric and intestinal dls- eases. Similarly, Census Bureau ftg- | ures indicate that no reduction m maternal deaths has been accom- nlished from 1900 to 1918, although each year some 15,0oO mothers in the United States have been dying from causes that are largely proven l table,
 While the lack of adequate care IS general and resulting loss Of ma 1 ternal and infant life great i'll this country the results of provisions for | better care in other coHntreS lead I to the recommendation that nation
 wide effort be made to provide ret
 ter care in the United States tor 1 mothers and babies.
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