Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-07-03
wHAT ABOUT THE BABIES?

WHAT ABOUT THE BABIES?
The. babies born In twenty-four
states now have their rights safe
guarded in a way that the federal
government approves Of.
Those born in the remaining states
must still establish their rights to in
herit property, the legality of birth,
parentage, school age. and work age
by such collateral evidence as about
the same year birth Of a registered
hog.
Likewise. in these other states
health authorities, spending the tax
paysrs' money to protect the health
Of children. are going about it hit or
miss, gambler fashion. since they
have no adequate knowledge of where
the babies are, who they are, and
when they became.
The sixth: annual birth registration
report Is available. From it we
learn that Illinois. New Jersey, Ten
! nessee, and a few other states tina:
ought to know better are still out in
the cold. v
These movements are supposed to
flow from east to west rather uni
formly, but his one few in another
sense from Indiana to Nebraska and
Kansas, took the air again east of the
Rockies, paused for gas in Utah, and
finally sailed away for the Pacific
coast, 4
This registration map shows that
there are many otherwise good states
that do not seem interested in their
children.
I learn many things from this re-
! port.
IN the frst place. the birth rate
rose a little in 1920. The war was
over. and the young people are back
on the best of all jobs-namely:
raising families.
The population is increasing a
little more than l per cent as the re-
suit Of excess of births over deaths.
The colored folk are not doing so
| we'll. Their excess Of births over
deaths is only four-ffths as high as
But , when the japanese are COM
pared with the whites, they make the
latter look like a hen with one chick.
Of every 2,057 babies born, all but
4, 900 are boys. But assuming that
coming into this world is good luck,
and that, 50 far, as that stage is cor
cerned, the males are the luckier, the
good fortune of the boys is but mo-
mentary. OF the babies dying when
less than a year old. nearly 50 per
cent are boys! u
North Carolina and Utah carry off
the honors for having high birth
rates.
to Nebraska and Minnesota.
The unhappy states because OF low
birth rates are Oregon and Washing
ton. Those unhappy because of a
high death rate are Vermont and
Maine. III .&!EFe 1T S "a" StH
In fact, the number of births in
Vermont is very little greater than
the number of deaths. Except for
imnigration and emigration. the
population Of Vermont is practically
stationary. /
The rule is that the foreign. born
woman 10 the great source Of our
babies. Z
The racial groups contributing
most largely to our newborn are, in
order Of rank. American. Italian,
Russian, Austrian and Polish. Many
Of the American parents were born
abroad, and many ofNthe Russians
and Polish were born in what IL now
Poland. Il
Thanks to the French Canadians.
the Canadian born mothers hold the
record forsveryN large families.
OF each 1000 children born to
Canadian mothers, on an average.
Ill ID q seventeenth child; Al, on an
average. ars Jafteenth children or
FApver that, and over rs rank as an
eleventh. child or a later sill.
Those 1fe r~eaches~that native born
|Ameficans women know nothing OF,
and have known nothing OF since the
Mayaower days or sconEthereafter:s