72 Heredity and Child Culture 



alternating relationship of cause and effect 

 between them. It is interesting to note how this 

 vicious circle works at different ages. Thus, 

 while in adult years, sickness is one of the prin- 

 cipal causes of poverty, in childhood poverty is 

 one of the principal causes of sickness. 



It is evident that infant salvage is closely in- 

 ter-related with economic and social conditions. 

 To save the baby and conserve the beginning 

 life we may have to go far afield in a study 

 of life conditions. About 300,000 babies under 

 one year die every year in this country. There 

 is still much to be done. Putting it in another 

 way, it has been estimated that in the United 

 States twelve babies out of every hundred, under 

 the age of twelve months, die every year. In 

 the great "World War less than two men out of 

 every hundred were killed in battle. During 

 this time, accordingly, a soldier in the trenches 

 was six times as safe as the baby in the slums. 

 This shows that social heredity, — in other words 

 environment, — has yet much to do in conserving 

 infant life. A most beneficial and far-reaching 



