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348 THE CHILDREN OF MULHOUSE.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
* M. Jeajnt Doiiiipirs Has Just Read To ...
So fearful a disproportion has necessarily roused the anxiety of men whose life has been one continued struggle to overcome the
evils incident to the lives of operatives . A searching investigation carried on among a sufficiently large number , has enabled it to be
demonstrated that the mortality is very great among children whose mothers work in a factory- The factory womanduring the period
of pregnancy , does not and cannot take the care which , her condition requires . Important as it is to her to earn her wages , she returns
too and quickl thus y fatall to the deprive factory s , trusts the littl her e infant creature to the of the care care of stran which gers is ,
indispensable to y the existence of the newborn child . On inquiry with regard to the mothers employed in the different
departments of his manufactory , M . Dollfus found that out of first illeg 199 itimat births or 26 e , in 33 two cent death years . s and occurred , of 35 which within 123 the the were second first leg year itimate or 46 among per and cent the 76 .
An , average per of 3 6 per , cent ., or among more than one infant , in three- — while the deaths only amount to 1 in 8 or 10 in families in easy
circumstances . The evil being demonstrated , and one of its causes discovered ,
its palliative may be attained . As the mortality principally affected the children of the factory womenM . J . Dollfus
conremai sidered n wi that th her it was infan necessary t after her , first confinement of all , that , and the it mother would should suffice
, for this to guarantee to her her wages during this compulsory period of inactivity . Success has quickly crowned the effort of the
honourable reporter , whose own words we give . " The whole for the six weeks following the fortnight ' s pay
during the lying wages -in have Ibeen paid , and besides the visits of the medical man attached to the establishment , a midwife . makes daily
visits for some time , and takes particular care that everything is done which can contribute to the welfare of the little nurslings j
and to the most necessitous , linen and clothing has been given . These efforts have produced excellent results .
"In 63 infants born between the 1 st of November and the 1 st of Maof whom 38 were legitimate and 25 illegitimateonly 6 have
died y , 2 the former and 4 the latter ( , there were 2 stillborn , ) among . On the 1 st of May these among children had attained an
average of three months . The mortality is much smaller after the early months—thus the total number of births for the 7 towns
above cited has been , not counting the stillborn , 123 , 795 in the last two years ; and of these 16740 infants died under the age of
, , six months , or 14 per cent ., and only 5 , 175 , or 4 * 1-5 per cent ., between six months and one year , not a third part of those who .
die during the first six months .
there "In will calculating be a mortality , then , of onl y half attainment that for the of fi rst t year hree m of onth age s , ,
348 The Children Of Mulhouse.
348 THE CHILDREN OF MULHOUSE .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), July 1, 1863, page 348, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01071863/page/60/
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