S52 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



data for the earlier years of our history are wanting, and at present 

 very few of our states keep a careful registration of births and deaths, 

 although a large number of our cities are now recording their vital 

 statistics with increasing care. The absence of city life with its bane- 

 ful consequences somewhat relieves us from the charge of infanticide, 

 but the exposure and the rigors of the Atlantic seaboard worked its 

 many hardships. Data for New York before 1850 show that 27 per 

 cent, of its infants died before reaching the age of one, but the rate 

 for Boston was comparatively low, being recorded as less than 20 per 

 cent. — a figure exceeded by many cities at the present time. Condi- 

 tions in Massachusetts have been relatively favorable and its vital 

 statistics indicate that the death-dealing influences of the close of the 

 century were more fatal than those operating at the beginning of the 

 Civil War. This observation, discouraging as it is, is somewhat soft- 

 ened by the favorable changes in the death rate of children below the 

 age of five. These records prove that a constantly growing percentage 

 of children live to that age, and once having reached the fifth year the 

 chance of a life of future usefulness is considerably increased. The 

 expectation of life in Boston according to the reports of the Census 

 Bureau was in 1900, 9.74 years greater for the child of five than for 

 the infant at birth. This difference is, moreover, diminishing, as it 

 certainly must if mortality is being checked. A similar difference in 

 the English expectation of life argues for similar rates of mortality 

 for children at these ages. The low death rate of children between 

 the ages of five and fourteen insures the succession of a large majority 

 to an adult age. Civilization demands that this be a constantly in- 

 creasing proportion and that the fewest possible number of lives be 

 wrecked in the adolescent stage. The energies of society must be 

 expended in many various directions where the need is most urgent, 

 and where reforms are clearly possible. That society should waste 

 vast portions of its accumulating energies is not only deplorable and 

 a hindrance to social advance, but is a mark of criminal neglect. 

 Where waste of lives can be avoided, as the decreasing mortality of 

 children shows, there inaction by society is unpardonable. 



In spite of the existence of many plague spots, where innocent 

 infants are barbarously slain, the statistics set forth by the twelfth 

 census furnish ground for a growing optimism. Although a large 

 percentage of inaccuracy obtains, the figures are sufficiently reliable 

 and comparable to indicate quite faithfully the hopeful tendency 

 toward child saving. The tables for the registration area show that 

 the infantile death rate fell from 205 per 1,000 births in 1890 to 165 

 in 1900. In the former year one out of every five infants died, 

 although allowance should be made for unrecorded births. In the 

 latter year one out of every six — a gain of approximately 20 per cent. 

 For children under five the gain is even more favorable, thus demon- 



