MISS JULIA C. LATHROP'S PAPER 91 



with an increased death registration area, there was 

 a decrease in deaths of children under one year ; 

 but those who lived less than one day increased not 

 only relatively but absolutely from not quite 10 per 

 cent, in 1910, the figure has risen to 12*1 per cent, 

 in 1911, while those living less than one week 

 increased from 23-5 per cent, in 1910 to 27-4 per 

 cent, in 1911. These figures show that the efforts 

 to save babies through pure milk and more intelligent 

 care have produced results in the general decrease 

 in deaths of children, while throwing into marked 

 relief the persistent increase in deaths during the first 

 days of life, which these efforts alone cannot reach. 



The New York Milk Committee in its 1912 report 

 gives some pertinent figures in this connection. In 

 that city the attempt was made to reduce, in one 

 restricted area, this large percentage of infant 

 mortality in the first days of life, by getting in touch 

 with the expectant mother as early as possible during 

 pregnancy. This campaign, begun in the summer 

 of 1911, showed a reduction, up to the end of 1912, 

 in this supervised area as compared with the borough 

 of Manhattan, of 32 per cent, in deaths under one 

 month, and of 28 per cent, in stillbirths among 

 1,938 babies, with two deaths among 1,375 mothers. 

 Similar work for expectant mothers has been under- 

 taken already in other cities, among which are 

 Indianapolis, Providence, Baltimore, Chicago, St. 

 Louis, Detroit, Richmond, Louisville, Milwaukee, 

 Nashville, Cincinnati, Fall River (Mass.), Buffalo, 

 and Boston. 



As stated above, the inquiry into infant mortality 

 can only be conducted in communities where there 

 is birth registration. Hence the Bureau is of necessity 

 co-operating in the campaign for better vital statistics 

 and is especially bound to urge adequate birth regis- 

 tration because of the many ways in which accurate 

 birth records may serve the ends of child welfare. 



