men can hope to succeed. A large percentage of our recent immigrants are illiterate; but illiteracy abroad, owing to relatively simple conditions, does not constitute the handicap that it does in the United States. The injury resulting from ignorance is not confined to the individual affected, but an entire group may suffer because of the ignorance of one of its members. The community therefore is justified in interfering and demanding compulsory education. The training required must meet the direct occupational need of the child. Otherwise it is only a halfway measure, and society has not fully discharged its obligations. Machine production and the consequent extensive division of labor necessitate some preparation for trade life. The growing problem of unemployment cannot be solved unless more attention is paid to the untrained child. Low wages, poverty, unemployment, and shameful conditions of living are partly due to defective education. Society must furnish the individual with the initial equipment necessary for a life of usefulness and profit. But training for industrial efficiency must not displace literary training. In fact, education gives the child a symmetrical development. He must be equipped for work, but, more than that, for service as a man and a citizen. Recent developments also demand a revision of the methods pursued in providing our youth with a moral education. The child is the unshaped marble out of which is hewn the virtuous man or the criminal. Shall no one superintend the sculptor's work? The results of improper and insufficient moral training are already too evident. The methods of church and Sunday school must be made more efficient. The public schools likewise cannot afford to neglect the problem. Furthermore, the American home has become somewhat indifferent to the moral welfare of children. By providing effective moral training for the child, society can prevent much juvenile delinquency, and can arm children against the temptations of a vicious environment. Moral training must have a prominent place in a program of child welfare. A form of education which is now demanding increased at tention is proper education along the lines of sex physiology. So direful have been the consequences, especially to the female sex, of the absence of needed knowledge, that thinking people are justly demanding reform. The adolescent youth of to-day should be protected from the bitter results of a system which depends upon the ignorance and mistaken ideals of parents and upon the failure of the schools to appreciate the problem. The growing thoughtlessness and perhaps immorality of girls also presents a grave question. The physical welfare of society, the happiness of the home, and the social emancipation of woman depend in large part upon sufficient rational and timely instruction in physical hygiene. This must, however, be deeply tinctured with the development of high moral standards; otherwise the knowledge acquired will not gain the end in view. Nor can we wait until the young mind is blackened by the evil teaching of the vicious. f. Care of Dependent Children. The duty of society to care for the dependent and neglected child admits of no controversy. Such children are not responsible for their misfortunes, and society is pledged to grant them opportunities for a useful life. Every child has a right to a home, and should have the opportunity to enjoy a parent's care and fondness, since the home gives to childhood a service which no other agency can supply. The child without a good home suffers an enormous handicap. What hope remains for children whose constant environment lacks the guidance of a kind and dutiful parent? Special efforts are necessary to give justice to the unfortunates. CHAPTER I BIRTHS AND BIRTH RATES IN discussing the vital problem of child life it seems most convenient to begin with births and birth rates; for, although high or low birth rates do not necessarily imply high or low death rates, they definitely limit our infant mortality. The actual relation between the two, however, is of extreme importance, because upon it depends the aggregate of surplus population. 1. Historical Data. Little is known of the fecundity of the white race in ancient times. Vital statistics belong entirely to modern history, and even now our records are so incomplete that full information cannot be had. However, hints by ancient writers and knowledge of conditions among primitive peoples of to-day give rise to some observations which are not entirely conjectural. That birth rates were high in the infancy of human society is not certain, but on the contrary the works of many students of primitive people indicate that a comparatively low death rate prevailed among the savage races. Some of the causes are also known; among them a long period of suckling. Babies were often allowed to nurse for two or three years; nor is this method of prevention confined to primitive peoples, since even now it is employed in Europe and the United States. A second cause was licentiousness, which frequently induced sterility. Infertility was without doubt an additional cause, and there is evidence that preventive methods were used directly. The coöperation of these causes frequently limited fecundity to three or four children per marriage, while the large family of nine or ten children was comparatively rare. |