In truth, unfortunate babies who depart during their first twelve
months are more fortunate in many respects than those who survive to
undergo punishment for their parents' cruel ignorance and complacent
fecundity. If motherhood is wasted under the present regime of "glorious
fertility," childhood is not merely wasted, but actually destroyed.
Let us look at this matter from the point of view of the children who
survive.
(1) U.S. Department of Labor: Children's Bureau. Infant
Mortality Series,
No. 3, pp. 81, 82, 83, 84.
(2) Henry H. Hibbs, Jr. Infant Mortality: Its Relation to
Social and
Industrial Conditions, p. 39. Russell Sage Foundation, New
York, 1916.
(3) Cf. U. S. Department of Labor. Children's Bureau:
Infant Mortality
Series, No. 11. p. 36.
(4) Havelock Ellis, Sex in Relation to Society, p. 31.
CHAPTER III: "Children Troop Down From Heaven...."
Failure of emotional, sentimental and so-called idealistic efforts,
based on hysterical enthusiasm, to improve social conditions, is nowhere
better exemplified than in the undervaluation of child-life. A few years
ago, the scandal of children under fourteen working in cotton mills was
exposed. There was muckraking and agitation. A wave of moral indignation
swept over America. There arose a loud cry for immediate action. Then,
having more or less successfully settled this particular matter, the
American people heaved a sigh of relief, settled back, and complacently
congratulated itself that the problem of child labor had been settled
once and for all.
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