WHY THE BABIES DIE 



Supposition That High Infant Mortality in Slums is Due to Poverty is Largely 



Fallacious Poverty and Its Attendant Evils Rather Due to Inherent 



Mental and Physical Defects Infant Mortality 



Fundamentally a Problem of Eugenics 



The Editor 



MANCHESTER. Xcw Hampshire, 

 is a manufacturint,' town with 

 a jjojxilation of 70,063 (census 

 of 1910), of whom only 20% 

 are native white of native parents. It is 

 largely devoted to the textile industry. 

 Amon}^ other claims to fame, it has one 

 (jf the hij^'hest infant mortality rates in 

 the United States — of every 1 .000 l)abies 

 born, no less than 193 die l)eforc the end 

 of their first year. Vov the United 

 States repjistration area as a whole, the 

 infant mortality rate is 124. and in many 

 cities it is below 100. 



The Children's Bureau (Department 

 of Labor, Washington, D. C.) chose 

 Manchester as the scene of an investi^^a- 

 tion of infant mortality, because 



It had an usually hij^h infant mortality 

 rate, it was witliin the rc^jistration area for 

 l)irths and deaths so that reeords for those 

 were available, and it presented conditions 

 which usually arc associated with high in- 

 fant mortality— namely, a large foreign 

 population and a consideraljle projrortion 

 of industrially employed women. 



The results arc published' in Btireau 

 Ptdjlication No. 2(). 



The method of conductin^^ the stitdy 

 showed j^reat care. Between Nov. 1 , 

 1912. and Oct. 31, 1913, there were 

 2,1.S2 births rej^dstcred in the city. These 

 infants were followed throti^di twelve 

 m.onths, and a lar^'c amovmt of infonna- 

 tion secured about their parents. Many 

 of the babies disai)pcared, so the study 

 is actttally based on the history of 1,6-13 

 infants (79 of them stillborn). After 

 more than 100 pa^es devoted to a 

 descri])tion of the residts of their study, 

 the investij^ators ]jresent the followinj; 

 summary : 



Infant Mortality Kate. — The infant 

 mortalitN' rate of 16.^ for the whole ^roup 

 of 1,564 live-born infants is strikingly 

 liij^h. Not only is it hiij;her than the 

 rate of 124, eom]nited in 1910 for the 

 general rcj^istration area of the United 

 States, and hijj^her than that of 101.8 in 

 1913 for New York City with all its 

 con<^festion and larj^^e forei<^n element, 

 but it is also several times as hij^di as the 

 rates found in certain foreij^m countries. 



Environvicnt. — Bad housin<^ and in- 

 sanitary environment, in so far as they 

 existed, were accompanied by high 

 infant mortality rates. These condi- 

 tions were confined to relatively few 

 areas and were not generally ])revalent 

 throughout the city. They are, how- 

 ever, likely to become worse and more 

 extensive in the future unless controlled 

 by adequate restriction. 



Low Earnings. — Low earnings of the 

 father indicate in general a low economic 

 status for the family, and in Manchester 

 the\' were accom])anied by a high infant 

 mortalit\- rate. As the father's earnings 

 increased the rate declined std:>stantially. 



Mother's Employment.- — Gainful em- 

 ])loyment of the mother existed prin- 

 cij^ally when the earnings of the father 

 were low. Such cm])lo\-ment away 

 from home usually necessitated artificial 

 feeding and was accom])anied by an 

 infant mortality rate higher than that 

 accompanying low earnings of father. 



Nationality. — Babies of foreign-born 

 mothers had a higher rate than those of 

 native mothers, largely on account of 

 the numerous deaths among babies of 

 French Canadian mothers. The French 

 Canadians as a grou]), however, occupied 



' Infant Mortality. Results of a field studv in Manchester, \. H., ba.'^ed on births in one year- 

 Hy Beatrice Sheets r)uncan ami Emma Duke. Infant Mortality series No. 6, Bureau Publica- 

 tion No. 20, i)p. 1.U, with illustrations and mai)S. Washington, F^l?. 



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