The Daily News. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1905. INFANT MORTALITY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7729, 3 February 1905, Page 2

The Daily News. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1905. INFANT MORTALITY.

11l reference to tho huge loss of infant life in New South V?al«s, which was referred to by the president of the Workers' Union in his opening address at the Sydney cotifcivace, it may ;be noted that the rale of lossis by no means exceptional. From time immemorial it has always been the case that a huge proportion of those born into the world do not attain years of maturity. The reasons for this are many ami complex, but they may be roughly classified under three headings, viz., inherited weakness of constitution, preventiljlo diseases, and| parental ignorance. Under the first division must fall all early deaths which are due to the propagation of their kind by persons physically unlit or ill-matched, and those which are indirectly due to the temporary illnesses of mothers before childbirth, of the children who die from these causes it may, as a general rule, he risaid that 'their death is rather a blessing than otherwise. They arc practically eliminated early in the struggle for existence, and it is highly probable that the world is none the worse for their early departure. There is or course, a possibility that among those who pass i away prematurely on; account of inherited physical weakness there may be lost to the world men and |'\vomenj of great meijtal powers, and even of that exalted ! excellence which is called ' genius. There are not wanting am- 1 pie instances among the world's 1 great m<>n , a ml women of persons who were from the beginning physical weaklings and survived for the benefit of mankind only in virtue of unceasing parental attention. |!,it on tho whole it may be agreed that the Spartan who weeded out the 1 weakling by a rigorous process of i selection akin to that of Nature her- 1 self was oil tho whole u limn of en- I ugh ten intuit and good sense. The greater part of every nation's loss infant life is probably due to the 1 second eausc-preventible diseases As nations progress in civilisation and knowledge of sanitary law the mortality of infants from this cause should, and among the better to do classes does, considerably decrease. Hut unfortunately modern civilisation always means larqfc towns, factories, and slums. Hence it comes that even though the knowledge of what is preventive is common property, it is generally beyond the power of the worker mid his wife to choose their home or their environment, and therefore is it that among : the families of city workers is found ithe highest infant mortality. Much of the loss of life Jn the working quarteis of cities is wholly against the power of those concerned to pre- i vent. Old and insanitary buildings, ■ and absence of ellicient drainage and : general .sanitation each contribute : their share towards '■' slitting the i thin spun lne" of naturally healthy ' Th t nourished infants. ' that all this loss is duo to the ex- i igencies of our industrial and social system is not here contended. Most of such deaths couid be obviated by he! proper housing and feeding of the working classes. This is clearly ecoginsed by every modern thinker, "id practical and measurably K ucX'ssml efforts to improve tho housing and feeding- of the workers are •he constant care of many European and British municipalities and iidustnal proprietaries. In this :olony wc have no measures beyond >ur sanitary and building reinilalons to cope with tho slum probem, and sxmie of our larger cities lie already not without spots vherem many of the evils of the oldr countries are reproduced in) minia„v S , um chiiU iH n °t common n New Zealand towns, but on the ither hand he is not absent eith-r n Melbourne and Sydney he is an -V ut n, of ui!u,y ° f ti,e 'Jith-i' . of tl,os « cities and their sub's an 'i 1-clothed, badly-nourish-d, and under-grown infant, pitiable n his precocity, and a reflection oi he social syjjjem nuclei- which hi' ftnnl i" Th « numbei hi vi 1 u s ■ Jvhich fa »' untK ' r hud heading- js much larger than ii hould be at this stage u" ? history, and is, unfortunateY, not by any means confined tc he poorer or less enlightened perion of the population. The fact ol he matter i s that we (lo not tram ;' , ov the duties of motherhood. knowledge as is required is asiimed to come by nature. Most ol ">• young women live, love „ m | ear children without any „ rim eachmg in the JU)))I( , ■> r,- ! U i u ? n,y Ul,L '" ,hu fu ct is '■i tin ust upon l.hem by Ihe iresenoe of an infant are they suposed to be aware that human 1,1lgs are of tha natural order mn-n----uilia. .Some mothers, and tl.ose ho ' V m ranks " f Uioso _ho are called educated, seem never .i., , V 1 that an infant; ickled by a henllliy, affection He -Her has ten chances m* o ie bottle-fed baby's one. Qui,e r £ f the 'k'-lr' lS i" 'he press f the killing of i, n infant a few "e I>rn l tS - inoUlCl ' hy the simod Th s 0 Mf" ing U Wi,h solid , * ~ lh ® "'Other 1„ question, who as punished by the court, was impaied with many mothers, only I T!'I™''' 1 ™''' I[ «d she began . a bottle of milk, not 100 clean id often sour, and then proceeded > «ome one of the patent foods hich me so much in vogue, H , c oujij have slam her infant just as iiely. IVobably K | )c would ) )avo It sincerely sorry, and have shed any tears over her loss, and even ive published a. niee extract from e Bible with a silly verse altacli- ; but she would none the less lvc be«i guilty culpuble hotniJc, and should certainly not et condolences or sympathy. J n ite of the pictures of chulW hints which decorate all the maeaaes and the legends of avoirdupois lined by consuming Folly's Fatal >"d Ol- some such mixture] we vei',re to say that thousands of hints are yearly slain by ;i,e u.,e of ese concoctions. Nature provided Jtliers with a butter food, always j xed, aluij.vs Wiunn, afways on tap d Warranted b.y Nature to raise I y ""-' n !Ill <l women. If mothers iiore this fact and through fashion foolishness or love o l ' pleasure irk their duties, ; ; they| should be arough about it, and shirk ~ the lole marriage contract. There is sense in bringing infants into the rid in travail to send them out ain promptly with Rccompamnts otr white wteaths and giUy ituary verses,- H