differed considerably from that of the foreign-born, 98.9 per cent of the former having been attended by a physician and only 85.8 per cent of the latter. The proportion of cases accredited to midwives is doubtless an understatement, as in cases of difficult labor the midwife frequently calls in a physician and the case is accredited to him. It was seldom the custom of mothers to seek medical advice during pregnancy, and many of the poorer mothers, and especially of the foreign-born, resumed part or all of their customary duties within a few days after the birth of the baby. Nevertheless a considerable number even among this group did remain in bed at least a week or 10 days after childbirth, with the services either of a practical nurse or of a visiting nurse from some philanthropic organization, or at least under the care of members of the family. It was not at all uncommon for the husband to act as nurse, particularly among the French Canadians. In these families in some cases where there were no grown children the husband continued to relieve the mother of the heavy housework, such as scrubbing and washing, for a number of weeks after confinement. ECONOMIC AND INDUSTRIAL FACTORS. Babies born into the homes of unskilled workers where earnings are small face greater hazards than those in more fortunate circumstances. When the 1,564 live-born babies included in this study are grouped according to father's earnings, it is found that among the babies in the lowest-earnings group infant deaths are more than four times as frequent as in the highest-earnings group. Another point which appears from a study of the findings is that gainful employment of the mother away from home was accompanied by a high infant mortality rate, higher even than that for all babies in the low-earnings groups. Occupation of father. The great majority of the babies included in this study had fathers who were engaged in occupations outside of professional, clerical, and mercantile groups; 725 of them were factory operatives. The majority of these, 442, were textile opera tives, but in all 597 babies had fathers employed in textile mills in some capacity, either as operatives or as laborers, teamsters, clerks, etc. 1 Includes 1 father living on his income. 2 Of 597 fathers in the textile industry 442 were operatives and 155 employees engaged in occupations not peculiar to the industry, such as officials, clerks, carpenters, teamsters, etc. The latter were classified in the occupational groups to which they belong. Father's earnings an index of economic status.-The father's earnings, it is believed, furnish the most reliable index to the economic status of the family because in most cases they are not only the chief support but also the most stable and regular element in the family income. Supplementary sources of income such as mother's and children's earnings are likely to be temporary and fluctuating. A special objection to lumping father's earnings with the earnings of the mother and children is that the gainful employment of the latter indicates a low economic status which would tend to be obscured were their earnings combined. Furthermore, the increase in family income due to mother's going to work is one brought about by creating a possible factor in infant mortality, namely, the withdrawal of the mother's care. Income derived from property is found chiefly in the group of fathers earning $1,250 or more, all of whom are classed together in any event. The father's earnings therefore best represent the scale of living attainable through a period of years and fix the living habits and the real economic status of the family. Rates of pay can not be computed from the earnings reported. On account of lack of employment or for other reasons the father may not have worked steadily. It can not be inferred, because a father earned, for example, only $350 in a year's time that his unit rate was so low that he could not have earned more if at work full time throughout the year. Distribution of economic groups. A classification of babies on the basis of father's earnings shows that the fathers of 48.4 per cent, or nearly half of them, earned less than $650 a year and that the fathers of 74.4 per cent, approximately three-fourths, earned under $850. Only 6.4 per cent had fathers earning $1,250 or more, while 225, or 13.7 per cent of the whole number, had fathers who earned less than $450. In addition to those for whom earnings were reported the fathers of 23 babies either had died or, during the year following the child's birth, did not contribute to the support of their families because they had deserted or had earned nothing on account of illness. In the case of 21 babies the father's earnings could not be ascertained. (See Table 25.) DIAGRAM IV. PER CENT OF BIRTHS TO ALL MOTHERS, NATIVE MOTHERS AND FOREIGNBORN MOTHERS, ACCORDING TO FATHER'S EARNINGS. |