The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-03-26
Frederic Hasllin'a Letter
The Search for Woman's Place,

aSain II faile. She il .e,,.
stay there because she has IA
industry itself is going to +. p
keen her there because a..
nishes = cheap labor suppIv
What is to be done then, g
answer OF the scientific feminis
Is that laws must be made pres...
tag her from conditions that ~
ace her health and her value :.
mother, and giving her ali no.s;si
aid in caring for herself snS n.
child. England and Trance =.
gone much farther than We IN \
protesting women in factoriss Z
law regulating hours and ch.,.s
ter Of employment. prescribing - /
periods and the like. They ~.
also gone much farther in provu |
ing for women during the ptens,.l
AID maternity periods.
The Sheppard-Towner bin Il N.
most advanced step vet taken /.
this country. 1t is chiefly an -,
cational measure, providing for N.
instruction Of mothers BY ~.
agencies under the general sppe,.
vision Of the children's bureau 4.
originally drawn the bill preViiss
also that actual medical care cerE
! be given by the state when Il n.
needed. This obviously socialistt
; measure was stricken out hy IL
senate, which then passed the Nh
with a reduced appropriation, Il
will doubtless come before u
house at an early date. 1t has Il.
tracted SO much favorable attention
that there is little doubt Of its pa,.
sage in some form.
The proponents Of the bill hau
made out a strong case to the q.
feet that something should be don.
for motherhood in America. A fev
extracts from the hearing befors
the house committee will give n
brief space the main facts upop
which the demand for this lexisla.
ton is based:
! Wasted Lives. r
we are still sacrificing the live,
of as many mothers as We did Il
years ago. In 1918, $4,000 made Ii,
supreme sacrifice-shall l say 10,
motherhood? No. Rather paid til,
supreme sacrifice to lack Of suita
BILE instruction, to absence of prsna
tai care. to unskilled and bunglipI
obstetrics, and to dirty hands. Re
liable statistics indicate that tn
maternal mortality this year vii
be about Is per cent higher thai
the preceding year."
THE infant mortality rate an
the maternity mortality rate are a
index of social well being. Ever
factor that lessons the infant an
maternity mortality tends to Lift u
living standards, and every I'D
vance in living standards autemat
|ically tends to lessen these dsatl
rates."
1.-THE United States has the high
est maternal death rate in a list 0
III civilizel countries, and tn
chances of a child surviving it
first year are worse in this countr
than in 10 other countries"
Studies of nearly $4,000 infant
in seven Industrial cities show thu
an income earned by the fathe
fairly guaranteeing the possibilit
of decent family life and permit
ting the mother to remain at HON
with the children, accompanies
infant death rate about three time
as favorable as that in the lowe'
income group. In families in II
lowest group, one baby in ever
six failed to survive its first yea
In families of adequate income b,
one baby in II died in the first yea
These studies have no class basi
They include every baby born !:
given town in given year.
I'm one city the infant death "a
was five times as great in the mi
district as in the fine RESIDENT
district"
| 1.-The bureaus studies in rur
sareas of six different states =
vealed the fact that 80 per cent
the mothers had received no q
vice or trained cared during pre-
nancy"