In England the high infantile mortality has occasioned much alarm and
called forth much agitation. There is a world of pathos and rebuke in
the grim truth that the knowledge that it is becoming increasingly
difficult to get suitable recruits for the army and navy has stirred the
nation in a way that the fate of the children themselves and their
inability to become good and useful citizens could not do.[11] Alarmed
by the decline of its industrial and commercial supremacy, and the
physical inferiority of its soldiers so manifest in the South African
war, a most rigorous investigation of the causes of physical
deterioration has been made, with the result that on all sides it is
agreed that poverty in childhood is the main cause. Greater attention
than ever before has been directed to the excessive mortality of infants
and young children. Of a total of 587,830 deaths in England and Wales in
1900 no less than 142,912, or more than 24 per cent of the whole, were
infants under one year, and 35.76 per cent were under five years of age.
That this death-rate is excessive and that the excess is due to
essentially preventable causes is admitted, many of the leading medical
authorities contending that under proper social conditions it might be
reduced by at least one-half. If that be true, and there is no good
reason for doubting it, the present death-rate means that more than
70,000 little baby lives are needlessly sacrificed each year.
No figures can adequately represent the meaning of this phase of the
problem which has been so picturesquely named “race suicide.” Only by
gathering them all into one vast throng would it be possible to conceive
vividly the immensity of this annual slaughter of the babies of a
Christian land. If some awful great child plague came and swept away
every child under a year old in the states of Massachusetts, Idaho, and
New Mexico, not a babe escaping, the loss would be less than those that
are believed to be needlessly lost each year in England and Wales. Or,
to put it in another form, the total number of these infants believed to
have died from causes essentially preventable in the year 1900 was
greater than the total number of infants of the same age living in the
following six states,—Connecticut, Maine, Delaware, Florida, Colorado,
and Idaho. Even if the estimate of the sacrifice be regarded as being
excessive, and we reduce it by half, it still remains an awful sum.
Unfortunately, there is no reason to suppose that the infantile
death-rate in the United States is nearly so far below that of England
as is generally supposed. The general death-rate is given in the census
returns as 16.3 per thousand, or about two per thousand less than in
England. But owing to a variety of causes, chief of which is the
defective system of registration in several states, these figures are
not very reliable, and it is generally agreed that the mortality for the
whole country cannot be less than for the “Registration Area,” 17.8 per
thousand. Similarly, the difference in the infantile death-rate of the
two countries is much less than the following crude figures contained in
the census reports appear at first to indicate:—
═════════════════════════════════╤═════════════════════════════════
UNITED STATES │ ENGLAND AND WALES
─────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────
Deaths at all ages, 1,039,094│Deaths at all ages, 587,830
Deaths under 1 year, 199,325│Deaths under 1 year, 142,912
Deaths under 5 years, 317,532│Deaths under 5 years, 209,960
═════════════════════════════════╧═════════════════════════════════
In the English returns the death of every child having had a separate
existence is counted, even though it lived only a few seconds, but in
this country there is no uniform rule in this respect. In Chicago, for
instance, “no account is taken of deaths occurring within twenty-four
hours after birth,”[12] and in Philadelphia a similar custom prevailed
until 1904.[13] Such facts seriously vitiate comparisons of the
infantile death-rates of the two countries which are based upon the
crude statistics of census returns.
But while the difference is much less than the figures given would
indicate, it is still safe to assume that the infantile death-rate is
lower in this country than in England. Such a condition might reasonably
be expected for numerous reasons. We have a larger rural population with
a higher economic status; new virile blood is being constantly infused
by the immigration of the strongest and most aggressive elements of the
population of other lands; our people, especially our women, are more
temperate. All these factors would tend naturally to a lower death-rate
at all ages, but especially of infants.
[Illustration:
Danny’s Best Smile
]
[Illustration:
Rickety, Ill fed, and Neglected
]