84 ADMINISTRATIVE SECTION 



of the infants the older children and adults are not 

 being overlooked. On the contrary, they are being- 

 considered quite as much as the infants, especially by 

 the nurse who continually comes in contact with them 

 in the home, and are when in danger or already ill 

 referred to the proper authorities for aid and advice. 



The great importance of the infant mortality work 

 does not lie solely in the improvement of the chances 

 for the infants, but for those of the adults as well. 

 The infant simply is a more sensitive and delicate 

 indicator, and that is why there is ample justification 

 in attaching the greatest importance to the work that 

 has as its first aim the prevention of sickness amongst 

 infants and children. 



THE FEDERAL CHILDREN'S BUREAU OF 

 THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

 SOME ASPECTS OF ITS PRESENT 

 WORK. 



BY Miss JULIA C. LATHROP. 



Chief of the Bureau^ 



THE Federal Children's Bureau is the result of 

 efforts lasting for ten years to secure a provision by 

 which the general Government should create a special 

 agency devoted to the interests of the children of the 

 nation, with methods of investigation and publicity 

 analogous to those through which the various Bureaus 

 of the Department of Agriculture have vastly increased 

 the productiveness of the soil and the welfare of 

 farmers in this country. In these efforts many 

 organizations and individuals joined, notably the 

 National Child Labour Committee, various settlements 

 and women's clubs, societies and associations engaged 

 in the active work of caring for children and protecting 

 the public health. So that the Bureau went into 

 operation with a remarkable backing of public interest 

 and goodwill. 



