INFANT WELFARE IN GERMANY DURING THE WAR. An interesting summary concerning infant welfare in Germany during the war is given in a report prepared by the intelligence department of the local Government board in 1918, and just published by His Majesty's stationery office, London. Births. Perhaps the most striking feature of the information thus compiled is the heavy decrease shown in the number of births. The first three years alone of the war reduced by over 2,000,000 the number of babies who would have been born had peace prevailed. per cent fewer babies were born in 1916 than in 1913. Infant Death Rate. Some 40 At the beginning of the war, under pressure of military needs, infant welfare work suffered. The high death rate and the claims of the nation's future soon led, however, to a large extension of the work. Voluntary societies have played an active part in this extension; but the general tendency is for the movement to become more and more municipal. The progress has largely taken the form of an increase in the number of infant welfare centers. The infantile death rate has been kept well down. According to the British report the reduction in the rate has been due partly to the special measures taken and partly also because of the cool sumThe following instructive table is presented. mers. 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 German Empire. 151 207 183 204 296 205 183 176 178 170 162 192 147 151 139 182 Maternity Grants. The principal measure adopted in Germany to promote infant welfare during the war has been the distribution of imperial maternity grants. One of these grants is given only to women who breast-feed their babies. The grants are in the main an extension of benefits. paid under the sickness insurance law, and are administered largely through the insurance societies. This method, however, has not given general satisfaction, and there is a strong consensus of opinion among those best qualified to judge that grants of this kind should be administered through infant welfare centers. In 1915 there were nearly 800 such centers, distributed among the areas of 550 local authorities. The encouragement of breast feeding by means of allowances in money and kind has been regarded in Germany as one of the most powerful means of furthering infant welfare. In fact, some leaders in infant welfare work go so far as to say that this is the sole secret of the successful working of a welfare center. It is interesting to observe that generally speaking the organization and establishment of infant welfare centers is usually initiated by private. societies and afterwards taken over by the municipality. Infant Welfare Work. Early in 1915 the Imperial Association for the Care of Infants issued an appeal to all its affiliated associations urging them to continue, and, if possible, to extend their activities, in view of the increasing number of mothers who were obliged to go out to work in order to support their families. The past two years, therefore, has witnessed a great extension of infant welfare work in Germany. The importance of caring for children above the age of infancy— children from 1 to 5 years of age-has also been recognized, and the Imperial Association is now urging all its affiliated societies to keep children under observation up to 5 years of age. Antenatal care is one of the most recent developments of infant welfare work in Germany, and the need for extending this branch of work is generally recognized. Illegitimacy. In the whole of the German Empire the proportion of illegitimate births is between 9 and 10 per cent. In certain districts the rate is much higher. On the outbreak of the war the care of foster children was interfered with in many instances by the mobilization of the doctors appointed to look after them. As the war progressed, however, the various forms of guardianship over illegitimate children which had been instituted before the war appear to have been exercised with greater closeness and care than formerly, so that, on the whole, there was an improvement in the lot of the illegitimate children in Germany. The imperial maternity grants were extended to unmarried mothers provided proof was forthcoming that the father was serving in the army. A letter to the mother was considered. sufficient evidence. Institutional Care of Children. In connection with the controversy so often occurring regarding institutional versus home care of foster children, it may be of interest to observe that in Germany, while there has been a considerable development of infant welfare work on the modern lines of caring. for the child in the home, the older method of caring for children. in institutions has not been neglected. "The demand for women's labor is so great that an ever-increasing number of women are being drawn into industrial work. While the mother toils by day or night, her child must be cared for by others. Those who are concerned for the welfare of infants and young children believe that they will be better cared for by trained and supervised workers in crèches or infants' homes than in the homes of foster mothers, especially in view of the difficult food conditions. Endeavors are therefore being made to provide suitable institutions wherever they are needed, and to link them up with the general movement for infant welfare." In an appendix the report gives statistics concerning infant death rates in various German cities, 1904-1913; death rates of illegitimate infants; total number of live births in Germany, 1913-1916, inclusive; percentage of illegitimate births, 1851-1912; and certain details regarding maternity benefits granted by a number of German municipalities. DEATHS DURING WEEK ENDED FEBRUARY 1, 1919, IN CITIES. The following table shows the registered deaths from all causes and from pneumonia (all forms) and influenza combined, in certain large cities of the United States during the week ended February 1, 1919. The annual death rates per 1,000 population for the week are also shown. The data are taken from the "Weekly Health Index," February 4, 1919, issued by the Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce. The populations used in computing the rates are estimated by the Bureau of the Census as of July 1, 1918. |