The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-11-09
CAPITALISM KILLS CHILDREN

tive OF the Quakers that he estimated that "at
least so percent OF the children would be under
weight in II schools"
And after citing these conditions all they can
report is that small beginning is being made
in caring for the children. Next comes the prob
lem of the adults who are facing starvation this
winter unless aid comes from some source"
That these facts on the health of workers
children are not exaggerated may be seen from
the figures for the whole nation which are adj
mitted even by conservative health authorities.
DR.. Charles Rosenberg, writes that about one
third of the children of this nation are nutriti-
onally below par Wood estimated is to Is per-
cent of the school children are undernourished."
Starvation Deaths Increase
This was the situation In normal times The
long crisis and increasing unemployment and
part-time work has driven these figures up in
every field For example, an official report from
Illinois shows that deaths from intestinal infec-
tons among children under two years increased
from 1906 in 1929 to 1881 in 1890" Fatal in
festival infections especially in young children,
says the report, nearly always come from defects
l. in diet. Economic distress has led many fami-
lies to modify radically their food supplies.
sharp drop in the sales of milk and eggs shows
that the trouble is closely tied up with the eco
nomic situation"
This is putting it mildly But if we follow the
trend of milk consumption in other parts of the
country, we find the same tendency. For ex-
ample. reports by Russell Sage Foundation ex-
perts showed much lower consumption of milk
in New York City in typical week in the spring
Of 1881 as compared with the corresponding week
year previous. In fact between the first week
of May this year and last year, there drop
in consumption amounting to 5556,360 quarts of
milk and 236,480 quarts of cream.
! With all their lying boasts of caring for the
children the nations greatest asset, what are
the capitalists and their governments doing?
What are they doing about such elementary
matter as providing lunches for school children?
! Children Faint In School from Hunger.
| 1t is estimated that in Cleveland the number of
undernowished children in the elementary
schools will reach $4,000 before the end of the
present school term, in addition to at least 5000
in the high schools Children are fainting in the
| school rooms from lack of food In the face of
| this the school board refused to do anything for
the children and passes the buck to a private
! charity fund which at present gives one glass Of
milk and slice Of bread to about $500 of these
children.
In Chicago children are also faintng from lack
| of food and some $4,000 are starving. To meet
this situation the teachers, who now receive no
salaries, have raised little money to care for
the most needy cases till some private philan-
! GnrOpy can De lOuno 10 90 something ABOUT IT,
The city administration does nothing
In New York richest city in the world, the
situation is similar. Here neither the city nor
the private charity gang does anything. The
teachers themselves are forced to contribute
about 2 percent of their salaries to fund from
which the hungry children of the elementary
schools are fed Last year the teaching personnel
of the schools gave about $65,00o for food and
clothes, for impoverished New York children. The
same practice which amounts to cut in wages
for the teachers-is being used this year, while
the s40000-a-year Jimmy Walker and the rest
OF the grating Tammany officials do nothing to
relieve the plight of the children.
And the federal government is likewise doing
nothing for the children even though at his own
White House Conference on Child Health and
Protection millionaire Hoover admitted in No
venber, 1880, that of the 100000 children in
the United States at least 100000 even in NOR
nal" times improperly nourished; 100000
have weak or damaged hearts; $4,000 are tuber-
cular. But the federal government has refused
to vote q penny for the relief of the millions of
starving and near-starving children of the I'M
employed and part-tme workers. And the Red
Cross does nothing and refused absolutely to
give even few crumbs of relief to the children
of the striking Kentucky miners.