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MARh’JED WOMEN IrV FACTORIES. 169
in warehouses, factories, otc., crnd knowing tittlo or nothing of tllc dutioe
of wiros and mothers, SO that infants suffcr sully from ueglect of every
kixl, and grcat nu:ubcrs die frolu irnprupcr lacding. It is 8 very
cosmon pcticc for young mothers (married as well as >ingle) to lJl:\Ce
tllcir infants in the care of other wmen for the day, and I am constantly
Z,d!o*ing them on gross improprieties I find prerniling in such C&SQS
. , . Some years ago I held m inquest on a very young child, XV~WSO
parents were earning from 50s. to GOB. 8 week, but who put out thcir
irlftrut to nurse, because, as the mother told me, SLC could not aLtcud to
it hcrsclf, hnring to bc at work nt tho warellouw. Tilo nurse wry
coolly admitted that she had (hd) the caw% of eighteen children (live
of them her own) and only one was living !”
I have not the least doubt that facts of this kind might be
multiplied to almost any extent by adequate iuquiry. In fact,
inquiry is hardly needed; tho stato of tho cas0 is patent and
admitted in the districts in question. The evidenco taken
before tho Infant Lifo Protection Committee in all protability
applies as strongly nom, or nearly so, as it did ton years
ago. In any case, it is a fact that the infants are ‘4 killed off”
almost as fast now as they were ten or twelve years ago. As
the last bit of iteration, I will give tho following extract,
culled from a Manchester newspaper,* purporting to come
from a recent Report of Mr. Leigh, t,he BIcdical Officer of
Health for Manchester. After informing us that in 1878-9
the deaths of children under five years of age in Manchester
formed about 44 per cent. of the whole, while in other places
the rate does not exccod 33 per cent., he goes on to say :
“The chief cause of a hcavy infant mortality ilr the neglect which
young children meet with in the lower stratum of society. In some caaes
the mother is employed in out-door labour, and the child receives no
proper sustenance. It is left to the care of n girl too young even to
take care of herself, and is exposed, with very scanty clothing, to the
inclemency of the weather; or it is left in the care of some old woman,
who quietens its cries for warmth and nourishment with repeated dosca
of laudanum, in the form of ‘ Godfrey’s Cordial,’ or 8omo similar farrago;
ax3 at an early age dies from convnlsions in one case, and from bronchitis
or ot3er lung affection in the other.”
* They appear to print EO few copiee of reports in M81lchester, that I
have been unable to procure a copy of the Beport in qaeation.