THE WASTE OF LIFE 187 



THE WASTE OF LIFE 



By ELAINE GOODALE EASTMAN 



AMHERST, MASS. 



To bear a child is nothing; to suckle it, nourish it, bring it to perfection — 

 this is bearing it for all time! — Balzac. 



T 



HE conservation of human life stands next to the giving of life 

 and inseparably one with it as the supreme task of woman. The 

 birth rate is affected by so many different factors that conclusions must 

 not be hastily drawn from any given set of figures. It may be lowered 

 from voluntary or involuntary causes; by extreme want or excessive 

 luxury; by diseases of immorality, or by the higher education of women. 

 It was formerly highest in the centers of population, but this condition 

 is being reversed, and the rural birth rate is falling less rapidly than 

 the urban. 



The death rate among young children, however, is actually a touch- 

 stone of community welfare; a test of civilization. A high rate of 

 infant mortality means individual ignorance, and social injustice. A 

 lowering of the rate denotes a definite and positive improvement in 

 living conditions, a prevention of economic waste and human suffering 

 comparable only to the total abolition of war in magnitude. The num- 

 ber of babies dying from neglect in the United States alone, would 

 about equal in three years the total number of soldiers killed on both 

 sides during our Civil War ! 



When we ask how many died in any one year, we find, first of all, 

 our vital statistics greatly modified in value by the surprising fact that 

 effective registration of births and deaths is not yet general throughout 

 this country. From the latest report of the Census Bureau (1911) we 

 learn that birth registration is especially unsatisfactory, and that prob- 

 ably not over one fourth of our population is represented by records 

 even approximately complete. The National Federation of Woman's 

 Clubs is cooperating actively with other organizations and with the 

 Census Bureau itself in the effort to remedy this defect, through the 

 enactment and adequate enforcement of standard laws in the several 

 states. The new Children's Bureau of the Department of Labor, under 

 Miss Julia Lathrop, is bringing additional support to this important 

 movement. It is by no means creditable to us that the accuracy and 

 uniformity of our vital statistics should compare thus unfavorably with 

 those of the civilized nations of the Old World. 



