ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS. INFANT MORTALITY RATE. The infant mortality rate for the selected group in New Bedford for the year of the study was 130.3. Of 2,587 infants born alive, 337 died before reaching the first birthday. DISTRIBUTION BY PRECINCTS. The distribution of births and deaths in the wards and precincts in New Bedford is shown in the spot map, and the infant mortality rates for the different precincts are given in Table II. Precincts 1, 2, 3, 13, and 17 all have high rates, precinct 2 having the highest rate in the city, 177.5. This analysis by precincts shows the area in which the infant mortality problem in New Bedford was most serious. It should be mentioned that since the study was made the ward and precinct lines have been changed; the wards and precincts discussed and shown on the map refer to those existing at the time of the study. TABLE II.-Live births during selected year, infant deaths, and infant mortality rate, by district and precinct of residence.a a Wards and precincts according to ward and precinct lines existing at the time of the study. THE "UNFAVORABLE" AREA. The five precincts designated as the "unfavorable" area lie on the river front, the first three grouped together in the northern part of the city and the other two in the southern part. All are in the cottonmill section. Within this area were found 57 per cent of all live births included in the study and 69 per cent of the deaths in this group; the infant mortality rate was 156.6 compared with 94.6 for the rest of the city. Of course, not all parts of these precincts had unfavorable conditions, as, for example, the northern part of precinct 1,1 which was almost rural in character; nor, on the other hand, did these precincts include all the sections where conditions were unfavorable. The precinct boundary lines were merely the most convenient limits to adopt. Of the infants born in the "unfavorable" area as thus defined, fourfifths had foreign-born mothers, the largest group being the Portuguese white. Two-thirds of all the infants of Portuguese mothers were found in this area, three-fourths of all the infants of FrenchCanadian mothers, and seven-eighths of all those of Polish mothers. Precincts 1, 2, and 3,' constituting ward 1,1 lie along the Acushnet River at the northern end of the city. Practically every nationality represented in the city is found in this ward, including native Americans, French Canadians, Portuguese, Poles, English, Irish, Hebrews, Italians, Greeks, Turks, and Syrians. Of one section of this ward it was said that "one hears no English spoken on the streets here; the French-Canadian children play in the French language and the Portuguese children in Portuguese." Sixty-eight per cent of the infants of French-Canadian mothers in the study lived in ward 1,1 also 76 per cent of the infants of Polish mothers, and nearly 25 per cent of the infants of Portuguese mothers. A long-established FrenchCanadian colony was located in this ward. This group of families had its separate business center and its own local French-Canadian churches, parochial schools, doctors, and midwives. The families of this group were generally living in modest but comfortable and well-kept homes; many were attempting to purchase their own homes. The largest Polish group of the city also is located in this ward; most of these families worked in the mills, although a number were engaged in small businesses, such as grocery stores, saloons, or lunch rooms. Many of the Polish women took in boarders on the basis of $2.50 or $3 a month each for sleeping space and the services of the landlady as cook and laundress. A day nursery for babies whose parents worked in the mill was maintained in the neighborhood and was largely patronized by Polish women. The ward was almost entirely populated by working people, largely cotton-mill operatives. The majority of the families lived in two- to six-family frame tenement buildings; the three-family buildings predominated. Singlefamily cottages were rare. In one section of the ward a number of old and gloomy corporation houses were well filled. On business. streets, wooden block houses in bad repair, with stores on the ground floor and tenements above, were not uncommon. At the time of the study, tenement rents in this ward averaged from $2 to $4.25 a week for four- or five-room flats, generally with a toilet, which, however, was often not in the apartment but in the entry or cellar. In precinct 131 lived almost the entire colony of Portuguese Negroes or "Bravas" from the Cape Verde Islands, also 17 per cent of the Portuguese families included in this study, and a large Jewish colony. This was an old section of the city; the two-family house seemed to predominate, though the one-family house was sometimes found. Housing had changed with the changes of the population in this neighborhood; as the native-American families left, their onefamily dwellings were made over into two- and three-family dwellings for the Portuguese Negroes, each family having one floor. Precinct 17 bad two almost distinct sections: The one bordering the Acushnet River was inhabited almost entirely by Portuguese, with a few Poles and Jews; and in the other, the newer part, extending to Clarks Cove, lived a number of French Canadians, a few English, and a few Poles and Portuguese. Mill work was the most common occupation for the men, and also many of the women worked in the mills. A number of the Portuguese were fishermen, generally quahog diggers. Few mothers in the Portuguese colony spoke English. A number of mill blocks were located in this district; they were old and in bad repair, with no attempt by builder, owner, or tenant to make them attractive. The predominating type of house was the three-family tenement; some had been remodeled from older, more pretentious homes. As a rule toilets were located in the entry or cellar. The unfavorable area included most of the colonies of the different foreign nationalities and most of the bad living conditions in the city. The inhabitants of these districts were predominantly mill workers; many of the women were gainfully employed. In the later analysis the effect of factors suggested by the description of these conditions will be discussed in detail." NATIONALITY. Of the total population of New Bedford in 1910, 44 per cent were foreign-born white, 34 percent native white of foreign or mixed parentage, and only 19 per cent native white of native parentage. The two largest nationality groups in 1910 were the French Canadian and the English, the former group constituting 28 per cent of the 1 Wards and precincts according to ward and precinct lines existing at the time of the study. See p. 55. foreign-born population, and the latter 22 per cent. The Portuguese ranked next in number, comprising 9 per cent of the foreign born. The other groups were smaller in number. It was interesting to note how the groups kept themselves together in compact colonies, each speaking its own language. The French-Canadian and the Portuguese groups were located in the so-called "unfavorable" area. Besides these may be noted a group of Italians who lived near the river north of the center of the town, between the railroad station and the mills, and a small colony of Greeks who were settled near the river to the north of the Italian colony. The industrial development of New Bedford played a large part in determining the character of the foreign-born population. During the days of the prosperity of the whaling industry, prior to 1880, a number of Portuguese immigrants came from the Azores and gradually formed a permanent colony which at the time of the study was the most important Portuguese center in the United States. The growth of the textile industry proved a great attractive force for immigration. When the cotton mills were established many skilled English workers were brought to New Bedford. Later, with the introduction of new machinery, French Canadians came in response to the demand for unskilled labor; these were followed by a Polish immigration and more recently by large numbers of Portuguese. Each nationality group has its own peculiar customs of infant feeding and of infant care, its superstitions and its preferences in the employment of physicians or midwives. In many cases the infant mortality rate for a particular nationality may be influenced by the conditions of the different sections of the city in which the group lives. The infant mortality rates according to nationality of the mother are shown in Table III. TABLE III-Births during selected year, infant deaths, infant mortality rate, and per cent of stillbirths, according to nationality of mother. |