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ELEMENTS OF CHILD-PROTECTION
THE ELEMENTS OF
CHILD-PROTECTION
BY
SIGMUND ENGEL
DOCTOR OF LAWS AND OF POLITICS ; OFFICIAL GUAEDIAN AND ADVOCATE
IN BUDA-PESTH
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY
DR. EDEN PAUL
NEW YORK
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1912
Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson 6f Co.
At the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh
r:
PREFACE
During the latter half of the nineteenth century, the import-
ance of child-protection gained a far wider recognition.
The nineteenth century has been well named " The
Century of the Child." But there are reasons no less
cogent for describing this century as " The Century of
\> Socialism," or " The Century of Darwinism."
, The intimate interdependence of child-protection with
^ Socialism and with Darwinism must on no account be
\ overlooked. It was my own assurance of this twofold
;v interdependence which led me to undertake the study of
^^ the whole system of child-protection from the joint out-
>• look of Socialism and of Darwinism. This book is an
jj investigation of all the problems involved by child-protec-
^ tion from the standpoints of the modern socialist movement
^ and of modern social science.
Q My work makes no attempt to be either a " Philosophy
6 of Child-Protection " or a " Handbook of Child-Protection."
For this reason it contains no definitions, it gives no history
of child-protection, and attempts no detailed description of
the institutions which exist for the purpose of child-protection
in the various countries of the civilised world.
In view of the almost incalculable bulk of the materials
available in this field of study, I have been forced to content
myself with a brief indication of my opinions in the various
departments, without endeavouring to go into details. Obvi-
ously, therefore, those in need of detailed information will not
find it in this book. My aim has rather been to effect a
lucid presentation of all the problems of child-protection,
*i4:iJ•U4^^
vi Elements of Child- Protection
than to attempt myself to supply the solution of all these
problems.
If I have been successful in formulating the main prob-
lems of my subject, and if at the same time my discussions
and the data I have supplied, enable the reader to draw his
own conclusions in each case, my aim has been adequately
fulfilled.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface v
GENERAL PART
CHAPTER I
CERTAIN POPULATION PROBLEMS
Child-Protection and the Population Question — Fertility of the Lower
Classes — The Tendency of Evolution 1
CHAPTER II
STATISTICAL PROBLEMS OP POPULATION
Miscarriages, Premature Births, and Still-Births — Mortality — The
Productive Age and the Unproductive Age — Classification of the
Population according to Age — The Excess of Women — Marriage —
Illegitimate Sexual Relations . . . . . . . .11
CHAPTER III
CHILD MORTALITY
Statistical Data — Certain Contributory Causes — The Chief Causes
of Infant Mortality — The Great Number of Children — Child
Mortality in the Towns — The Effect of Housing Conditions —
The Effect of Age^ — Time of Birth, Seasons, and Meteorological
Conditions 17
CHAPTER IV
THE QUALITY OF THE POPULATION ; ARTIFICIAL SELECTION
(eugenics) AND EDUCATION
Natural Selection and Artificial Selection — The Interests of the
Future Generation — Inheritance and Education — Nature of
Education — Character of the Child — Limits of Educability — The
Aim of Education — Good Example — Confidence and Love —
Reward and Punishment — Education by the Parents — Education
in different Social Classes — Parents, School, Environment — The
Tendency of Evolution 25
viii Elements of Child- Protection
CHAPTER V
PROS AND CONS OF CHILD-PROTECTION
PAGB
Introductory — Objections to Child-Protection — Objections to the Care
of Foundlings — Darwinism versus Poor-Relief — Darwinism versus
Child-Protection — The Right View — Socialism versus Poor-Relief
— Socialism versus Child-Protection — The Right View ... 42
CHAPTER VI
THE EXECUTIVE INSTRUMENTS OF CHILD-PROTECTION
Introductory — Local Governing Bodies — The Community at large —
The Central Government — A Unified System of Laws for Child-
Protection — A Centralised Authority for Child-Protection —
Private and Official Activities — The Medical Profession — Women 58
SPECIAL PART
/?.— Department of Civil Law and Individual Rights
CHAPTER I
MARRIAGE AND PARENTAL AUTHORITY
Introductory — Parental Authority and Marriage— History of Mar-
riage— Child-Protection and the Family — Maternal Authority —
Fiduciary Character of Parental Authority — The Elementary
Principles of State Interference with Parental Authority (the
State as " Over-Parent ") 71
CHAPTER II
MARRIAGE AND HEREDITY
Heredity in General — Inheritance of Diseases — Individual Diseases —
The Age of the Parents — The Marriage of Near Kin — Disease in
the Parents from the Legal Standpoint — Divorce — Marriage-
Prohibitions in Past Times — Proposed Reforms — Objections —
The Right View— How to Effect Reforms— The Tendency of
Evolution 77
CHAPTER III
THE PROTECTION OF ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN
The Legal Position of the Illegitimate Child — Reasons for these Legal
Disabilities — Advantages and Disadvantages of Illegitimate Birth
— Abortion, Premature Birth, Still-Birth — Childbirth in Unmar-
Contents ix
PAGE
tied Mothers — Causes of the Great Mortality of Illegitimate
Children — Criminality in the Illegitimate — Illegitimacy and Pro-
stitution— Occupation in Relation to Illegitimacy — The Different
Classens of the Illegitimate — Illegitimacy and Child-Protection —
The Tendency of Evolution — A Radical Reform .... 90
CHAPTER IV
LIMITED POWERS OF MINORS, AND GUARDIANSHIP
Limited Powers of Minors — The Tendency of Evolution — Nature of
Guardianship — Guardianship of Poor Children — Guardianship of
Illegitimate Children — The Defects of Individual Guardianship —
Nature of Official and Institutional Guardianship — Advantages
of Official and Institutional Guardianship — Objections to Collec-
tive and Institutional Guardianship^These Objections Answered
— The Tendency of Evolution — Certain Civil Laws which are of
Importance in Relation to Child-Protection 106
fi.— Department of Local Administrative Activity
CHAPTER I
CHILD-PROTECTION BEFORE, DURING, AND IMMEDIATELY AFTER
BIRTH
Introductory — Before Birth — During Birth — After Birth — The In-
surance of Motherhood — The Tendency of Evolution . . .118
CHAPTER II
INFANT-LIFE PROTECTION
Introductory — Advantages of the Natural Feeding of Infants — His-
tory of Artificial Feeding — Causes of the Failure to Suckle —
Wet-Nurses — Cow's Milk — Other Methods of Artificial Feeding
— Institutional Care of Infants — The Creche — Proposed Reforms
— Radical Solution of the Problem 125
CHAPTER III
THE CARE OF FOUNDLINGS, WET-NURSING, AND BABY-FARMING
Terminology — History of the Care of Foundlings — The Latin System
and the Germanic System^ — Some Modern Methods for the Care of
Foundlings — Foundling Hospitals, Wet-Nursing, and Baby Farms
— Institutional Care versus Family Care — Supervision of Family
Care — Subsidiary Aims of the Care of Foundlings — The Tendency
of Evolution ........... 141
X Elements of Child- Protection
CHAPTER IV
women's labour and child-labour
PAGE
History of Child Labour — Diffusion of Child Labour — The Causes of
Child Labour — Women's Labour — The Consequences of Child
Labour — The Consequences of Women's Labour — Regulation of
Child Labour — Regulation of Women's Labour — Reform of Ap-
prenticeship— Enforcement of such Regulations — Objections to
the Protective Regulation of the Labour of Women and Children
— These Objections Answered — Radical Solution of the Problem —
The Tendency of Evolution 155
CHAPTER V
THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AGAINST DISEASE
Introductory — The Health of Proletarian Children — Causes of the
Movement for the Protection of Proletarian Children — Institu-
tions— Country Holiday Funds and Open-air Schools — Proposed
Reforms — Need for Enlightenment — The Tendency of Evolution 178
CHAPTER VI
THE PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Importance of the Public Elementary School — Methods of Instruc-
tion— The General Obligation of School Attendance — The Purpose
of the Elementary School — Instruction versus Education — Moral
Instruction — General Culture — Individuality — Beauty — Know-
ledge— Science — Home- Work — The Exclusion of certain Children
— Rewards and Punishments — The Constitutional Element —
Parents and the School — Sexual Education — Religious and Moral
Instruction — Physical Education — Manual Training — Prepara-
tory Schools — Supervised Playgrounds for Children (Kinderhorte)
— Increasing Importance of the Public Elementary School — Feed-
ing of School Children — Care of Young Persons after they Leave
School — The Tendency of Evolution 185
C— Department of Criminal Law
CHAPTER I
CRIMINALITY IN YOUTH
Introductory — The Causes of Criminality in Youth — The Classical
Criminal Law — Gradual Transformation of the Classical
Criminal Law — Special Legislation dealing with Youthful
Criminals — Proposals bearing on the Question of Criminal
Responsibility at Different Ages — The Defects of our Present
Penal Methods— The Question of the Capacity for Understanding
the Punishable Character of Criminal Offences — The School —
The Reprimand — Flogging — The Conditional Sentence — The In-
determinate Sentence — Should Punishiuent be rendered more
Severe ? — The Coercive Reformatory Education of Youthful
Criminals — Institutional Education versus Family Education —
Testing Reform — The Radical Solution of the Problem . .217
Contents xi
CHAPTER II
PENAL METHODS
PAGE
Conditions of To-day — Proposed Reforms^Penal Methods in the
United States of America 243
CHAPTER Til
PROSTITUTION
The Causes of Prostitution — Prostitution and Child-Protection . . 249
CHAPTER IV
PUNISHABLE OFFENCES AGAINST CHILDREN
The Two Groups — Infanticide — Abortion — The Protection of Femi-
nine Chastity — Maltreatment of Children — Suggested Reforms . 254
Index 271
ERRATUM
Page 65, line 6, for " wet-nurses " read " midwives."
GENERAL PART
CHAPTER I
CERTAIN POPULATION PROBLEMS
Child-Protection and the Population Question. — In the
struggle for existence among the nations, that nation is the
victor which consists of the greatest number of individuals
best endowed with bodily, mental, and moral health.
No national entity can resist the attacks of others if its
numerical strength is comparatively small. If a contest takes
place between two nations whose numerical strength is approxi-
mately equal, the healthier of the two will gain the victory.
Even in prehistoric times a minimal degree of Child-
Protection was indispensable to tribal existence. To rear
children diminished, indeed, the quantity of wealth avail-
able to maintain the life of the parents, and consequently
rendered even more difficult than before the struggle with
the hostile forces of nature. None the less, it was absolutely
essential to rear a minimal number of children. A sufficient
number of boys must be reared to maintain the ranks of
the warriors needed for the protection of the tribe against
the attacks of its neighbours; and since tribal wars were
unceasing, the number requisite to replace those who fell
in battle was considerable ; girls also must be reared in
numbers sufficient to be the mothers of the required number
of warriors. But it was against the tribal interest that more
children than these should come into the world ; and it was
desirable that superfluous infants should perish.
The most important factors in human evolution are the
quantity and the quality of individual human beings. Until
quite recently it is only upon quantity of population that any
stress has been laid : the quality of the population has been
ignored ; being either taken for granted, or regarded as de-
pendent upon chance conditions. The problems of population
4 Elements of Child- Protection
were not recognised as quantitative and qualitative, but were
believed to be quantitative merely. Both Socialism and
Child-Protection have intimate associations alike with the
quantitative and with the qualitative problems of population.
Both Socialism and Child-Protection exert a powerful in-
fluence upon the quantity and the quality of human beings ;
and conversely these latter react no less powerfully upon
Socialism and Child-Protection.
The leading aim of Child-Protection is to prevent the
death of children before they attain an age at which they
become competent to contribute directly to the welfare of
society. The next most important aim of Child -Protection
is to ensure that the individual whose life has been preserved
shall not become useless or dangerous to society. These lead-
ing aims may be pithily summarised in the following terms :
^ , )" the prevention of a high mortality-rate," and " the preven-
' tion of a high criminality-rate." The main factor of a high
mortality-rate is excessive mortality in childhood; and the
main factor of a high criminality-rate is excessive criminality
in childhood. (The rate of mortality affects the quantitative
element, and the rate of criminality affects the qualitative
element, of the race.)
In the course of human racial history certain sentiments
make their appearance (parental love, altruism, and humanism),
in consequence of which, even among nations to which the
fear of a declining population is no longer known, actions
endangering the health or the life of children come to be
regarded as immoral and punishable ; these sentiments sub-
sequently constitute the main foundations of Child-Protection.
But a recognition of the expediency of Child-Protection, and
a desire to increase the population, have also at all times
exercised a very great influence upon the degree to which
methods of Child- Protection have been adopted and enforced.
In any community in which an increase in numbers would
involve over-population, an individual has, ceteris ■paribus, less
value than in a community in which no such risk has to be
considered ; for this reason, in the latter community, more
stress will be laid upon Child-Protection than in the former
community.
Certain Population Problems 5
The following examples will show that this reasoning is
sound. As a result of the wide acceptance of the " mercantile
theory " of political economy, inasmuch as this theory laid
much stress upon the importance of an increase in popula-
tion, the care of foundlings came to receive much more
attention, even in Protestant countries. Moreover, though
it is an indisputable fact that the fierce attack made by
Malthus, in his widely celebrated work on Tlie Principles of
Population, upon the Foundling Hospitals of his day, was
directed especially against the fact that these institutions
received children quite unconditionally, yet it is also perfectly
true that Malthus's views regarding Foundling Hospitals
harmonise perfectly with his ideas as to the possibilities and
dangers of over-population. Although some authors main-
tain that the connection we have pointed out obtains only
among comparatively uncivilised peoples, and that as civilisa-
tion progresses, sentiment alone is decisive in forming our
views in the matter of Child-Protection, those who advance
such a contention may be referred to the example of modern
France.
The following conception is dominant in France. It is
sad but true that the number of bu'ths hardly shows any
excess over the number of deaths — nay, that in certain years
the births are fewer than the deaths ; hence it happens that
the population of the other states of Europe increases much
more rapidly than the population of France. It is essential
that something should be done to counteract this difference,
by which the position of France as one of the great Powers
of Europe may ultimately be endangered. Since all the laws
and regulations which have been instituted with a view to
increasing the birth-rate have remained fruitless, some new
method must be found of bringing about a more marked
excess of births over deaths. Since excessive mortality among
children is the principal cause of a high death-rate, the State
and the community must take all the steps in their power
to reduce child mortality to a minimum.
Fertility of the Lower Classes. — In the civilised countries
of twentieth-century Europe, the mean birth-rate is about
thirty ; that is, for every thousand inhabitants, there are
6 Elements of Child- Protection
thirty births each year ; France is far below this mean, with
a birth-rate of twenty-one, and Russia far above, with a birth-
rate of about forty-nine. In the country districts, fertility
and the birth-rate are greater than in the towns. Transient
variations in the birth-rate depend upon various disturbing
factors, such as war, civil disorders, and rise in the prices of
the necessaries of life.
The lower the type of life, the greater is the insecurity
of existence ; and it is necessary that this should be counter-
balanced by greater vigour of the forces of reproduction,
and a consequent increase in the number of the offspring.
Thus differences between the different species have a great
influence upon the procreativeness of these species, so that
there is a direct causal connection between the quality of
a species and the number of the individuals of which it is
made up. But it remains in dispute whether the rise (or
fall) in the quantity, directly gives rise to a decline (or
increase) in the quality ; whether, within the limits of an
individual species, the quantitative differences between the in-
dividuals making up that species are of importance ; whether,
within the limits of a single species, the individual members
are more fertile in proportion as they stand at a lower level
in development ; and, finally, whether the fertility of the in-
dividuals of any species diminishes as the species advances
in its evolution.
As regards the fertility of the human species, the decisive
influences are not physiological, but social. The view that
higher brain development or prolonged intellectual activity
restricts fertility has been rightly contested. Undoubtedly,
powerful intellectual activity tends to inhibit the sexual
impulse, but this is no less true of great physical exertions.
The causes of the high birth-rate among the lower classes of
the population are the following : —
(a) Members of the proletariat have to marry earlier in
life than those belonging to the middle and the upper
classes.
(&) A smaller proportion of the proletariat suffers from
venereal infection.
(c) Owing to the overcrowded condition of their dwellings,
Certain Population Pj'oblems 7
those belonging to tlie poorer classes find it far more difficult
to observe " prudential restraint."
{d) The poor make less use than the well-to-do of positive
methods for the prevention of conception.
(e) To those belonging to the poorer classes, to have
children is often economically advantageous. A child can
help in the work of the household, and can early engage
in some occupation enabling it to contribute towards the
expenses. On the other hand, in the case of the compara-
tively well-to-do, a large family involves the risk of a depres-
sion in the standard of life.
(/) Women of the middle and upper classes are far
more afraid than working-class women of pregnancy and
childbirth. They actually suffer more from these eventu-
alities, because their sheltered life makes them weaker and
more susceptible ; in many cases also they shirk motherhood
because they think that pregnancy will interfere with their
" social duties."
An excessive number of conceptions, pregnancies, and
deliveries is harmful, not merely from the outlook of the
domestic economist, but also from that of the political
economist. If the aim of the State is to secure a population
which is not merely numerous, but also of good quality, care
must be taken that the number of conceptions, pregnancies,
and deliveries shall not be unduly great ; for when the
number of births is exceedingly large, it is very likely that
the number of those to attain maturity will actually be less
than if the birth-rate had been lower.
We have to take into consideration, not only the dif-
ference between the birth-rate and the death-rate, but also
the important matter of the actual number of births and
deaths. Although in any two cases the terminal results may
be identical, it is a matter of grave economic moment how
the figures are comprised by which these identical results are
attained. If, to effect a certain increase in population, a
comparatively large number of births and deaths has been
requisite, there has been an enormous waste of time, energy,
and wealth.
The large families of the proletariat provide a greater
8 Elements of Child-Protection
supply of labour, and this leads to a fall in wages. Because
wages are lower, there results, in turn, an increase in the
birth-rate. The great number of conceptions among the
proletariat interferes with the effective working of selective
forces — an evil which every unprejudiced thinker must deplore,
and must endeavour to remedy to the utmost of his ability.
The most important means available for this purpose are :
first, a rise in wages, and, secondly, the use by the proletariat
of positive methods to restrict or prevent procreation.
Parents should procreate so many children only as they
are in a position to maintain and educate in a suitable manner ;
it is obvious, therefore, that working-class families should be
comparatively small. Yet to-day we see the exact opposite.
Only among the well-to-do and the more intelligent sections
of the population do we find that these principles are
carried into effect. The tragic consequence is that the more
prosperous and the comparatively intelligent procreate very
few children, the very reverse of what is desirable. Rich
people are in a position to have many children, and have but
few ; working-class parents, on the other hand, ought to have
but few children, and they have a great many. If the weekly
wage-earners were more prosperous and more intelligent, they
would be in a position to have more children, but they would,
in fact, have fewer in that case.
Tlie Tendency of Evolution. — During the last quarter of
the nineteenth century, a decline in the birth-rate set in in
every civilised country in Europe, notwithstanding the fact
that in all these countries the proletariat constitutes an ever-
increasing proportion of the total population. The probable
causes of this decline are : first, women's dread of pregnancy,
of childbirth, and of rearing children, and, secondly, pelvic
contraction (?).
The death-rate is harder to control than the birth-rate.
For the birth-rate is influenced to a far greater extent by
factors which are under individual control ; whereas, in the
case of the death-rate, great natural forces are the chief
determinants. Death comes to every one, whether his parents
and other relatives desire it or not, but those only are born
whose parents desire it. In this matter of the population
Certain Population Problems 9
problem, well-considered action will be directed where a
result may be obtained with comparative ease. By this it is
not meant to imply that the campaign against excessive
mortality is to be altogether neglected ; but rather that the
campaign against an excessively high birth-rate demands
more attention than it has hitherto received.
The tendency of evolution to-day is to effect a decline in
the birth-rate. In the future far more attention will be paid,
than has been paid in the past, to the demand of social
hygiene that potential parents shall be careful to procreate
healthy children only. On the other hand, the knowledge
that will enable parents to prevent undesired conceptions will
become more and more widely diffused. -In times to come, an
ever-increasing proportion of pregnancies will be deliberately
willed.-^
The decline in the birth-rate will necessarily result in a
decline in the death-rate, and more especially in a decline in
the death-rate of infants and children. Ultimately, we shall
see a decline, not merely in the birth-rate and the death-rate,
but also in the difference between the total number of the
births and of the deaths. It is beyond dispute that these
figures are tending to become less variable and more constant
than they were in former times.
CHAPTER II
STATISTICAL PROBLEMS OF POPULATION
Miscarriages, Premature Births, and Still-Births. — The stat-
istical data regarding miscarriages, premature births, and still-
births are somewhat untrustworthy. There is no general
agreement as to the precise signification of these terms among
the medical practitioners, coroners, and registrars of any one
country — not to speak of differences in these matters in
different countries ; and this difficulty applies above all to
the matter of still-births. In some countries, children dying
during the act of birth or within a few hours after birth are
regarded as born alive, but in others as still-born. When we
are comparing the birth-rate and the death-rate in different
countries, these causes of error must not be forgotten.
In the twentieth century, in the civilised countries of
Europe, the premature births vary between 5 and 9 per cent.,
and the still-births between 3 and 4 per cent., of all births.
For every 100 still-born girls there are approximately 130
still-born boys. Among the lower classes of the population,
still-births are more frequent than among the upper classes.
Within the same class, such births are more frequent among
those living in unfavourable conditions than among those
more favourably situated ; and in manufacturing towns they
are more frequent than in agricultural districts. The pro-
portion is affected by the age of the mother, and still-births
are at a minimum among mothers at ages from 20 to 25 years.
In the course of time, notwithstanding the gigantic develop-
ment of manufacturing industry, and in spite of the more
accurate registration of still-births, the proportion of such
births has diminished ; the principal reason for this is the
advance in medical science.
Mortality. — In the civilised countries of Europe the death-
12 Elements of Child- Protection
rate in the twentieth century varies between 15 and 32 per
mille. Amonsr the chief causes of transient variations in the
death-rate are : war, civil disorders, and rise in prices. A rise
in the price of the necessaries of life affects the lower classes
of the population more especially, but its influence upon the
general death-rate is trifling. Death-rate varies in accordance
with occupation. The lower classes have a higher death-rate
than the upper ; the weekly wage-earners have a higher death-
rate than the rest of the population ; and mortality is greater
in the towns than it is in the country. Of late years, there
has been a gradual decline in the death-rate, the decline in
the towns being proportionately greater than the decline in the
country districts ; in this case also the decline must be attri-
buted mainly to the advance in medical science.
The Productive Age and the Unproductive Age. — The dis-
tinction of the productive age from the unproductive age is
a matter of great importance. The former extends from the
age of 1 5 to the age of 6 5 ; the latter, the unproductive age,
comprises the years before the age of 15 and those after the
age of 65. Certain other classifications of the population,
such as the distinction of those of an age for school-attendance
from those at other ages (those of the former age comprising
about one-sixth of the population), and the distinction between
youthful and adult criminals, are of no interest in relation to
our special inquiry.
Classification of the Population according to Age. — In the
civilised countries of modern Europe, persons at ages of 0 to
10 comprise about 24 per cent, of the population; those at
ages 10 to 20 comprise about 20 per cent. ; and those at ages
20 to 30 comprise about 16 per cent, of the population.
Those under the age of 15 years comprise about 30 per cent,
of the population, each year of life corresponding to from
2 to 3 per cent. ; infants (those under 1 year) making up 3
per cent., and each year of life after that only a little more
than 2 per cent. At all ages under 15 the boys are more
numerous than the girls.
The age-pyramid of the population has a form which
depends upon the birth-rate. When the birth-rate is higher,
or the excess of births over deaths greater, the base of the
Statistical Problems of Population 1 3
pyramid is comparatively wide. Thus, in the majority of the
civiHsed states of Europe, about 3 0 per cent, of the population
consists of those under 1 5 years of age ; but in France, where
the birth-rate is exceptionally low, those under 15 years of
age comprise a much smaller proportion of the total population.
In the country districts, the age -class of the children and
the age-class of the old both contain proportionately larger
numbers than the same age-classes in the towns. In the
large towns and the manufacturing districts, there is an
especially large proportion of persons of about 20 years of age.
There are three reasons for this : first, the birth-rate is higher
in the country districts ; secondly, there is a drift from the
country to the towns of persons of an age to earn a living;
and, thirdly, a proportion of those who have grown old in the
towns find their way back to the country.
The Excess of Women. — All the civilised countries of
twentieth-century Europe contain more women than men.
For every 1000 males there are invariably more than 1000
females. The excess of females is not usually greater than
5 per cent. Only in certain uncivilised countries of Europe
do we find no excess of females. Whether we compare the
total female population with the total male population, or
compare only males and females of a marriageable age, the
result is the same ; the females are always in excess. Even
in those countries in which women are comparatively less
numerous, we still find an excess of women of a marriageable
age.
This excess of women depends upon the following causes : —
In civihsed countries more boys are born than girls. The
average excess of male births over females is 106 : 100. (In
the case of illegitimate children, the excess of male births
is not so great as in the case of legitimate children.) But in
males the death-rate is much higher than it is in females.
Especially high is the death-rate among male infants (in the
first year of life), and among males during the ages at which
they are competent to earn a livelihood. The reason given
for the higher mortality of male infants is that their powers
of resistance are inferior to those of female infants ; during
the productive years of life the death-rate of males is higher
14 Elements of Child- Protection
because, on the one hand, they have a far greater mortality
than women from diseases of occupation, and, on the other
hand, during this period of life males suffer far more than
females from the effects of alcoholism, of criminality, and of
various other factors exercising an unfavourable influence upon
their death-rate.
Thus the excess of women is closely associated with that
peculiarity of the modern system of production in virtue of
which far more men than women are engaged in the work
of production. This is obvious from the consideration that
the death-rate of wage-earning women is higher than that of
other women, and from the consideration that in great towns
the ratio between the death-rates of the respective sexes is
very different from what it is in the country districts. The
excess of women is one of the causes of the failure of so many
women to marry, of the birth of so many illegitimate children,
of the wide diffusion of prostitution, &c. But it would be quite
erroneous to attribute these various phenomena of our sexual
life exclusively to the prevalent excess of women.
If in any country we desire to diminish the excess of
women, it is necessary not merely to lessen the emigration
of males, but also to diminish the death-rate of male children.
This may be effected by reducing infant and child mortality in
general, for measures that accomplish this reduction will lower
the death-rate of boys to a greater extent than the death-rate
of girls ; for the higher the death-rate the greater the effect
we can produce by measures effecting its diminution. Hence
child-protection, the principal means for the diminution of
infant and child mortality, is not only an important part of
our campaign against the excessive mortality of male children,
but will tend to redress the existing numerical inequality
between the sexes, and thus to ameliorate the conditions of
our social life.
The regulation of the birth of boys and girls (the deter-
mination of sex) would be an important means for the
restoration of a proper numerical balance between the sexes,
and would therefore be of value, not merely to interested
individuals, but also to society at large. Unfortunately, con-
temporary science is not even in a position to ascertain the
Statistical Proble^ns of Population 1 5
sex of the infant before birth ; and still less are we in possession
of such a knowledge of the determinants of sex as might
enable us to procreate boys or girls at will. Should the
astounding advance in medical science eventuate in the solu-
tion of this problem, it will then be in our power to restore
the proper numerical balance of the sexes.
Marriage. — In the civilised countries of modern Europe
the number of marriages per 1000 inhabitants of all ages is
from 6 to 8 ; whilst for every 1000 inhabitants of a marriage-
able age the annual marriage rate is 50. Of 1000 men over
15 years of age from 400 to 700 are married, whilst of 1000
women over 15 years of age from 440 to 640 are married.
A high marriage-rate is not ftr se either a favourable or an
unfavourable manifestation; it is dependent upon economic
conditions, and transient variations in the marriage-rate arise
from the favourable or unfavourable economic conditions of
the year in which these variations occur.
In consequence of the enormous development of the
manufacturing industries, there has been a great increase in
the numbers of those engaged in these industries ; a large
proportion of farm servants has been transformed into wage-
earners of the towns. Since men of this latter class commonly
marry young, whereas a comparatively small proportion of
farm-servants marries, an increase in the marriage-rate has
been noticeable during the latter half of the nineteenth cen-
tury. But since the beginning of the present century a decline
in the marriage-rate has become perceptible, and the causes
of this decline are more difficult to ascertain. During the
nineteenth century the divorce-rate underwent a continuous
increase. The divorce-rate is higher in towns than in the
country, and higher in thickly populated than in thinly popu-
lated countries.
Illegitimate Sexual Relations. — Except as regards the birth of
illegitimate children, the only statistical data available regard-
ing illegitimate sexual relations are those which have been
obtained by private inquiries. The following are the most
important statistics bearing on this question. The annual
number of illegitimate births in Europe exceeds 600,000.
In most European countries the illegitimate births constitute
1 6 Elements of Child- Protection
from 8 to 9 per cent, of the total births, and in every large
country in Europe the illegitimate number several millions.
From privately collected statistics we learn that in all civilised
countries the great majority of unmarried mothers belong to
the working classes and to the class of domestic servants; in
many countries more than 80 per cent, of unmarried mothers
may be thus classified. If from the number of illegitimate
children we wish to deduce the probable number of unmarried
mothers, we have always to bear in mind the fact that an
unmarried mother commonly has one child only, whilst married
women have on the average from three to four children. We
learn from private statistics that of the fathers of illegitimate
children not more than about 45 per cent, belong to the
proletariat.
The relationship between the number of illegitimate births,
on the one hand, and the number of legitimate births and the
number of marriages, on the other, is, on one view, the follow-
ing. The greater the number of marriages, the smaller will
be the number of illegitimate births ; the greater the average
age at marriage, the greater also will be the number of illegiti-
mate births. It is, indeed, extremely probable that a high
marriage-rate leads to a low illegitimate birth-rate, and con-
versely ; but we are not justified in regarding such a causal
sequence as unquestionable. Variations in the marriage-rate
and in the illegitimate birth-rate may be the joint consequences
of other common factors.
CHAPTER III
CHILD MORTALITY
Statistical Data. — The statistics relating to child mortality
are in an exceptionally well-developed state, and no unpre-
judiced student of sociology can afford to ignore them. The
literature of child mortality contains a number of extremely
important and thoroughly trustworthy works ; the reason for
this may be that, in comparison with other difficult problems
of population, the study of questions of child mortality is
easier, because various disturbing influences which complicate
adult death-rates have no bearing upon child mortality.
Even simpler is the question of infant mortality. ^ In
computations dealing with this matter it is not necessary to
make use of the figures of the general census, for the calcula-
tions are based simply upon the recorded births and deaths.
The calendar year in which the birth took place does not
come directly into the question at all. AVhat we record is
the rate per thousand at which, in or during a particular
year, say 1909, infants have died before attaining the end of
the first year of their life ; some of these will have been born
in the year 1909, others, of course, in the year 1908.
Nearly 30 per cent, of all deaths are infant deaths;
about 1 0 per cent, of all deaths are those of children of ages
one to five years; about 50 per cent, of all deaths are those
of children from birth to fifteen years. The least dangerous
section of human life is between the ages of ten and fifteen
years. Child mortality, extremely heavy during the year of
infancy, diminishes greatly after the completion of the first
^ In this work the term infant is used to denote all children under one year
of age ; where reference has to be made to infancy in the legal sense of a person
under twenty-one years of age, the term i7ifant-at-la2v or minor will be employed-
— Translatok.
'' B
1 8 Elements of Child- Protection
year, and diminislies enormously after the completion of the
fifth year. In the civilised countries of Europe, at the end of
the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century,
of every 1000 infants, from 100 to 300 die, on the average,
every year. The attainable minimum of infant mortality,
under conditions practically realisable to-day, may be regarded
as about 70 per 1000, In families in which exceptionally
favourable conditions prevail, the infant mortality rate is even
lower than the figure just stated ; in the families of the
higher aristocracy and among the royal houses it is as low
as one-half, and even as low as one-third, of this " practicable
minimum " of 70 per 1000.
Since the middle of the eighteenth century there has,
in nearly all the countries of Europe, been a decline in
infant mortality, in the case alike of boys and of girls ; this
fall in the infantile death-rate is greater than the fall in
the general death-rate. Although the data available justify
this general statement, it is necessary to point out that
authentic statistical data bearing on the question exist only
in the case of small and isolated areas, such as individual
towns ; national registration of such particulars is of much
more recent date than the middle of the eighteenth century.
Certain Contributory Causes. — The influence upon infant
mortality of certain causes commonly regarded as important is
in fact small. Statistical data prove beyond dispute that local
and climatic factors exercise no direct influence at all upon
the infantile death-rate; such influence as these factors do
exercise is an indirect one, operating through the effect which
climate and locality may have upon social conditions. The
same qualification applies to the influence of race and of
religion upon infant mortality. There are differences in the
infantile death-rates as between Teutons and Slavs, and as
between Christians and Jews; but these differences are in no way
directly dependent upon the difl'erences in race or in religion,
and they must be ascribed to the differences in social condi-
tions. Fertility is well known to exert a decisive influence
upon infant mortality ; but variations in fertility are not the
direct effect of any differences in race or creed ; they are a
consequence of the varying social conditions in which those of
Child Mortality 1 9
the respective races or creeds actually live. Thus it is only
in certain social conditions that Slavs are more fertile than
Teutons, and Jews more fertile than Christians. The con-
stitution of the parents exercises a considerable influence upon
infant mortality; but the parental constitution must be
regarded as largely dependent upon the social environment
in which the parents themselves have grown to maturity.
The Chief Causes of Infant Mortality. — Among the com-
monly enumerated conditions affecting infant mortality the
following are conspicuous : the proportion of infants reared by
artificial feeding instead of being suckled ; work for wages by
the mothers of infants ; the general intelligence of the lower
classes of the population, and their knowledge of the care
and management of infants ; the general state of the public
health, including such conditions as the degree to which the
general population is enabled to avail itself of the medical
knowledge of our time (in all the countries claiming to be
" civilised," bald official statistics prove beyond dispute that a
large proportion of the children dying before attaining the
age of one year die without having ever received any medical
treatment whatever) ; the number of illegitimate births, &c.
But all these conditions are in essence nothing more than
social conditions. Thus we are practically justified in saying
that the determining factors of infant mortality are social
conditions and nothing else. With striking unanimity, those
who have made a special study of this question formulate the
conclusions summarised in the following paragraph.
The infantile death-rate is higher among the lower classes
than it is among the upper. Within the limits of those
making up what are termed " the lower classes," the infantile
death-rate is higher in proportion as the social conditions are
unfavourable. The figure attained by the infantile death-rate
depends above all upon the social circumstances and the
earning capacity of the parents. Inasmuch as an infant
does not possess the faculty of spontaneous change of place
or of other spontaneous activity, since it is unable even to
express its needs in an intelligible manner, its fate depends
upon the soil in which it grows — its very life depends upon its
environment. Such, from the social standpoint, is the essen-
20 Elements of Child-Protection
tial characteristic of the age of infancy. The infant born of
well-to-do parents has better chances of life than the infant
born of poor parents, for the former lives in more favourable
circumstances, and receives in every respect a better upbring-
ing. It is a demonstrable fact that most children that die
succumb, not from inherited weakness, but owing to the errors
and defects of their upbringing.
The materials available in proof of this proposition are
ample and incontrovertible. Whatever the place, the time,
and the other conditions submitted to investigation, and
whether the investigated materials be large or small, we are
led invariably to the same conclusions. In the bourgeois
(middle and upper) classes, only 8 per cent, of the children
die during the first year of life, but among the proletariat
the infantile death-rate is 30 per cent. Even more signifi-
cant, if possible, are the following facts. The infantile death-
rate is higher among illiterate wage-earners than it is among
literate wage-earners ; it is higher among casual labourers
than it is amongst wage-earners permanently occupied. In
the strata of the population above the manual workers, we
find that the infantile death-rate is lower as we pass from
strata in which social conditions are comparatively bad to
strata in which they are comparatively good. The infantile
death-rate and the income of the parents vary in inverse
ratio. The differences in the infantile death-rate as we pass
from the poorer quarters of our towns to the richer quarters
tell always the same tale.
The Great Niiinher of Children. — The chief cause of high
infant mortality and of high child mortality among the lower
strata of the population is the great size of their families.
The number of conceptions, pregnancies, and births varies
directly as the infantile death-rate. If out of a certain limited
income more children have to be maintained, the share of
each in the commodities purchasable out of that income
necessarily diminishes. The income of the manual worker is
so small that, even if his famil}^ is quite a small one, it is
exceedingly diiiicult for him to provide out of that income
what he and his wife and children need for the satisfaction of
elementary vital needs. With every additional child comes a
Child Mortality 21
further limitation of supplies for each individual member of
the family. Not only does this have a directly unfavourable
influence upon health, inasmuch as each child receives a
smaller share of dwelling-room, food, &c. In addition, as
more and more children are born, the worth of the individual
child in the eyes of the parents diminishes.
The mother's health is apt to suffer from the rapid succes-
sion of conceptions, pregnancies, and deliveries. For various
reasons this is disadvantageous to the children. A woman
thus affected will subsequently bring more weakly children
into the world ; the mother whose health is poor is unable
to give as much time and pains to the rearing of her children
as she would if she were well and strong ; many women whose
health has been broken by unduly frequent pregnancies die
during a subsequent pregnancy or delivery.
But may it not be that the relationship between a large
number of births and a high infantile death-rate is the reverse
of that which we have suggested ? Is it not possible that the
great mortality among children may be the cause of an increase
in the number of conceptions, pregnancies, and births ? It is
true that certain purely psychological factors may contribute
to such a causal sequence. To a certain degree a high infan-
tile death-rate has such an effect. For if a woman gives birth
to a diseased or a still-born child, or if one of her children
dies, the parents are more likely than would otherwise be the
case to desire to have another child, and the wife will be more
ready to undertake the troubles of another pregnancy and the
risks of another delivery.
The most important means for the diminution of child
mortality is to improve the conditions of working-class life.
It is indisputable that the more prosperous members of the
working class have fewer children on the average than those
who are not so well off; that in any region in which an
improvement has taken place in the conditions of working-
class life a fall in the birth-rate has ensued ; that the poorer
the condition of any stratum of the proletariat, the larger is
the average family. An increase in the average working-class
income will lead to a proportionately greater decline in the
death-rate of infants and young children. For this increase
2 2 Elements of Child- Protection
in income will operate in two ways : in tlie first place, if the
number of children remain the same, the rise in income will
ensure for each child a larger share of the necessaries of life ;
and, in the second place, with the rise in income the size of
the average family will diminish, and this will reduce the
child mortality. Inasmuch as the height of the infantile
death-rate depends mainly upon the great infant mortality
among the lower strata of the population, every effort at
reform in this direction must begin at the lower end of the
social scale.
Child Mortality in the Toions. — A connection appears to
exist between density of population and the death-rate : if the
other conditions remain unchanged, the death-rate increases
pari passu with increasing density of population. The question
whether in the towns child mortality is higher than in the
country districts has not yet been decisively answered ; and it
is equally uncertain whether from the hygienic standpoint the
existing rural conditions are better than the urban. It appears
probable that child mortality is higher in the towns than in
the country districts ; it is more doubtful, however, if the
same can be said of infant mortality. The statistical data
available on this question must be subjected to a stringent
critical examination. The infant mortality which truly belongs
to the towns appears smaller than it really is, for the reason
that a proportion of the infants born in the towns are placed
in the care of foster-parents living in the country, and some of
these die in the country. It is equally true that many people
from the country die in hospitals and other institutions in
the towns ; but this applies much more to adults than to
children.
The proletariat constitutes a large majority of the inhabi-
tants of the urban districts; the proportion of artificially
reared children is greater than in the countr}^ the housing
conditions are less favourable, there is less opportunity for
open-air life, venereal diseases are more prevalent, and fertility
is lower. But against these considerations we must set the
fact that the urban population is more intelligent, and for
this reason better understands the various methods of artificial
feeding of infants ; the fact that charitable institutions are more
Child Mortality 23
effective in the towns, and the fact that in the towns better
hygienic conditions prevail. The sanitary improvement of the
towns by better cleansing of the streets, an improved water
supply, better methods of disposing of sewage and refuse, &c.,
has led to a reduction not merely of the general urban death-
rate, but also of the infantile urban death-rate ; whereas in
the country districts these rates have remained stationary, or
have even undergone an increase. In wealthy towns the
death-rate is lower than in poor towns; like differences are
observed as between the rich and the poor quarters of one
and the same town. Wealth has so marked an influence in
lowering infant mortality that in the wealthy villa quarters of
large towns the infantile death-rate may be as low as from 10
to 20 per mille.
The Effect of Housing Conditions. — The infantile death-rate
is very closely connected with the character of the housing
conditions. The rate of infant mortality in any particular
dwelling varies directly with the number of inhabitants, and
varies inversely with the number of rooms available per family.
Those living in the upper stories of tenement houses have a
higher death-rate than infants living in lower stories and base-
ments. This influence of bad housing conditions in producing
a rise in the infantile death-rate is only to be expected. The
habitation exercises its influence upon the infant by day and
by night, and through every detail of the infant's life. To
give one instance, there is an intimate connection between the
quality of the dwelling and the quality of the infant's food ;
in a suitable dwelling milk may be more readily kept cool,
preserved from contamination, sterilised, &c.
The Effect of Age. — The degree to which bad conditions
of life endanger health varies inversely with the age. The
maximum danger to health from such conditions is incurred
by infants. The younger the infant the greater the danger
that bad conditions will prove fatal ; and most of the environ-
mental factors unfavourable to the maintenance of infant life
come into operation immediately after birth. The younger the
infant, the less resistant it is to external influences. Therefore
the younger the infant, the more carefully does it need to be
watched and safeguarded. Physicians and statisticians lay
24 Elements of Child- Protection
great stress upon the degree to which the infant's chances of
life depend upon its age in days and months.
Time of Birth, Seasons, and Meteorological Conditions. — Is it
possible to demonstrate the existence of any connection between
the time of birth and the temporal variations in the infantile
death-rate ? In the months in which the number of births is
high, the infantile death-rate is probably also higher than at
other times. This is true more especially of the very cold
months, when infants cannot be taken freely into the open
air ; it is true also of the very hot months. It is well known
that the annual curve of births exhibits two notable elevations
— one in February and March, and the other in September ;
this depends on the fact that most conceptions take place, on
the one hand, in the spring-time — that is, at the time of the
general awakening of nature ; and, on the other hand, in
December, w^hen nature reposes, and agricultural labours are
at a standstill. But owing to the fact that the factors
influencing infant mortality are so numerous and variable,
it is not possible to demonstrate any definite relationship
between the times of maximum births and the times of
maximal infantile death-rate.
The seasons and the meteorological conditions exert an
influence upon infant mortality through the intermediation
of their effect upon various social conditions. The infantile
death-rate is highest during the summer, the rate in the
months of July, August, and September greatly exceeding
that in the other months of the year. During the hot season,
contaminated and decomposing milk gives rise to fatal illness
on all sides. When we compare different years, we find that
the height of the infantile death-rate varies directly with the
heat of the summer. This influence of the hot season is
exerted almost exclusively upon artificially reared infants, and
especially on those in whom the technique of artificial feeding
is improper. It is an established fact that the children of the
well-to-do largely escape a similar fate, simply because that in
their case it is possible to keep the milk artificially cool, and
to prepare it more carefully in other ways.
< :
CHAPTER IV
THE QUALITY OF THE POPULATION; ARTIFICIAL
SELECTION (EUGENICS) AND EDUCATION
Natural Selection and Artificial Selection. — The selective
method practised by Nature works by means of the pro-
creation of millions of individuals, and by the subsequent
elimination of those individuals which are imperfectly or not
at all adapted to their environing conditions ; that is to say,
natural selection operates repressively or destructively. Arti-
ficial selection, on the other hand, aims at preventing the
procreation of individuals inadequately adapted to their en-
vironment ; it deliberately eliminates those elements which
are useless to society, or which can be utilised by society
only at excessive cost : thus artificial selection is a preventive
method.
Natural selection is cruel and uneconomic. As far as the
human species is concerned, natural selection is not essential
to our advance towards perfection ; it is even to a considerable
extent superfluous. In the case of humanity, racial improve-
ment remains possible even in the absence of a relationship
between the numbers of the species and the available means
of subsistence so unfavourable as to necessitate a fierce strugsfle
for existence. In the earlier stages of human evolution, such
an unfavourable relationship between the numerical strength
of the species and the supply of the means of subsistence was
perhaps a cause of racial advance ; but to-day such a relation-
ship would be nothing but a hindrance to progress. For the
human species to-day, the significance of natural selection is
historical merely ; the future belongs to artificial selection.
The device for humanity must be, " Not Natural Selection, but
Artificial Selection — Eugenics ! "
The Interests of the Future Generation. — The attitude of our
25
26 Elements of Child- Protection
present legal system towards actions likely to be injurious
to the interests of future generations is a quite erroneous
one. We concern ourselves solely with the interests of the
contemporary generation ; the interests of future generations
are left entirely to chance ; it is perfectly obvious that when-
ever a conflict of interests arises, the well-being of our
descendants is unhesitatingly sacrificed. In our present laws
it is difficult to point to a single provision for the pro-
tection of subsequent generations against the result of the
sexual irrationality and the excessive sexual egoism of our
contemporaries.
Bodily injury of one human being by another is a punish-
able offence. "But the man affected with alcoholism or
syphilis who procreates a child incurs no punishment what-
ever, although the consequences of the latter's action are far
more serious. To-day hardly any attention is paid to the
question of what qualities are desirable in the parents in order
to ensure the procreation of offspring well equipped for a
happy and useful life. In the breeding of plants and animals,
definite rules are followed, in order to secure the progressive
improvement of the species concerned. But who trouble
themselves about conscious selection for the improvement of
the human species ?
The view will ultimately prevail that the strong only are of
value to society, and that every weak member of the community
involves a definite social loss. It will be generally understood
that large families are not advantageous, inasmuch as it is
not quantity but quality that really matters. The day will
come in which fatherhood and motherhood will be permitted
only to the strong, and in which every endeavour will be
made to prevent the birth of diseased and weakly individuals.
As far as the " protection " of a great many children is con-
cerned, the method that will be adopted will be to prevent
their ever coming into the world. In the future, we shall
know better than we know to-day which children are com-
petent to grow up into useful members of society ; and those
buds which fail to attain this standard will be pruned away.
Beyond question, it will not be long before it will be
generally understood that the proper application of eugenist
The Quality of the Population 27
principles to the human species will be secured, not so much
by coercion, as by enlightenment. But for this very reason
it will become of enormous importance to popularise the
elements of educational science and of the hygiene of child-
hood, to effect the sexual enlightenment of children and of
adults, and to secure the diffusion of sound ethical ideas. It
will be taught that actions injurious to the interests of future
generations are immoral, and some of them will even be made
punishable offences. Steps will also be taken to ensure as far
as possible that only those individuals shall marry whose
offspring may be expected to be healthy.
In regard to all these problems, the acquirements of
medical science are of enormous importance ; for it is upon
the acquirements of positive science that legislation dealing
with such matters must be based. Unfortunately, however,
the medical science of our o^vn day is not always in a position
to give a decisive and satisfactory answer in respect of the
various problems just stated ; and suitable legislation on these
matters must be deferred to the future, when guidance may
be anticipated from the inevitable progress of medical
science.
Inheritance and Eclucatio7i. — In human beings, as in other
animals, an improvement in the inborn capacities is possible.
At the present time we are content to take children as we find
them, and we simply endeavour by education to make every
child into a useful member of society. But only through
influences affecting hereditary qualities can the material of
future generations be improved, and a humanity be brought into
being better equipped than we are for the tasks of civilisation.
Enduring human progress can be effected only by the simul-
taneous study and application of the laws both of education
and of heredity. As by selection the hereditary equipment is
improved, the limits of what is attainable by means of educa-
tion will also be extended.
Even to-day, heredity and education commonly co-operate
in the same direction, for in most cases the two influences are
exercised by the same personalities. Parents of fine quality
tend to procreate children of like quality, and also to give these
same children an exceptionally good upbringing ; contrariwise.
28 Elements of Child-Protection
degenerate parents tend to procreate degenerate children, and
to bring them up badly.
Nahire of Education. — The inherited character of human
bemgs is not a unitary whole, but consists of different parts.
Unless this were so, man would speedily succumb in the
struggle for existence; for it depends upon the circum-
stances in which he finds himself, which parts of his
inherited character undergo a necessary development. Just
as nature brings into existence an enormous number of
living beings, and then, by the mechanism of the struggle
for existence, selects for survival those individuals which are
best adapted to the environmental conditions, so in the
inherited human character there exist available for the
influences of education thousands of rudimentary capacities,
and it is the particular environmental conditions which deter-
mine which of these capacities are cultivated and developed,
and which are allowed to undergo atrophy.
Among these environmental conditions are the deliberate
processes of education, which also select certain capacities for
special cultivation, and allow others to atrophy or disappear.
The latter part of this process takes place in accordance with
the natural law, that every organ which is left unused under-
goes atrophy, and may even altogether disappear. The task
of education does not presuppose any alteration in the in-
herited character. On the contrary, the educator utilises the
existence of the various inherited characteristics in such a
way that he makes those qualities he wishes to develop take
the field against those he wishes to suppress.
The inherited character contains certain possibilities of
development. If it were fixed and unalterable, education
would be entirely unthinkable. In the practical work of educa-
tion we have to reckon with the fact that there are present
in every child certain developmental factors, constituting the
pre-conditions of the development which that child will
subsequently undergo ; that in the course of growth the
character undergoes extensive alterations; finally, also, that
the child's character is something very different from that of
the adult, Education is thus seen to consist of the influences
exerted upon the character by the application of certain
The Quality of the Population 29
external factors ; it is a selection from the entire complex
of inborn capacities and inborn tendencies.
Character of the Child. — The view that the child possesses
all the vices and all the peculiarities of the criminal is as
erroneous as the opinion that the criminal, owing to the
arrest of mental development, remains for ever a child, and
that he is one in nature with the savage who, unaffected
by conditions of time or place, preserves unchanged the type
of humanity in the childhood of our race. As yet no proof
has ever been supplied of the hypothesis, that concealed
within the child's nature lies the tendency to do evil. But
it is an incontestible fact that the child entirely lacks
power to withdraw itself from harmful influences, and that
if criminal inclinations are artificially implanted in the
child, they will infallibly develop if no counteracting influ-
ences come into play. The child is a virgin soil, which
will in due course bring forth good fruit or bad fruit
according to the nature of the tillage ; at birth the child
is qualitatively and quantitatively incomplete ; but all the
faculties are there in embryo, and ready for their further
development. The smaller the circle of ideas, the stronger
will be the influence, the greater will be the effect, of any new
idea that enters this circle. In the child, above all, the circle
of ideas is so small, that every new idea will constitute a quite
appreciable fraction of all the ideas that already exist.
Limits of Educalility. — Education is able to develop the
useful capacities and qualities of human bemgs, and to repress
those capacities and qualities that are useless and harmful ;
but it is beyond the power of education to develop qualities
and capacities of which the germs do not previously exist in
the child. Even the best education is incompetent to improve
a character which is congenitally altogether bad, or to do
anything for a child whose character, though congenitally
good, has been completely corrupted by evil influences.
Unfortunately, science is not yet sufiiciently advanced to
enable us to determine with absolute certainty which children
are educable. As long as our knowledge of this matter
remains defective, society must undertake the fruitless educa-
tion of such children.
30 Ele^nents of Child-Protection
Educability depends, first of all, upon the inherited dis-
positions of the brain ; when the deviations from the average
in this respect are considerable, we have to do with a diseased
brain. According to the kind and the degree of the deviation,
we distinguish several groups of mental abnormality occurring
in childhood, namely :
(a) Morbid psychical (psychopathic) constitutions.
(&) Congenital feeble-mindedness (debility).
(c) Fully developed and well-marked mental disorders.
In the first group we find a number of morbid changes far
less severe in character than those comprising groups (&) and
(c) ; these are commonly curable, provided only treatment is
begun in early childhood. It is absolutely essential that such
cases should be cured if possible : for unless this is effected,
in most cases (and especially when they belong to the poorer
classes of society) the males become habitual vagrants, whilst
the females adopt a life of prostitution. Numerous inquiries
have established the fact that a strikingly large proportion of
tramps and other vagabonds were from childhood upwards of
a psychopathic constitution.
The number of those exhibiting mental abnormality has
notably increased in recent times, but this increase does not
affect those suffering from true insanity. Many of those who
in adult life exhibit symptoms of mental abnormality do so
as a result of the psychopathic constitution, and in many such
cases the troubles of adult life might have been prevented by
judicious measures during childhood. In cases belonging to
group (J), comprising persons suffering from congenital feeble-
mindedness, the possibility of education depends entirely upon
the degree of mental debility. In cases belonging to group (c)
education is impossible. The question of ineducability is of
importance, above all, in relation to the possibilities of a
coercive reformatory education. The possibility that attempts
at education may prove altogether fruitless must never be
lost sight of; for although it is an established fact that
mentally abnormal children usually need a coercive reforma-
tory education, in the case of children whose mental abnor-
mality exceeds certain limits, even such an education is
impracticable. In these cases also the rule applies, that the
The Quality of the Population 31
prospects of success are greater the earlier the matter is taken
in hand.
The Aim of Education. — What is the aim of education ?
Should we seek to educate the child for society ; or should it
be our primary aim to cultivate the inborn capacities of the
child ]. The value of the individual depends upon two
factors, upon the capacities and qualities he has inherited,
and upon the capacities and qualities he has acquired.
Education must not attend exclusively to one group or to
the other, but must deal with both groups harmoniously.
The child must be taught to adapt itself to all possible
circumstances and conditions ; at the same time it must
receive an education suited to its own capacities and endow-
ments. In the character of every child there exist the germs
of individuality. Whether it is normal or abnormal, whether
it is a foundling or not, whether it is educated by its parents
or at school, in the family or at an institution, it must be
educated m accordance with the needs of its own individuality.
The educationalist's device should be— individualisation.
The greatest delight of every individual, whether child or
adult, is to be occupied in accordance with its own inclinations,
and to be treated by others in a manner suited to its own
peculiar tendencies. This perhaps depends upon one of the
primary laws of physics, that motion takes place in the
direction of least resistance. Individualisation in education
is an exceedingly difficult matter ; and yet it is less difficult
than appears at first sight. Differences in individual character
are far less extensive than is generally believed, and it is an
error to suppose that the character of every child differs in
important respects from that of every other. It is an im-
possible aim of education to make every child a being with a
well-marked individuality. If the differences were too great
between those whose education is completed — that is, between
those grown persons Avho play their parts in ordinary human
intercourse, such intercourse would be less extensive and
more difficult than it now is.
The child must be educated in such a way that its actions
are not instinctive and uncontrolled, but consciously pur-
posive and self- controlled ; but at the same time the educa-
o^
Elements of Child- Protection
tionalist must guard against the danger of making the child
into a will-less puppet. It has frequently been observed that
obedient children are unlikely to grow up into men of any
particular note, the reason being that they are accustomed
to do only what they are told, and have never learned to act
on their own initiative.
Knowledge is a mighty weapon, but it is one which can
be used either to good purpose or to ill, and it is 'per se neither
moral nor immoral. Knowledge is Power, but it is not Virtue.
It is not the ability to read and to write which matters ; the
important question is, what one reads and what one writes.
Among those who can neither read nor write, we find many
who are extraordinarily rich in practical experience. This is
to be explained by the fact that those who can read and write
are able to gain impressions indirectly as well as directly,
whilst illiterate persons are entirely dependent upon their own
direct experience of life.
Among the causes of crime, illiteracy by no means plays
so important a part as is generally believed. For this reason,
when we are studying the condition of any particular country,
we must avoid laying too great a stress upon the percentage of
illiterates among its population. The number of illiterates de-
pends in part also upon the proportions of persons at various
ages, inasmuch as, m reckoning the percentage of illiterates
to the general population, those under school age are left out
of the account.
By no means is it the aim of education to provide general
culture. The State cannot possibly insist that every indi-
vidual should devote himself to the acquirement of general
culture, for the most talented person is at times unable to
earn his own living. In the struggle for existence, general
culture, taken by itself, is utterly useless.
Good Example. — The phenomena which the child has
opportunities for observing exercise a great influence upon
its development. Although the view that the child imitates
everything instinctively is erroneous, it is unquestionable that
education will prove successful only in cases in which the
personality of the child's teacher is one which puts a good
example before the child's eyes. It is not enough merely
The Quality of the Population 33
to instruct a child verbally. It is essential that the child
should see that the teacher himself practises all which is
theoretically asserted to be right and admirable.
Confidtnce and Love. — Authority and compulsion are im-
portant factors of education ; but those take the wrong path
who attempt to influence the child by means of authority
and compulsion alone. For individualisation in education
the device should be, Confidence and Love. These mean to
the child what sunshine means to the plant : without sun-
shine, the plant lags behind in its growth, and ultimately
perishes ; but in the sunshine it flourishes abundantly.
Beward and Punishment. — The view that neither reward nor
punishment should be employed as instruments of education
is erroneous, for unquestionably both have considerable influ-
ence upon human activities and intercourse. The only matter
really open for consideration is, what should be the nature
of the rewards and the punishments to be employed, and
what should be the method of their application ? It is wrong
to punish or reward a child so often that either becomes
habitual. The teacher, who is in most cases the accuser and
the injured person (since a child's wrong actions are apt to
take the form of offences against an instructor), should not
also assume the office of a judge against whose decision there
is no appeal, and the office of executioner. Above all, the
time - honoured system whereby every childish offence is
expiated by deliberately inflicted physical pain must be
abandoned.
The corporal punishment of children is certainly harm-
ful, {a) Corporal punishment is injurious to the child's
health. In former times this objection had perhaps less
weight, for the child's constitution, and especially the child's
nervous system, were then less sensitive than they are to-day.
(5) Corporal punishment gradually makes the child quite
indifferent to the handling and making-use of its body. In
many instances, either in the chastiser or in the chastised, or
in both, it gives rise to sexual excitement. It is especially
dangerous for girls, whom it is apt to prepare for a life of
prostitution, (c) Corporal punishment has a coarsening and
hardening influence both on teacher and on child. The
34 Elements of Child- Protection
teacher tends ever more and more to give way to his im-
pulses, and thereby becomes a disastrous example for the
child, {d) Corporal punishment breaks the child's will, and
induces a sense of degradation which is greater in proportion
to the intensity of the child's own self-respect, ie) Corporal
punishment makes a child hypocritical and deceitful, and
gives it a hint to be wilier the next time. For ultimately
the idea is formed in the child's mind that it has been
punished, not for committing a fault, but because it has
been found out.
Punishment should always be of such a nature as to
strengthen as much as possible those inner forces and im-
pulses through whose weakness the liability to the punish-
ment has been incurred. On no account whatever should
the punishment be such as will encourage in the child's
mind the belief that the act for which it is punished was,
after all, one it had a right to do. If, for example, a child
has injured a servant, it should be punished by making it
relieve the servant of some portion of the latter 's work. If
the child has injured any one, it is not a suitable punishment
for the teacher to inflict direct injury on the child, for this
would merely encourage the latter to believe that the strong
are justified in inflicting injury on the weak.
Education hy the Parents. — Throughout nature, wherever
the young of any animal have to live through a prolonged
period of imperfectly protected immaturity, it is the duty
of the parent-animals to bring up their oft'spring. Above a
certain level in the animal scale, this duty is universal. The
lower in the scale any species of animal, the more rapidly do
the young of that species attain maturity ; conversely, the
higher the stage of development of any species, the longer
is the period of immaturity, and the longer are the children
dependent upon their parents. This rule applies to human
beings also, and the relationships above described obtain
among the diff'erent varieties and races of mankind. Of all
new-born animals, none is so helpless as man ; and of
all animals, his period of immaturity is the longest. The period
of upbringing lasts longer in man than in other animals,
the human young are longer dependent on their parents,
The Quality of the Population 35
and the parents themselves in the human species are more
long-lived than the parents of most other species of animals.
The younger the individual human being, the more de-
pendent is it upon others. An infant cannot continue to
exist at all without external help. Its only needs at first,
indeed, are for food, drink, sleep, and cleansing ; but the
older it is, the more complex is the care it demands. As
the age of the human individual increases, the more do its
needs continue to enlarge. The younger the human being,
the more dependent is it upon parental care, and more par-
ticularly upon maternal care ; and the more helpless the
offspring, the more does the educational influence of the
mother exceed in importance that of the father.
The view that the natural province of work of the father
is to provide the means of subsistence for himself and his
family, while the mother's work, on the other hand, is to
care for the children, is erroneous. It is not merely unneces-
sary for the mother to spend all her time with her child,
but such a course of action imposes an excessive strain upon
her, and has a dulling effect. It is also a false view that
only those women properly fulfil their duties as wives and
mothers who devote their whole time to the upbringing of
their children and to the cares of their household.
The influence of the parents upon the child is a very
powerful one, because child and parents are, as it were,
syntonised through hereditary dispositions and tendencies.
Oscillations of character in the parents spontaneously initiate
oscillations of character in the child, but in this syntonic in-
fluence there may subsist a very great danger. The healthier
the parents, and the better suited they are to one another,
the better are the dispositions the children inherit from them,
and thereby the children are fitted to receive a better edu-
cation. Among the lower animals, parents educate their
offspring solely in accordance with the dictates of instinct.
For the upbringing of the human young, the guidance of
human instinct is inadequate ; educational aptitudes and
special educational knowledge are also indispensable. Normal
human parents may desire to give their children the best
possible education ; but in many instances they do not know
36 Elements of Child-Protection
themselves what the best education is ; and even if they do
know this, they will be unable to provide such an education
by their own unaided efforts, and will be dependent upon
others for the upbringing of their own children. It is quite
impossible for anyone to follow a trade or profession, to super-
vise the management of a household, and at the same time to be
the instructor of his or her own child. For this, parents lack
the requisite time and energy. As time goes on, the principle
of the division of labour comes more and more into applica-
tion ; it is in accordance with this principle that the education
of children should be entrusted to professional educationalists.
Education in Different Social Classes. — The education re-
ceived by an individual is determined mainly by the class to
which that individual belongs. In every industrial state, the
degradation of the working-class families becomes apparent.
The wages of the manual workers are very small ; and owing
to illness, strikes, lock-outs, and commercial crises, even this
small income diminishes from time to time, or may entirely
cease. Insecurity is the keynote of the working man's
economic existence. The consequences of this insecurity
are ill-humour and embitterment, which find expression for
the most part in domestic life. The place of work is often
far removed from the dwelling-place. Husband, wife, and the
elder children go to work; they have to get up very early
in the morning, when the children are still asleep. Since
the spells of rest for meals are very short, they have no time
to go home; or if they do hurry home, they have to gulp
down their food with lightning speed. Not until late in the
evening, when the children have gone to sleep again, do the
parents return home. Thousands of working men, owing to
the distance of their homes from their work-places, remain
a whole week away, and return home to their families only
on Saturday. Even if the parents get home from work in
the evenings before their children are asleep, the former are
so worn out by long hours of exhausting toil that they can
do nothing for their children.
The housing conditions of the working classes are rarely satis-
factory. In consequence of this, the children are often driven
to live in the streets; and this, m turn, leads to immorality and
The Quality of the Population 37
to crime. Often the children of working-class families do not
remain at home at all, but find their way to creches, foundling
hospitals, poorhouses, and other institutions. Proletarian
parents have less knowledge and less capacity for the educa-
tion of their children than parents belonging to other classes
of the population. These latter, also, can more readily afford
to entrust the education of their children to other persons.
Nevertheless, the education of the children of the well-
to-do cannot be unconditionally regarded as better than the
education of the children of the poor. The chief defects as
regards the children of the well-to-do are, that they are apt
to receive too much attention ; they are often spoiled, and
their initiative is continually suppressed. Rich parents keep
servants, and entrust to these in large part the upbringing
of their children. In our day it has come to be regarded as
necessary and natural that children should be cared for by
servants : thus the influence exercised by servants upon the
children of the well-to-do is a very extensive and by no
means a happy one. For these servants commonly lack
refinement and intelligence, and the abilities of the trained
educationalist are altogether lacking to them. The domestic
servant may bring up suitably his or her own children, but
not the children of another ; and the failure will be especially
marked when the child's social position is much higher than
the servant's.
Parents, School, Environment. — The three primary factors
in education are : parents, school, and environment. Strictly
speaking, indeed, parents and school are only parts of the
environment. In a sense, however, the whole of education
is nothing more than the influencing of the capacities and
dispositions of the child by external factors — that is, by
the environment. The influence exercised by the environ-
ment is very great. As social life develops in complexity,
the child is exposed ever more and more to the influences
of environment, and the educative influence exercised by this
latter becomes ever more extensive. But in our time the
child is less exposed than the adult to the influences of the
environment.
In the first years of life the work of education is in the
r- ^.\p
38 Elements of Child- Protection
hands of the parents, and above all in those of the mother.
Subsequently the schoolmaster and schoolmistress share with
the parents in the work of education, and the part played
by the parents becomes ever less important. In addition,
however, to the influence exerted at first by the parents, and
subsequently by the teachers, the general environment does
its work from the very earliest days of life. It is a natural
postulate of a sound education, that all these three factors,
parents, school, and environment, should co-operate, and that
each should exercise its appropriate influence. If they
counteract instead of assisting one another, the general result
will be unsatisfactory and inadequate. In vain does the
school attempt to exercise a favourable influence if the
work of the school is undone by the influence of the parents.
Again, the joint influence of parents and of school is fruitless
if the child, when away from home and out of school hours,
is under the influence of bad associates. Unfortunately, with
the development of capitalism such cases have become ever
more common.
The Tendency of Evolution. — With the passage of the years,
the importance of education continually increases. The
seductions and the temptations encountered by young people
to-day are at once far more frequent and far more subtle
than was the case in former times. To enable them to with-
stand these allurements, the young require a better and a more
careful education. In the early stages of evolution, alike in
the struggle for existence between individuals and in the
struggle for existence between competing tribes, physical
strength was the decisive factor of success; but in the later
stages of human evolution it is upon intellectual and moral
well-being that victory in the struggle depends. Hence
intellectual and moral education become of ever greater im-
portance. To-day, one whose intellectual and moral education
has been neglected is far less able to meet with success
the demands made by modern life than one living some
hundreds of years ago, whose education had been neglected,
would have been able to meet the demands made by the life
of his own time. In such a case, in our own day, the
likelihood that one whose education has been neglected will
The Quality of the Population 39
be useless and even dangerous to society, is far greater than
it would have been in former times ; and as time goes on
the differences between those who have had an appropriate
education -and those whose education has been neglected will
become more and more extensive.
It is well known that the majority of habitual criminals
are persons who began to commit punishable offences in the
earlier years of their life. It is only in the rarest instances
that by legal punitive methods we prevent a juvenile offender
from developing into a habitual criminal ; the object of the
punishment is seldom attained. The question therefore
presses itself upon our attention, whether the prevention of
crime cannot best be attained in another way than by the
use of penal methods, namely, by the proper education of
children.
Education has no bearing upon the life of persons living
in complete isolation ; it is a postulate of social life alone, and
becomes impregnated to a continually greater extent with
social elements. The modern tendency of social evolution is
to relieve the family of the cares of education, which becomes
to an increasing extent a communal duty ; whilst the share of
the parents in the education of their children is limited, social
institutions providing more generally and more thoroughly
for that education. England offers us a typical example of
the working of this modern tendency; for England is
commonly regarded as pre-eminently individualistic, and yet
there is no country in which more limitations have been
imposed upon parental authority, or in which compulsory
and universal education is more thoroughly enforced by
the State.
The elements of educational science depend mainly upon
the social conditions that obtain in the country with which
we have to do ; as time passes, the science undergoes a
progressive alteration, and leads us from individual education
to social education. The elements of the education of the
future will depend upon the general configuration of social
life, upon the characteristics of domestic life, and upon the
regulation of parental authority. The individual household
of our own time has no regard at all for the special needs of
40 Elements of Child-Protection
the child, and the various occupations carried on in such a
household constitute a hindrance to the proper upbringing
of children. The labours of the kitchen expose children
to constant accidents — from fire, boiling water, sharp instru-
ments, &c. The parents, and more especially the mother,
will in times to come be much less occupied than at present
in domestic drudgery, and will consequently have more time
to devote to the upbringing of their children. The parents
will also themselves stand at a much higher level of culture,
and this cannot fail to lead to an effective demand for the
more suitable upbringing of children. The modern dwelling
and its furniture take no account at all of the needs of
children ; at every turn there are sharp corners and hard
objects, by contact with which children may be, and often
are, seriously injured. In former times various occupations
were carried on in the individual household which hardly
any one now dreams of doing at home: among these may
be mentioned, spinning, weaving, laundry-work, soap-boiling,
the slaughtering of animals and the preparation of their
flesh, the grinding of meal, &c. &c. In the United States of
America even to-day many families take all their principal
meals at public restaurants ; in America also, to an increasing
degree, heating, ventilation, and lighting of the houses is
provided from central establishments. The household of
to-day is inconvenient and uneconomical. Much work is
still done at home which could be done more cheaply, more
effectively, and more conveniently elsewhere. As time goes
on, one labour after another which is now done at home
will be removed altogether from the sphere of the domestic
economy, and this will necessarily lead ultimately to the
disappearance of the individual household. In the future,
human beings will occupy separate dwellings, but not separate
households ; or, to put the matter more intelligibly, most of
the work now carried on in the individual household will be
arranged for from centralised organisations. It is obvious
that these changes will lead to extensive modifications of our
present individual methods of domestic architecture.
The educational developments of the future will depend,
not only on the changes that have been foreshadowed in
The Quality of the Population 41
domestic life, but also on the future development of the
institution of the family. Naturally, the characteristics of
the family and the characteristics of the household are
intimately ' associated. But, whatever changes may ensue in
these respects, the fundamental principle that the parents are
responsible for the upbringing of their children is not likely
to be abandoned, for it is based upon an instinct deeply rooted
in the very nature of human beings. But the actual work
of education will probably be in the hands of educational
specialists almost exclusively, as soon as the days of infancy
and very early childhood are outgrown. When physically
able to do so, mothers will, of course, suckle their own
children. The transformation of our domestic economy and
our domestic architecture will result in giving enormously
increased importance to institutions for the upbringing of
children; creches, kindergartens, and elementary schools will
play a far greater part than at present in social life ; such
institutions will probably care for children in every possible
way, and will aim at the satisfaction of all their elementary
needs.
CHAPTER V
PROS AND CONS OF CHILD-PROTECTION
Introductory. — The lex minimi (" law of parsimony ") is not
merely a natural law, but is also the guiding principle both of
legislative and of executive activity. From this law we
learn, among other things : " When we wish to attain any end,
we must arrange to do this with the smallest possible expendi-
ture of means ; with the means available we must secure the
greatest possible result ; the cost of production must not exceed
the value of the finished product. No institution should be
maintained if its utility is less than the equivalent of the cost
of its maintenance. However fine an aim may be, it must
never be forgotten that society and the State have other aims
in addition to this one, and that if for the attainment of this
particular aim an excessive expenditure of wealth is requisite,
some wealth will be used up which is needed for the attainment
of other aims."
Prevention is better than cure. One whose actions are
guided by foresight will use preventive methods all the more
readily because prevention is a part of the natural order of
things. It is applicable not only in domestic life, but also in
the general life of society; and as evolution proceeds, the
importance of repression continually diminishes, whilst the
importance of prevention continually increases.
Every social institution serves for the attainment of some
particular end — is, that is to say, a means to that end. If an
end can be obtained without consuming wealth — that is, without
employing the means involving such an expenditure of wealth,
then the sacrifice of this wealth and the employment of these
means are superfluous, and even harmful. The tendency of
every social institution is, in fact, to become superfluous, and
to be superseded with the passage of the years.
Pros and Cons of Child- Protection 43
The wise physician who has to deal with the diseases
affecting the human body does not confine his efforts to the
treatment and reHef of symptoms, but endeavours to ascertain
and to reinove the causes of those symptoms. He is well aware
that a method of treatment which is confined to the relief of
mere symptoms will effect no more than a temporary improve-
ment, and that as long as the cause of the symptoms remains in
active operation, the morbid phenomena will continue to recur.
Now these considerations apply with just as much force to the
social organism as they do to the individual human organism.
When we pass judgment upon a social institution, we must
always endeavour to ascertain whether any defect we may
notice connected with its working belongs to the social institu- 1
tion as such, and whether the fault is inseparable from the/
institution, or whether we may reasonably expect that in the
further course of development, or as a result of better organ-
isation, this particular defect will disappear. In the work of i
child-protection, these fundamental principles must always be \
kept in mind.
Objections to Child-Protection. — A number of objections have
been formulated against child-protection, of which the following
may be mentioned. In creches and other institutions for the '
care of young children, the spread of infectious diseases very
readily occurs.^ ' Most of the institutions aiming at child-
protection are really rewards of immorality, and thus tend
to encourage immorality. It is a natural law that a child
"should be cared for by its own parents, and child-protec-
tion, in so far as it separates the child from its parents, is
unnatural.
Most of these objections are invalid. Many authors main-
tain that the protection of juvenile criminals does more harm
than good ; but even if this is true to-day, it does not follow
that juvenile criminals should not be protected, but simply
that our methods of protection should be better adapted to
their purpose. The objections urged against creches and other
institutions for the care of young children should not lead to
the inference that no such institutions ought to exist, but
should rather draw our attention to the necessity for taking
better measures to prevent the introduction and spread of
44 Ele7nents of Child- Protection
infectious diseases. No one can doubt to-day that the sup-
pression of these diseases is within our power.
Objections to the Care of Foundlings. — In the literature of
our subject we find great diversity of opinion regarding the
care of foundlings, and it is therefore necessary that we should
examine the objections that have been made to institutions
for this purpose. A careful study of the matter will show
that the criticisms apply not to the general principle on which
foundling hospitals are instituted, but to a particular form of
this institution. It is well known that the foundling hospitals
of former days received children by means of a turn-table,
through an aperture in the wall (so that the person who
brought the child might remain entirely unknown), that the
children grew to maturity in such institutions, that the
infants were artificially fed, that the most elementary hygienic
precautions were neglected in these buildings, &c. &c. It is
natural that such foundling hospitals as these should be
attacked by many writers as harmful in the highest degree.
But these writers completely ignore the fact that the defects
were not characteristic of all foundling hospitals, and that
therefore they did not attach to the institutions as such, but
were the outcome simply of defective organisation ; they also
fail to observe that the care of foundlings may be undertaken
without instituting foundling hospitals. The weightiest of all
the objections to foundling hospitals is that the cost of main-
tenance of these institutions is disproportionate to any good
they may effect, inasmuch as the value to society of those
foundlings who attain maturity is no proper equivalent for
the pains expended in attaining this result. In view of the
lex minimi, to which reference was made at the beginning of
this chapter, has such an institution any right to exist ?
The -turn-table for the reception of children was instituted
for two reasons. In the first place, the whole act of " exposing "
a child was to be discreetly veiled from the public eye ; and,
in the second place, no excuse was to be left open for the
crime of infanticide. It is true that in our own day there are
many reasons to be alleged against retaining the turn-table ; it
provides a means whereby the parents of children born in
lawful wedlock can evade their natural obligations, and impose
Pros and Cons of Child- Protection 45
these upon society at large ; it involves a legal contradiction,
inasmuch as it tacitly permits, and even formally invites,
parents to expose their children, although this is a criminal
offence ; finally, it leads to the overcrowding of the foundling
hospitals. In short, all the objections to the institution of the
turn-table are perfectly sound; but it would be altogether
unwarrantable to infer from this that foundling hospitals
themselves are unnecessary and even harmful. Foundling
hospitals can exist without a turn-table (not a single modern
foundling hospital contains any such thing); the defects of
foundling hospitals with turn-tables are not defects of found-
ling hospitals as such, but defects attaching to the institution
of the turn-table.
If we are told that foundling hospitals fail to attain their
ends (the prevention of infanticide and the increase of the
population), if we are told that the foundling hospitals were
themselves murder-traps, and that all they could do was to
preserve for society a few individuals competent for harm
rather than for good, we may rejoin that in modern foundling
hospitals the death-rate is much lower than it was in those
of former times, that children now receive in these institutions
a much better upbringing than was formerly the case, and
that the defects alleged do not attach to foundling hospitals
as such, but merely to this or that way of managing such
institutions. Finally, it is necessary to point out, that whereas
the foundling hospitals of former times, owing to their defective
administration, probably did not " pay," the progress of medical
science has greatly reduced the death-rate in foundling hospitals,
the children in these institutions are now much better brought
up, and for these reasons the effective return made by foundling
hospitals to society is far greater than it used to be.
Darvnnism versus Poor-Relief. — Many Darwinians oppos
Poor-Relief. The interest of the community demands that'
its members should be physically, intellectually, and morally
sound. Social evolution and social well-being depend upon
the survival of the fittest. It follows from this that the
interest of the community demands that we should prevent
the birth of diseased and weakly individuals ; and that if such
individuals should nevertheless be born, the sooner they perish
46 Elements of Child- Protection
the better. If this were unconditionally true, we should have
to admit that the relief of destitution is not merely useless to
society, but is positively harmful.
In many instances, by the application of medical skill and
knowledge, it is possible, at considerable expenditure of effort,
to keep alive sickly persons, those predisposed to crime, and
those predisposed to particular diseases — persons who, in de-
fault of such special care, would inevitably have succumbed.
Such defectives, attaining maturity, procreate their kind, pro-
ducing a new generation of sickly individuals, with deficient
powers of resistance. Such applications of medical science
are doubtless valuable from the point of view of the individuals
thus benefited, but they promote the deterioration of the race.
This anti-eugenist influence is exerted in a twofold manner :
not only are the defectives kept alive and enabled to procreate
their kind, but these defectives utilise goods and services which
would otherwise have been allotted to healthy persons, whereby
these latter become less well able to found and rear families.
The relief of destitution provides support for the weaker
members of the community. Whereas, in default of public
assistance, such persons would hesitate to marry, a generous
public provision for the destitute facilitates the light-hearted
increase of the lower classes of the population, since these
latter feel justified in believing that, should the worst come
to the worst, their children will be provided for by the com-
munity. In the relief of the destitute, the commodities de-
voted to the maintenance of the weak are taken away from
the strong. In consequence of this deprivation, the strong
find it necessary to limit their families — an example which
the weak will not follow. Thus the relief of destitution favours
a reversed selection. The relief of destitution also impairs the
efficiency of the processes whereby the diseased and useless
constituents are eliminated from the social organism, and this
interference with eliminative processes is no less dangerous to
the social than it is to the individual organism.
Darwinism versus Child- Protection. — The Darwinians main-
tain that all these considerations apply with equal force to
child-protection. We must, they tell us, protect strong children
only, and do nothing for the weakly. Child-protection to-day.
Pi'os and Cons of Child-Protection 47
they insist, effects the reverse of this. It counteracts ex-
cessive child mortality, which is an effective factor in selection,
through its destruction of weakly children. For example, the
existence 'of foundling hospitals induces many parents to
abandon the care of their own children, and to commit these
to the foundling hospitals. Many parents, being aware that
the State undertakes the coercive reformatory education of
neglected children, deliberately neglect the education of their
own children, in order to force the community to undertake it.
During the first years of life, continue these ultra-Darwinians, '
more children die than in the later years of childhood,J)ecause,
owing to natural selection in the first years of life, a larger
proportion of the weak succumb, so that the level of health ,
of those in the later years of childhood is considerably higher. I
High infant mortality is at once a symptom and a meaxis
of_natural seleetion. Years characterised by high infant
mortality necessarily follow years in which the infantile death-
rate has been low. In countries with high infant mortality
the population is stronger, because the badly- equipped new-
born infants die in greater proportion than the well-equipped ;
in subsequent years the mortality is consequently lower, the
fitness for military service is greater, and tuberculosis is less
common. To diminish infant mortality would lead to a more
rapid increase of population; it would, in fact, give rise to
over-population to such an extent that the struggle for existence
would become even more cruel and abhorrent than it is to-day.
Certain departments of child-protection lead to the preservation
of children whose survival is altogether undesirable — children
which would otherwise have perished during the first years
of life.
(If it is true that illegitimate children are of very little
use to the community, and if it is impossible to prevent the
birth of such children, it is at any rate desirable, continue the
writers of this school, that those Avhich actually do come into
the world should die as soon as possible. Consider also born
criminals. These inflict grave injury on the community. If
it is impossible to prevent their birth, should not society at
least take steps to secure that their life should be as short
as possible ?)
^
48 Elements of Child- Protection
Tilt Bight View. — These views are only partially correct.
It may be true that a great proportion of illegitimate children
are weakly, and perhaps for this reason their mortality-rate
and criminality-rate are excessive ; it is also probable that
in the absence of child-protection their death-rate would be
considerably higher than it is. Elsewhere in this work we
shall consider whether, and to what extent, it is possible to
prevent the birth of illegitimate children. It may also be
true that the born criminal is physically, intellectually, and
morally degenerate, and that for these reasons in the absence
of child-protection he would probably succumb in early life.
The race is not always damaged by the survival of those
who have suffered from disease. The disease may be of such
a kind that the patient who survives may recover completely,
and may procreate perfectly healthy children. It is a very
thorny question whether it can ever be right to refrain from
the cure of certain patients, because to cure them would be
injurious to the race. Here humanity and race-interest seem
to conflict. If, in the future, by the proper application of
preventive methods, we are able to ensure that very few such
sick persons shall exist, it will no longer be necessary to
attempt to cure such as do exist, for in that day the applica-
tion of the euthanasia in such cases will no longer be regarded
as inhuman, but rather as perfectly natural and right.
To the assertion that only the healthy and strong should
be protected, we may answer that the sickly and the weakly
are far more in need of such protection. It is perfectly true
that those who are not adapted to the conditions of their
environment perish. But one of the chief aims of child
protection is to enable children to become capable of adapta-
tion to their environment; and in the majority of children
we are able to effect this. Even those in whom this is
unattainable ought not to be neglected, because, while they
are slowly succumbing, society suffers much injury from them.
One who is ill or weak from one point of view only may
nevertheless be a useful member of society, since perhaps in
some other relationship he may be strong or healthy. In the
present state of our knowledge, we are unable during a child's
early years, and still less immediately after birth, to determine
Pros and Cons of Child- Protection 49
positively whether the child is intellectually or morally
defective, whether it is a born criminal, or whether it is one
capable of developing into a useful member of society. We
must certainly dispute the assertion that a child which is
bodily Aveak is of necessity also intellectually and morally
defective, since thousands of instances establish the fact that
a child which is bodily weak often proves to be a useful
member of society. If there were no child - protection,
children would perish whose survival is unquestionably
desirable.
We consider, therefore, that child-protection is necessary, \
although, notwithstanding great pains and great sacrifices, it \
often results in the survival of individuals who are useless to j
society. The view that only the children of the inferior and ]
poorer classes of the population are suitable for the application
of the methods of child-protection, is erroneous, if only for \
the reason that the well-to-do to-day bring forth offspring
utterly regardless whether these are strong or weak; and also
because capitalism interferes in other ways with the effective
operation of natural selection. These various evils can be
obviated to-day only by means of child-protection.
In the case of infants, there is no question of the struggle
for existence. For their death - rate depends upon two
factors — first, upon their inborn capacity ; secondly, upon the
conditions in which they are reared. The former factor is
of far less importance in relation to infant mortality than it is
in relation to child mortality. Only in an extremely limited
sense is it possible, with regard to infants, to speak of a
struggle for existence, in virtue of which the fittest survive.
The infant is exposed to numerous dangers, in coping with
which its inborn capacity hardly counts at all. When certain
external influences come into play, the infant is quite incap-
able of making an advantageous use of its inborn physiological
capacities. Such external influences destroy quite indifferently
infants well-equipped and ill-equipped at birth. There is no
doubt of the fact that a strong infant could better resist most
of the diseases of infancy than a weakly infant ; but the
differences in power of resistance in infants are far less
extensive than is generally believed. It is certainly wrong
D
\
50 E/emetits of Child-Protection
to maintain that a strong infant is able successfully to resist
all diseases.
/ For the very reason that certain diseases — for example,
icertain affections of the stomach and intestines — will destroy
Wen the strongest infant, the prevention of these diseases
becomes a matter of the first importance. It is unquestionable
that such diseases can be more effectively prevented in pro-
portion as the circumstances are favourable in which the
infant is reared.
It is certainly through an error of observation that some
writers maintain that in the age-class of children who have
survived their first year we find no weaklings. Even the
strongest infant will not survive to enter this age-class if
its environing conditions are too unfavourable. It often
happens that an infant survives an illness, and yet survives
in a damaged condition. A high death-rate is a consequence
of a high disease-rate ; but of the infants affected with disease,
only a certain proportion succumbs, whilst the others survive
with damaged constitutions, and constitute a favourable soil
for fresh inroads of disease. (J[n the twentieth century, in the
civilised countries of Europe, o? one hundred ch-ildren dying
during the first year of life, barely twenty die in consequence
of inborn defects or congenital diseases (such as congenital
debility, atrophy, congenital scrofula, tuberculosis, &c.). 1
If it were true that infant mortality exercised a Selective
function, we should find a high infantile death-rate associated
with a low death-rate in the case of children past infancy, and
conversely. But everywhere we find that the infantile death-
rate and the death-rate amongst children at ages one to five
vary directly, and not inversely. Moreover, the variations in
the death-rates in children during different years of life are
determined by the fact that the younger the child, the less
are its powers of resistance ; thus the danger to health result-
ing from unfavourable conditions of life varies inversely as
the child's age ; and even within the limits of the first year
of life, the infantile death-rate is higher in proportion as the
time which has elapsed since birth is less. Among the lower
classes of the population, the infantile death-rate is higher
than it is among the upper classes. If a high infantile death-
Pros and Cons of Child- Protection 51
rate exercised a selective influence, we should find that among
the lower classes the death-rate among children more than
one year' old would be less than the death-rate of upper-class
children of corresponding ages. But this is nowhere the
casfi»— -.
VThe mortality of children between the ages of one and
five years depends chiefly upon the incidence of the infectious
diseases. > It is well known that these diseases are much
milder m civilised than in uncivilised countries. From this
it follows that the death-rate among children between the
ages of one and five years depends chiefly upon the level of
civilisation ; the death-rate being higher where the level of
civilisation is low, and conversely ; but the infantile death-rate
is much less influenced by the standard of civilisation. More-
over, recent investigations have shown that (especially in
large towns and in industrial regions) high infant mortality
is closely associated with a low level of fitness for military
service, and with a high death-rate from tuberculosis. It is
true that the number of those who succumb to tuberculosis
and the number of those who prove fit for military service are
influenced by other causes in addition to the infantile death-
rate — causes which have nothing to do with that death-rate.
But the fact remains indisputable that the causes leading to
a great mortality among infants tend to injure the constitu-
tion of those infants who succeed in surviving, and thus
weaken the general health of the population.
Socialism versus Poor-Relief. — Many Socialists are opposed
to the relief of destitution. Poverty existed prior to the rise
of capitalism, and is found where the capitalist system has
not as yet struck root. But the chief cause of poverty to-day /
is unquestionably capitalism. Capitalism is the creator of
the proletariat, the type of the poor class ; poverty and prole-
tariat, poor man and proletarian, are almost equivalent terms.
Capitalism is also the creator of pauperism {e.g. of the
industrial reserve army), which must be regarded as an^
essential pre-condition of capitalist production. In the
manufacturing districts, poverty is more extensive than it
is in the agricultural districts. In the towns it is more
extensive than in the country. Capitalism cannot exist
52 Elements of Child- Protection
without poor-relief. Unless the destitute are relieved out
of the superfluity of capitalism, certain very undesirable con-
sequences will ensue. For poverty is a chief cause at once
of punishable offences and of all kinds of disease. The two
main purposes of the relief of the destitute are, in fact, the
protection of the rich against criminal outbreaks on the part
of the poor, and the prevention of the epidemic diseases
which would breed in the surroundings of neglected poverty,
and spread thence to the homes of the rich.
The chief aim of poor-relief is to give help in cases of
poverty arising from individual causes, to deal with poverty
regarded as an individual concern. Poor-relief makes no
attempt whatever to do away with the social causes of poverty
— nor, indeed, could the methods of poor-relief effect this,
even if the attempt were made. In a certain sense, socialism
and poor-relief have a common character, inasmuch as both
are opposed to free competition. It is the aim of poor-relief
to relieve the disastrous consequences of free competition ;
the aim of socialism is to do away with class distinctions and
existing contrasts between wealth and poverty — that is, to
equalise and to democratise. But socialism does not favour
the relief of destitution, and rather regards the need for
such relief as a proof of the unrighteousness of the capitalist
system. , Socialism regards poor-relief as nothing more than
a way o^'^treating symptoms of social disorder, and as a
method necessary only during the age of capitalism. Socialism
is hostile to any social institution which serves to safeguard
capitalism.'.
Socialism versus Child-Protection. — The considerations put
forward regarding poor-relief bear to some extent on the
relationships of child-protection to capitalism. Many depart-
ments of child- protection — foundling hospitals, for instance —
are merely departments of poor-relief. Child-protection is
chiefly concerned with the children of the poor, since these
are far more in need of protection than the children of
the rich.
Child-protection and socialism both existed, in a sense,
prior to the development of capitalism. But in the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries, child-protection has received much
Pros and Cons of Child-Protection 53
more attention than in former times. This extensive develop-
ment of child-protection is one phase of that general develop-
ment whose other phase is the development of capitalism.
Modern child-protection and modern socialism are necessary
consequences of capitalism, and the existence of the last in
the absence of child-protection and of socialism is altogether
unthinkable. Capitalism gives rise to numerous diseases in
the social organism, and then endeavours to cure them, for
the most part, by the methods of child-protection. The
causal relationship between capitalism and child-protection
is not direct or primary. Certain applications of child-
protection are not the direct consequences of capitalism itself,
but only consequences of the causes by which capitalism has
been created and evolved. When we come to examine con-
crete conditions, such as those of some particular country,
w^e invariably find that child-protection and capitalism are
intimately connected with the general development of the
country with which we are concerned. This fact may inter-
pose modifying conditions in the causal chain connecting
capitalism and child-protection.
(The origin of the Children's Courts in the United States
of America offers an instructive example of this. In this
country, as in England, special causes led early in the last
century to the establishment of reformatory schools. But
whereas in England, until quite recently, boarding institutions
were preferred for this purpose, from the first, in the
United States the attempt was made to arrange for the up-
bringing of neglected and criminal youths under family
auspices. The reasons for the adoption of this latter plan
in America were the enormous possibilities of territorial ex-
pansion and the lively demand for new population. When
juvenile offenders came before the courts, responsible indi-
viduals would offer to undertake the upbringing of these
children, binding themselves over to report at regular intervals
upon the behaviour of the children, and generally accepting
all necessary responsibility. The judges ventured upon such
experiments, and as the successful results multiplied, this
method of procedure attained the force of a customary institu-
tion, and subsequently was formally embodied in legislation.)
54 Elements of Child- Protection
Certain departments of child-protection were in existence
before the days of capitahsm, but these departments were
greatly influenced by the changes introduced by capitalism.
For this reason the direct causal relationship between
capitalism and child-protection cannot always be demonstrated.
It may of course happen, in any particular country, that child-
protection stands at a higher or a lower level of development
than appears to correspond to the general state of social
evolution or to the development of capitalism in that par-
Iticular country. As an example of this, we may mention
Hungary, which, in the matter of child-protection, is in
advance of countries where the development of capitalism and
/ of civilisation are in a far more forward state ; and in Hungary
I the development of child-protection has proceeded in com-
1 plete independence of the shackles of historical evolution.
i It is not an advantage, but a disadvantage, that child-
protection is necessary to-day. The country which has need
of numerous institutions for purposes of social betterment is
in a bad way ; and, indeed, the more of such institutions it
needs, the worse must its condition be. These considerations
apply to other institutions as well as to child-protection.
Just as it is desirable that no institutions for social better-
ment should be necessary, so also we might wish that child-
protection were superfluous. To put the matter in other
words, it is desirable that in any country those conditions
should not exist which have made it necessary to establish
institutions for social betterment. The country which has no
need for such institutions stands at a higher level than the
country to which they are still indispensable. But of two
countries which have equal need for such institutions, the
one which possesses them stands at a higher level than
the one in which they have not yet come into existence.
This last consideration must not be forgotten when we are
making a comparative study of child-protection in various
countries.
Child-protection to-day is solely concerned with attempts
to palliate the evils which necessarily result from the essential
nature of the social organism of to-day, and is not concerned
with efforts to transform the nature of that organism. Child-
Pros and Ccns of Child-Protection 55
protection alleviates some of the symptoms of capitalism,
but does nothing to prevent the ever-renewed production of
such sytnptoms. \Thus we see that child-protection is not
a scientific therapeuttt method, for such a method tends, as
time passes, to render itself superfluous. Child-protection is
an important department of social activity. But there are"
other much more important departments. If the amount
of wealth expended for the purposes of child-protection is
excessive, means requisite to the attainment of other ends
will be sacrificed, and the pursuit of much more important
aims may be rendered impossible. The expenditure upon
child-protection is useful to this extent, that it prevents the
occurrence of much harm, and yet to-day a large proportion
of such expenditure is quite useless, because the evils which
child-protection attempts to relieve are not, as a matter of
fact, all relieved. Capitalism is the source of the factors which
'make child-protection necessary. Hence all our efforts for
child-protection are useless so long as we continue to create
institutions by which capitalism is protected and strengthened.
Child-protection to-da}^ is in essence nothing more than a
number of repressive measures, which are necessary only
because capitalism will not permit the desired ends to be
obtained by the use of preventive methods, owing to the fact
that prevention would involve the destruction of capitalism.
Thus the destruction of capitalism is a postulate, not of
socialism merely, but also of child-protection. Unfortunately,
few people as yet recognise that prevention is the true duty
of the collective intelligence; instead of searching out the
causes which have made the use of repressive measures neces-
sary, they expect a cure to result from the use of repressive
measures alone.
Let our device be, Prevention. The existing social order
must be completely revolutionised. Let us have done with
palliatives. It is time for a new creation. Repression is good,
but prevention is a great deal better ! The use of palliatives
is a necessary evil attaching to the existing social order ; but
it is a crying instance of the contradictory character of exist-
ing social conditions. It is not right that child-protection
should be the leading social and political activity of the State,
56 Elements of Child-Protection
althougli at present such, activity is supposed to be the climax^
of political science. (The course of action of a community
which, while protecting^ children, oppresses adults, is unjust;
for it would be better that children should perish, than that y
they should grow up to lives of misery, crime, or prostitution./
"It is impossible to sympathise with a country which sends the
children of the working class to foundling hospitals, and the
adult workers themselves to prison; which protects children
simply in order to increase the population, and yet forcibly,
as it were, drives the adults from the country as emigrants ;
which offers adult workers a starvation wage, and yet benevo-
lently keeps paupers alive ; which brings up pauper children
to become proletarians, which breeds working men to depress
by competition the wages of their fellows, and to play the
part of miserable strike-breakers.
' (Hungary affords an interesting example of this, for the
social and political development of this country is by no
means of the most modern type, and yet, in the matter of
child-protection, Hungarian institutions are perhaps the
I finest in the whole world. It is true that child-protection in
! Hungary is to a large extent no more than child-protection
on paper, if for no other reason, for this, that the proper
administration of the Hungarian methods of child-protection
cannot be' carried out efficiently by the executive personnel
available in that country.)
The true child -protection, the child-protection of the
future, will take the form of the destruction of capitalism.
It is true that in a certain way, and within certain limits,
child-protection alleviates many of the evil effects of
capitalism. But there is no doubt whatever that the aims
of child-protection could be attained far more efficiently and
far more rapidly by the destruction of capitalism. If we
were to remove the causes which make child-protection
necessary, as they would be removed by the destruction of
capitalism, the need for child-protection would disappear.
But the causes which make child-protection necessary to-
day will not disappear until the State of the future comes
into being. The question presses, should we postpone our
attempts to deal with the symptoms of the disease, to palHate" '
Pros and Cons of Child- Protection 57
the defects of the existing social order, until the day arrives
"when "we shall be in a position to deal with these evils once
and for all by radical measures ?
No ! Even to-day we have to concern ourselves with
child-profection. The physician must not refuse to treat
his patient because the means available for treatment will
not suffice to cure. The wise physician does indeed endea-
vour to discover and to remove the causes of disease, but he
does not neglect the symptoms. He is well aware that the
disappearance of the symptoms does not indicate the cure
of the disease. Nevertheless, he holds it to be his duty to
prescribe certain remedies which do no more than relieve
symptoms. For in many cases symptoms are disagreeable
and even dangerous, and may actually lead to the death of
the patient, before there is time to bring into play methods
of treatment which might deal effectively with the causes
of the disease. Often, too, a remedial measure which does
no more than relieve symptoms may have an excellent effect
upon the general bodily well-being of the patient. There
are even cases in which a remedial measure exercises an un-
favourable influence upon the disease and upon the patient's
general condition, and none the less it has to be administered,
in order to ward off some greater evil. To-day, child-
protection is useful and even indispensable. It is true that
a well-planned social order affords the best child-protection,
"and such an order is of far greater value than chUd- protec-
tion in the narrower sense of the term ; but this does not
make the latter form of child-protection superfluous.
The Plight View. — The answers to the questions asked in
this chapter, and more especially the detailed answer to the
question, what subdivisions of child-protection are the most
important to-day, and what is the relative importance of these
various subdivisions, will be found in the Special Part of this
book. There I discuss the individual subdivisions of child-
protection, and discuss in each case the tendency of evolution.
Unquestionably, the tendency of evolution is in the direction
of the better regulation of the activities applicable to the
various subdivisions of child- protection.
CHAPTER VI
THE EXECUTIVE INSTRUMENTS OF CHILD-PROTECTION
Introductory.— In individual countries there are three dis-
tinct factors engaged in the relief of destitution : local govern-
ing bodies, the central government, and the community at
Jarger In different countries the various departments and
activities of poor-relief are differently distributed among these
several factors. Which of the three plays the leading part
in this work depends upon the pecuUar circumstances of
the individual country. In any country that factor which
predominates in the general and in the special work of ad-
ministrative and executive activity is likely also to play a
predominant part in the relief of destitution. The same three
factors co-operate in the work of child-protection ; and in any
country their relative shares in this work commonly (but not
necessarily) correspond to their relative shares in the work of
poor-relief.
In Italy, even to-day, all three of these factors — the local
authorities, the central government and the community at
large — are engaged in providing for the care of foundlings
and illegitimate children ; but the distribution of this work
among the three factors varies in different parts of the country,
these differences being referable to historical causes, and more
especially to the former territorial subdivisions of the country.
In many countries in which national responsibility for the
relief of destitution is unknown, many of the subdivisions
of child-protection are nevertheless administered by the State.
As an example may be mentioned the care of foundlings in
France. There is a special reason for this in France, in-
asmuch as, owing to the fact that in this country inquiries
as to the fatherhood of illegitimate children {la recherche cle
la paternite) are forbidden, the care of foundlings constitutes
The Executive Instruments of Child- Protection 59
a great, general, and very pressing need, which can best be
met by State action. In many countries in which the central
government is responsible for poor-relief, some of the most
important subdivisions of child-protection are administered
by voluntary associations ; England, the classical land of
governmental poor-relief, affords a good example of this. Here
the fact that in England voluntary associations, as the out-
come of the collective activity of the community at large, have
long exercised a decisive influence in all directions, accounts
for the special conditions to which attention has been drawn.
Local Governing Bodies. — When we are concerned mainly
with local conditions, the local governing bodies become
of primary importance. They are best acquamted with the
people and their needs, and their acquaintance with these is
the more intimate the smaller the community. Hence the
necessary duties can often be carried out most effectively
and most economically by the local authorities. Many retro-
grade local authorities, especially the smaller ones and those
in the country districts, are hostile to many of the applica-
tions of child-protection, regarding them as immoral, and they
may even be quite unable to grasp the mental attitude of those
who advocate child-protection. Many local authorities are
very slow to undertake any extensions of communal activity ;
either on account of this reluctance, or else because in small
communities the cost per ratepayer of the work of child-pro-
tection is easily calculated, they are apt to be too much in-.
fluenced by narrow financial considerations. This is, in fact,
the gravest defect of child-protection as carried out by local
authorities ; and this explains also why it is that many local
authorities either entirely neglect the most necessary work
of child-protection, or fail to perform it adequately; and it
explains why the institutions founded by such authorities for
the work of child-protection do not always fulfil the aims
with which they were originated. It is well known that in
many local government areas the homes for destitute orphans
are at the same time workhouses, poorhouscs, foci of all kinds
of evil elements. ' It is well known that even to-day certain
local authorities hand over the children for Avhose care they
are legally responsible, under indentures, to those who Avill
6o Elements of Child- Protection
take them for the smallest premium, the children receiving
a wage of from 20 to 30 marks yearly. For the reasons
explained, we find in many countries that the relief of desti-
tution and child-protection are associated throughout exten-
sive areas, and even that special ad hoc local authorities exist
to deal with these matters. Just what institutions we find
in any particular country will naturally depend upon how in
that country the individual executive and administrative
functions are allotted to the various municipal authorities,
district councils, and such ad hoc authorities as may exist.
The Community at Large. — Where the sphere of functional
activity of the local authority and of the central government
ends, there the sphere of the community at large begins. The
limit is that at which the local authority and the central
government regard their duties as fulfilled ; beyond this limit
they are unwilling to interfere, and the assistance they are
able to give is no longer adapted to the individual special
cases, because their work is not individual but bureaucratic.
Beyond this limit, then, the community at large must take
up the burden. The benevolent activities of the community
at large are better able than those of the central or local
authority to deal Avith individual cases. The work of the
State is done with head and intellect, that of the community
at large is done with heart and feeling. But great as these
advantages are, they are counterbalanced by very grave de-
fects. Child - protection undertaken by the community at
large is often nothing more than a multiplication of faineant
societies, and an arena for self-important busybodies who
wish to thrust themselves well forward in the public eye, but
are completely ignorant of the subject of child-protection.
(In Germany, for instance, no subdivision, however minute,
of the work of child-protection can be mentioned, which does
not possess a special "Society" to deal with the matter.)
Child-protection as undertaken by the community at large
lacks co-ordination with reference to any well-defined plan of
activity, it effects much that is unnecessary and even harm-
ful, whilst very necessary work is often done badly or not
at all. The expenditure of time and money are enormous ;
the results attained are exceedingly small.
The Executive Instruments of Child- Protection 6i
Of late years, especially in England and in the United
States of America, societies for the organisation of the volun-
tary charitable activities undertaken by the community at
large (the Charity Organisation Society, &c.) have come into
existence; these are central organs to effect the harmonious
co-ordination of philanthropic efforts, but do not usually them-
selves directly undertake charitable work. Such societies may
play a very useful part, but they do not render the organisation
and administration of poor-relief and child-protection by the
central government and the local authority altogether super-
fluous. A very instructive example of the centralisation of
voluntary activities for child-protection is that furnished by
the Ungarische Kinderschutzliga (Hungarian Child-Protection
League), founded in the year 1906. It is gradually absorbing
all the really valuable child-protection societies, founds and
administers all kinds of institutions for child-protection, is
directly associated with all the executive instruments of the
official work of child-protection, and sustains and amplifies the
work of government in this direction. Its work is supervised
from a central office in Buda-Pesth.
Tlie Central Government. — The central government must,
first of all, undertake those duties which, for financial reasons,
the municipal authorities, district councils, ad hoc authorities,
&c. cannot attempt. It must also satisfy certain general needs
— that is, those needs whose mode of satisfaction is unaffected
by varying local conditions. As in other departments of ad-
ministrative activity, so also in the sphere of child-protection,
a certain uniformity is requisite; and this uniformity can be
attained in no other way than by the intervention of the
central government. The satisfaction of very pressing needs,
the overcoming of extraordinary difiiculties, is possible only to
the central government. Even in those countries in which
local self-government is in a very advanced state of develop-
ment, it is better that such legislative activity as is requisite
in the domain of child-protection should be left to the central
government.
The central government more readily takes over the duties
of child-protection from the hands of the community at large
than from the local authorities. As time goes on, ecclesiastical
62 Elements of Child- Protection
and voluntary benevolent activities become ever less im-
portant and less extensive as compared witb those of the
State. AVhereas in ancient times private benevolence, and in
the Middle Ages ecclesiastical benevolence, played the principal
parts, in our own times these are more and more superseded
by organised communal effort operating through the central
government. At first the State takes over only the negative
side of destitution — police regulation of mendicancy and the
like. To-day there does not remain a single civilised State
without at least the first beginnings of a national relief of
destitution. The tendency to extend ever more widely the
province of national responsibility for the relief of destitution
is quite unmistakable. Those who oppose this tendency are
already in a minority, and their number continues to diminish.
State systems of poor-relief are by no means faultless, but the
errors are not ineradicable ; many of the defects are remediable,
and are, in fact, being remedied as time goes on. In this
respect the tendency of evolution in England, the classical
land of national poor-relief, is extremely satisfactory.
The central government is harder to move, has more
inertia, than the community at large. It is for this reason
that new departments of activity are always first undertaken
by the latter, and for this reason also that most of the sub-
divisions and institutions of child-protection owe their inception
and the first phases of theh development mainly to the com-
munity at large. But after this stage, when the new institution
has been put upon its trial, when it has become generally
diffused, and when its permanence is assured, it is taken over
by the State. But, even then, there still remains one field of
activity for the community at large, namely, to discover and
draw attention to the errors in the State administration of
child-protection. The development in Hungary of institutions
for the care of foundlings and other illegitimate children since
the beginning of the last quarter of the nineteenth century
may serve as an example of this.
Every social institution which originates on a broad basis
and meets a wide general need exhibits a natural tendency
towards a unified organisation and towards centralisation. We
see this tendency at work in the history of child-protection.
The Executive Instruments of Child-Protection 63
Another tendency of evolution is an enlargement in the sphere
of activity of the State, in the direction of the satisfaction of
all the important vital needs of the community by organised
communal effort, operating through the machinery of the
central government.
The national acceptance of responsibility for poor-relief
may take the form of the State being satisfied with the cen-
tralised and thorough governmental regulation of the relief
of destitution, the administrative details being left in the
hands of the local authorities and of the community at large.
Of course this is no more than a half-measure, and yet in
certain circumstances it may be an advantageous division of
labour. For, when we consider the respective roles of the
local authority and of the community at large in the work of
child-protection, we must not forget that both are engaged in
work delegated to them by the State, and for which the State
is really responsible. Moreover, the relief of destitution, and
that part of the work of child-protection analogous to the
relief of destitution, are intimately associated with the prob-
lems of household-right and of domicile ; because many
central governments admit responsibility for the destitute
only in the case of their own citizens, whilst in many coun-
tries a right to relief in case of destitution at the hands of the
local authority is acquired by residence merely. Thus the
problems of child-protection are interconnected with the legal
problems of local administrative activity ; and it may happen
that the local authorities undertake certain departments of
child-protection merely because these questions of domicile
form part of their circle of interests.
A Unified System of Laws for Child- Protectio7i. — Can the
State institute a unified system of laws for child-protection,
one comprising the entire legal material of child-protection ?
"In former times such provision as there was for child-pro-
tection existed only in a dispersed form, as part of laws with
other primary objects ; not until later, when the question of
child-protection had become one of considerable importance,
did laws come into being dealing specifically with this subject.
Provision for the enforcement in certain cases of a coercive
reformatory education was originally a mere supplementary
64 Elements of Child- Protection
provision of the criminal law or of certain borough by-laws;
but to-day, in many countries, special laws dealing with coercive
reformatory education have been passed by the central govern-
ment. The earliest special laws on the subject of child-protec-
tion dealt with the care of foundlings and illegitimate children,
this being the first subdivision of our subject to attain specific
importance.
The tendency of evolution is to codify, in a unified system
of laws, all the legal material bearing upon any particular
question. But a unified system of laws dealing with the
subject of child-protection is not at present attainable. For
child-protection is subject to change, almost from day to day
and from hour to hour. If the legislator wished to keep pace
with its development, he would have to alter and patch his
system of laws year by year ; but if this were done, the unified
character of the legal system would soon become illusory,
and numerous legal technical difficulties would inevitably
arise. The question of child-protection finds a place in every
department of law. There are many legal regulations regard-
ing children which, owing in part to the technique of legisla-
tion, and in part to other causes, are, for practical reasons,
best embodied in other laws. For example, laws relating to
guardianship and to the care of illegitimate children cannot
well be dealt with apart from the general laws bearing on family
relationships.
A Centralised Authority for Child- Protection. — Is a centralised
authority for child-protection possible ? That is, is it possible
to group under a unitary control all the agencies dealing with
the protection of children ? This idea certainly represents
the tendency of evolution. As regards the care of foundlings
and of illegitimate children, the tendency of evolution is in
the direction of family care, all the families with which such
children are placed being under the supervision of a single
central authority, which deals with them all in accordance
with identical principles. Still more clearly does this tendency
manifest itself in the foundation of children's courts, and in
the endeavour to extend the powers of these to embrace all
the legal relationships of children. In further exemplifica-
tion of this tendency may be mentioned the development of
The Executive Instruments of Child- Protection 65
infants' milk depots and of schools for mothers — a develop-
ment -which has by no means reached its climax. Unques-
tionably,' in the domain of child-protection, institutions which
originally appeared very different in character become unified.
Thus, infants' milk depots, schools for mothers, schools for
wet-nurses, legal advice in children's cases, &c., are now all
being administered in connection with foundling hospitals.
The claims of the other departments of national and social
life must not, however, be left out of account. Thus, whether
certain questions should be referred to the law-courts, or to
the local administrative authorities, to lawyers or doctors, to
architects or schoolmasters; whether a local administrative
authority should have the right to deal with one or two technical
questions only, such as arise in a particular administrative
area as to legal and executive powers, or with a number of
such questions ; whether certain duties should be undertaken
only by specialised institutions, or by institutions which also
subserve other functions — such questions as these mvolve a
reference to other considerations in addition to those directly
connected with child-protection.
Private and Official Activities. — To-day much of the work
of the relief of destitution and of child-protection is under-
taken by voluntary organisations, founded and administered
by private individuals who are engaged also in other activities.
These private persons work gratuitously, but often discharge
their duties better than professional salaried and permanently
appointed officials. Their work is better individualised, it is
less bureaucratic, and has more heart in it. These advantages
are the fruit of good-will and altruistic feeling. Neverthe-
less the role of voluntary societies becomes continually less
extensive. The tendency of evolution is to bring into opera-
tion more and more the principle of the division of labour,
so that questions needing expert knowledge are dealt with
by professional experts, persons permanently appointed for
such work, paid accordingly, and really in possession of the
specialised skill which is needed. The relief of destitution,
and child-protection are, as is well known, both questions for
experts ; and it becomes more and more necessary that their
administration should be in the hands of well-paid professional
E
66 Elements of Child- Protection
workers. Lawyers, although in the domain of child-protection
they are laymen merely, play a decisive part to-day in this
domain, as they do in most branches of administrative activity.
They are placed at the head of the expert administrators, and
have, if not the first word, what is perhaps even worse, the
last word, in the majority of technical questions. It is neces-
sary to enter an energetic protest against this predominance
of lawyers. It is absolutely essential that not only the
salaried professional workers, but also all those who take part
in the work of child-protection in honorary offices or as
occasional voluntary helpers, should receive an appropriate
training for their work. Quite recently has originated the
idea of Schools of Public Welfare — Schools and a Curriculum
for Child-Protection. We must carefully distinguish from
such schools for professional workers, courses of lectures whose
purpose merely is to acquaint wider circles with the aims
and methods of child-protection, or to initiate novices into
such work.
The Medical Frofession.— The most important task of child-
protection is the protection of children's health. The persons
who should undertake the management of this department
are those who possess the requisite expert knowledge in
matters of health — that is to say, medical practitioners and
specialists in the diseases of children. In most branches of
child-protection, medical practitioners now play an important
part. It rests with them to determine whether there does
or does not exist a contra-indication to marriage. They have
to render assistance before and during childbirth, they are
the most important instruments for the protection of infants
and for the care of foundlings and illegitimate children, and
as consultants and administrators they exercise important
activities in the domain of child-labour. Their part in other
subdivisions of child-protection will be discussed in detail in
a later chapter of this work. The importance of the work
of medical practitioners continually increases. The tendency
in almost all departments of child-protection is to arrange for
a preliminary examination of the children by the doctor.
Among the various reasons for such an examination, we may
mention that in the case of uncontrollable children and
The Executive Instruments of Child- Protection 6^
juvenile criminals the doctor can make a thorough examina-
tion of the child's physical and mental condition, and upon
this examination he will base a decision, whether the child
should be placed in family or institutional care, in a reforma-
tory school, or in some other specialised institution — as, for
example, a home for mentally abnormal children ; further, it
is the doctor's duty to examine all children, before they begin
to work for a living, as to their physical fitness, and upon the
results of this examination to base an opinion whether the
child is fit to earn its living at all, and if so, whether the trade
selected by the relatives is a suitable one. The tendency is,
further, that the doctor should give an opinion regarding the
method of protection suited for the particular child. Quite
recently, indeed, the desire has been widely and strongly
expressed that all children should be subjected to continuous
and appropriate medical control. The institution of school
physicians, supplemented in recent days by medical control
of the domestic environment of the school children, shows
clearly that such medical supervision of all children is likely
in time to become universal. In addition, we owe a great
deal to the doctors in connection with the literature of child-
protection. The ablest and most important works in this
specialty are by physicians. In several handbooks of hygiene,
most of the problems of child-protection receive attention,
although the matter is not always treated very systematically.
The enormous influence which medical science has exercised
and continues to exercise upon the development of the indivi-
dual branches of child-protection will become apparent in the
Special Part of this work.
Women. — To what extent can women play a part as
executive instruments of child-protection ? Women are
better fitted than men to supervise the bodily care of
children. Women can more readily gain the confidence of
those who need support and protection — above all, the confi-
dence of other women (especially of lonely and forsaken
women) and of children. They are better judges than men
of defects in housekeeping and how to remedy them. Many
things are confided to women which are kept hidden from
men ; and women can remedy many concealed defects where
68 Elements of Child- Protection
men could do no good. Such duties as these are commonly
performed by women more conscientiously than by men, &c.
The following arguments have been put forward against
the employment of women: {a) Women ought not to be
exposed to the dangers and inconveniences inseparable from
visiting the houses of the poor and other places subject
to inspection; (5) Women are gossiping, soft-hearted, and
credulous, so that they are unable to exercise authority, and
are inclined to pay undue attention to exaggerated and
quite irrelevant statements; (c) They interfere too much in
the management of the households of the foster-parents, &c.
These arguments are worthless. Besides, the question of
the employment of women in such capacities can only be
decided fairly with reference to the individual subdivisions of
the work of child-protection. Unquestionably, women are
suitably employed as children's nurses, matrons of children's
homes, governesses and school-mistresses, wet-nurses, medical
practitioners, factory inspectors, sick-nurses, confidential agents
of the official guardians of children, visitors of foster-parents.
Where the common people have no confidence in women
employees, for example, in rough, uncultivated districts, where,
in the interests of child-protection, police intervention is
necessary, as, for example, in the case of morally depraved and
uncontrollable children, and where trusteeship has to be
undertaken as in the case of orphan children who are heirs
to considerable property, women cannot be employed. The
tendency of evolution is to employ women as executive instru-
ments of child-protection, and, indeed, to employ them as
salaried public officials.
Numerous and serious objections must, however, be raised
against the idea that ladies belonging to the upper classes
should find amusement and reUef from the tedium of their
ordinary life by engaging in some branch of the work of
child-protection (such as supervising the work of midwives,
or visiting the foster-parents of boarded-out children). The
work of such women is of little value in itself, and it takes
bread out of the mouths of women who could do the same
work very much better professionally and as a means of
livelihood.
SPECIAL PART
^.—DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL LAW AND
INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS
CHAPTER I
MAREIAGE AND PARENTAL AUTHORITY
Introdvxtory. — The two chief purposes of human life are,
first, the maintenance of the individuals of the species, and,
secondly, the reproduction of the species. The laws relating
to property subserve the former aim ; those relating to the
family subserve the latter. Property itself is the central
feature of the former, and the family is the central feature of
the latter.
Parental Authority and Marriage. — The laws of family life
are based upon a physiological or psychological foundation,
the love of parents for their children. In cases in which the
legal regulation of family life is unduly harsh — as in the case
of the maintenance in former times of parental authority in
the interest of the parents — parental love exercises a mitigat-
ing and counteracting influence.
To-day, the duty of parents to devote themselves to the
careful upbringing of their children is universally accepted
on principle. (There is but one exception to this generalisa-
tion : the duty of the father to provide for the upbringing of
an illegitimate child is not as yet generally accepted on
principle.) The duty of parents to provide for the up-
bringing of their children is one prescribed, not only by
nature and morality, but also by the laws of human society.
And yet this duty is not directly established by law ; although
it seems possible that children might be able to enforce by
legal process the duty of their parents to exercise their
parental authority in accordance with accepted rules. The
72 Elements of Child- Protection
obligation to provide for the upbringing of their children is
legally imposed on parents, if only for the reason that the
liabilities thus incurred through the sexual act withhold
many persons from needless and excessive sexual indulgence
— and such conditional abstinence is advantageous, not merely
to the individual, but also to the community. The upbring-
ing of children rests upon the legal basis of parental authority.
The suitable upbringing of the offspring is best ensured when
the legal relationships between the sexes are properly regu-
lated. In all times, the essence of such regulation has
consisted in the fact that a particular form of sexual union
offers certain advantages, but that the acceptance of these
advantages involves the performance of certain duties. This
particular form of sexual union is known as marriage.
History of Marriage. — It is a debatable question whether
matriarchy ever really existed. The question interests us
here only for the reason that many modern scholars, includ-
ing many Socialists, contend that matriarchy did at one time
really exist ; and they infer from this that a time will come
in which the sexes will have equal rights. In actual fact, in
recent times, the importance of patriarchy — the father right —
has continually diminished.
Child- Protection and the Family. — An overwhelmingly large
proportion of child-protection to-day is mainly concerned with
cases in which children have (in one sense or another,
materially or morally, permanently or temporarily, wholly or
partially) been abandoned by their parents. Such cases are
those in which : {a) the parents are unable to fulfil their
duties, on account of lack of means, illness, or absence ;
{I) the parents are unwilling to fulfil their duties; {c) the
parents make an improper use of their parental authority.
But certain children also need protection from the community
who cannot in any sense whatever be said to have been
abandoned by their parents ; and it is altogether erroneous
to suppose that the idea of " child-protection " has reference
solely to abandoned children. The child is born in a state of
complete helplessness, and is unable to protect itself, not only
immediately after birth, but for a considerable time after-
wards. It lacks the requisite organs for self-protection, it
Marriage and Parental Authority
/o
lacks power, and it lacks instinctive knowledge. For these
reasons, if our legal system makes provision for the protection
of adults, a fortiori must it do so, and to a greater extent, in
the case of children. From all these considerations it follows
that the most important relationships of child-protection are
not, as is commonly assumed, with criminal law and with
local administrative activity, but with civil law and indi-
vidual rights. The kind and degree of child-protection,
depend chiefly upon the mutual relationships existing between
the State and the family. The institutions of child-protection, \
in so far as they are associated with civil law and individual i
rights, will, as a rule, be found to be preventive in character ; J
institutions based upon criminal law, on the other hand,
commonly exhibit punitive and repressive tendencies, as will
become apparent when a number of concrete instances are
studied. If the legal relationships of family life undergo
changes, the methods of child - protection will also be
transformed.
Maternal Authority. — In the matter of love for the off-
spring the mother, for physiological reasons (pregnancy,
parturition, and lactation), stands on a higher plane than
the father. The intensity of her love for her children
explains the fact that the mother neither needs nor exer-
cises much parental authority. Moreover, inasmuch as
hitherto the mother has always been in a state of greater
or less subjection to the father, parental authority has at
all times chiefly taken the form of paternal authority. But
as time goes on, this paternal authority is, m fact, tending to
be transformed very gradually into a true parental authority ;
that is to say, the mother begins to exercise the rights and
to perform the duties of parental authority in a manner
parallel with or subsidiary to that of the father. To-day
we stand at the beginning of this development. Its chief
cause is the profound transformation of economic life, as a
result of which women are to an ever greater extent entering
the arena as wage-earners, whilst the differences between the
legal position of men and women continually diminish.
Fiduciary Cha.racter of Parental Authority. — Formerly,
parental authority took the form mainly of a right of
74 Elements of Child- Protection
dominion over the child, subserving chiefly the interests of
the head of the family — the patriarch. The more complete
the social integration of any particular country, the more in
that country does paternal authority assume a fiduciary
character, the character of a protective authority, arising
out of the child's natural need for protection, and subserving
its need for guardianship. Owing to their possession of
parental authority, it is the duty and the right of the parents to
; exercise the guardianship over their children in every capacity ;
I as the legal representatives of those of their children who are
I still under age, the parents are competent to act on behalf of
I and in the name of their children. Thus the second charac-
teristic of the developmental tendency of parental authority
is, that that authority involves the acceptance of an ever-
increasing number of duties, and also that the State, through
the intermediation of Boards of Guardianship ^ exercises a
control over the parents which was almost unknown in
former times.
In the modern State, the following ideas as to parental
authority are generally prevalent. Parental authority involves
duties as well as rights. Our laws give rights to parents only
in order to enable them to fulfil their duties. They are, in
a sense, plenipotentiaries of the State, entrusted with the duty
of bringing up their children in a state of bodily, mental, and
moral health, and of ensuring that these children shall develop
in such a way that they will be useful to society. To enable
them to attain these ends, parents are endowed with certain
rights. Just as, in the matter of public education, the State
enforces upon the child a minimum of school attendance, even
against the wishes of the parents, so also, in the general
upbringing of children, the State enforces a certain standard,
with which all parents have to comply.
The Elementary Frinciples of State Interference with Parental
^ Boards of Guardianship. — This term is not used in the sense in which in
England we speak of Boards of Guardians, to denote the ad hoc local authorities
which administer the English Poor Law, but to denote local committees which,
in the continental system of child-protection, administer the functions for which
the State is responsible in its capacity of "Over-Parent" (an expressive and
convenient term we owe to Mr. H. G. Wells). Dr. Engel suggests Court of
Orphans or Court of Wards as alternate English terms.— Teanslatok's Note.
Marriage and Parental Atithority 75
Authority. {The State as " Over- Parent") — The modern State
interferes with parental authority in accordance with the
following' principles. It is impossible for the State to super-
vise in detail the domestic life of millions of families, or to
examine the soundness of the upbringing which millions of
parents provide for their children. For these reasons, the
State can intervene only in cases in which the conviction
arises that by the conduct of the parents the mental or
physical well-being of the child has been endangered, and
thereby the interest of the State seriously threatened. If one
endowed with parental authority has disturbed the natural
foundations of that authority by criminal offences or immoral
conduct, and has thus shown himself unworthy of the con-
fidence exhibited in him by the State which has hitherto
permitted b^m to exercise parental authority, the State is fully
justified in depriving him of his delegated powers. In its
own interest, in such cases, the State is compelled to withdraw
the parental authority wholly or partially, and even to order
that the child shall be removed from its parents' house, to be
brought up in a suitable family, in a reformatory school, or in/
some other mstitution {Zwangserziehung, Fursorgeerzichung).
The legislator is not in a position to define in precise
terms the cases in which parental authority should be with-
drawn, or the child transferred to other guardianship than
that of the parents; it must suffice to explain the general
principles which the Boards of Guardianship (see note on last
page) have to apply at their own discretion.
There can be no question of the need for State interference
when the parents are leading a disorderly or immoral life ;
when they are ill-using or exploiting their child ; when they are
quite ignorant of the proper way of bringing up children ; or
when, owing to severe illness, alcoholism, morphinism, or utter
destitution, they are obviously unfitted to bring up their own
children. Since long drawn-out proceedings in the law courts
are desirable in the interests neither of the parents nor of the
children, it is better that the procedure in these cases should
not in the first instance necessarily involve an application to
the law courts. But the parents mast have the right of
appeal to the courts, if they consider they have been unjustly
76 Elements of Child- Protection
treated by depriving them of the custody of their child.
Although the institution of such education under guardian-
ship must not be made dependent upon the financial position
of the parents, these latter should be made responsible for the
greater part of the cost. Unless this were done, for parents
to neglect their children would be a step towards shaking off a
financial burden — those parents would be rewarded who failed
to bring up their children properly ; this would naturally still
further weaken the parents' sense of responsibility; and this
again, by a vicious circle, would still further encourage them
to neglect their children. Indeed, we have to ask whether, in
the case of parents able to pay, an effective system of forced
labour might not be introduced.
The withdrawal of parental authority must on no account
be regarded as a punishment. There may be cases in which
the parents are quite blameless, and yet in the interests of the
child it may be absolutely necessary to abrogate the parental
authority ; or, in similar cases, it may be necessary, for educa-
tional purposes, to remove the child from its home. Again,
it often happens, for example, that only the father is to blame,
and yet the mother cannot be permitted to exercise her parental
authority, but the child must be removed from its home,
because in no other way can the harmful influence of the
father be overcome. There are worthy parents who, simply
from an excessive blind affection for their children, fail to
bring them up properly; there are worthy working-class
parents who have positively no time to attend satisfactorily to
the upbringing of their children.
CHAPTER II
MARRIAGE AND HEREDITY
Heredity in General. — Heredity is a general phenomenon of
natural life. The offspring resembles the parent to a greater
or less degree. In the human species, also, children on the
average resemble their own parents more closely than they
resemble other persons, but the degree to which this resem-
blance is manifested is a variable one, and it remains an open
question whether the concrete qualities and capabilities where-
by the parents are distinguished from other persons are trans-
mitted to their offspring by inheritance. It is possible that
the qualities of the parents may not appear at all in the
children; that they may appear somewhat modified, or in a
very different form ; that they may remain latent in one or
more generations, to reappear in the grandchildren or great-
grandchildren ; or that the qualities of the parents may not
appear to be present in the children at birth, but that as the
latter grow up, these qualities may make their appearance at
the same age at which they appeared in the parents. It is
still in dispute whether qualities acquired by the parents are
inherited by the offspring ; nor is there general agreement as
to what are the precise limits between inherited and acquired
characters, respectively. This question as to the inheritance
of acquired characters is one of profound importance; for if
acquired characters are not inherited, racial improvement can
be effected solely by means of the struggle for existence, and
the continued elimination of the weaker elements of the
species.^
1 Unless and until humanity is able and willing to apply its intelligence
to purposive racial improvement, by discouragement of the procreation of the
less fit, and by encouragement of the iirocrcation of the more fit— by an appli-
cation, that is to say, of the principle of negative or restrictive eugenics, on the
one hand, and the principle of positive or constructive eugenics, on the other.
— Translatok's Note.
77
yS Elements of Child- Protection
Inheritance of Diseases. — The word " disease " is used here
in the widest possible signification. Diseased parents as a rule
procreate diseased children, or bring up diseased individuals.
But the physical, mental, and moral defects of the parents
may make their appearance in the children in a transmuted
form. A disease in the parent, when transmitted by inherit-
ance, may appear in the offspring as general weakness, either
bodily, mental, or moral ; or it may appear in the form of a
predisposition to the particular disease ; and conversely, that
which in the parent is no more than predisposition to a disease,
may appear in the offspring in the form of the actual disease.
In concrete instances, it may be very difficult to determine
whether persons are or are not diseased. Again, with respect
to atavism and to the hereditary transmission of latent qualities,
it is questionable whether, in cases in which the subject of in-
vestigation is not himself affected with disease, but his near
relatives are so affected, we have reason to fear the hereditary
transmission of harmful consequences to the offspring. It is
especially with regard to the male sex that the question of
the hereditary transmission of morbid qualities is so important,
for, in marriage, it is the male partner who contributes the
greater proportion of the diseases.
It is not through inheritance only that diseases may be
transmitted from parents to children ; the same result may
follow from the fact that parents and children live in such
close association, or because children are brought up by their
parents. The existence of morbid qualities or conditions in
the parents may lead in the offspring, not only to the inherit-
ance of disease, but to other disastrous results. Morbid
conditions in either parent, besides being transmitted to the
offspring by inheritance, may be communicated by the husband
to the wife, or by the wife to the husband, either in the act of
sexual intercourse, or through the close association of married
life. Parents suffering from disease cannot bring up their
children properly. The treatment of their own illness may be
very costly, and may involve the expenditure of much time
and pains, and these things work adversely to the interest of
the children. Sickly parents whose children are likewise sickly
are apt to endeavour to make up for the deficient quality of
Marriage and Heredity 79
their offspring by an increase in their number, whereby matters
are made considerably worse. Those who enter into marriage
when ah'eady ill are apt subsequently to reproach themselves
upon their conduct towards their sexual partners ; this is likely
to react unfavourably upon the illness, and to disturb the
married life, to the disadvantage of the children. Sickly
parents die sooner than healthy ones, whereby the children
are prematurely orphaned, and are exposed to the dangers of
poverty. The state of engagement to marry (with conse-
quent ungratified sexual excitement up to the time of
marriage), sexual intercourse, pregnancy, and childbirth, may
all exercise an unfavourable influence upon the diseased
organism, may favour or accelerate the course of the
disease, and may even lead to its fatal issue. From the
children's point of view, all these things are extremely un-
desirable. Thus, there are certain persons to whom marriage
is permissible, but who should on no account procreate
children — that is to say, such a married pair may enjoy
sexual congress, but must not fail to use efficient means
for the prevention of conception.
Individual Diseases. — {a) Of all diseases transmissible by
inheritance, mental disorders pass most readily from parents
to offspring, and undergo the least alteration as they pass.
In the etiology of mental disorders, hereditary transmission
plays an important part.
(&) It is still undecided whether alcohol is a specific pro-
toplasmic poison ; but it is an indisputable fact that, among
the offspring of those addicted to alcohol, the ill effects of the
parental alcoholism may be displayed in other ways besides
by the appearance of alcoholic tendencies m the next genera-
tion. The children of drunkards tend to be cruel, dissolute,
dirty in their habits, hypersensitive, or themselves inclined
to drink ; and in any or all of these ways they may be a
danger to society. For example, it has been found in wine-
growing districts that the children born in any one year are
stupider in proportion as the vintage of their birth-year was
a good one. Often the effects of alcohol are better marked
in the children of alcoholics than in the parents themselves.
When both parents are drunkards, the children are apt to
8o Elements of Child- Protection
suffer from moral insanity; and the offspring of drunkards
tend to become criminals. Children whose parents were in
a state of actual inebriety at the time of procreation will
most probably be feeble-minded. Since alcohol increases
sexual desire, even though it diminishes sexual potency,
alcoholics tend to procreate more children than non-alco-
holics ; but any advantage that might ensue from the greater
quantity of the offspring is more than outbalanced by their
inferior quality. And because alcohol strengthens sexual
desire, the number of alcoholics who were procreated by
parents in a state of inebriety is considerable. Some experts
contend that if the father is a drinker, the daughter is unable
to suckle her own children.
(c) What has been said regarding alcoholism applies also
to some extent to morphinism.
icl) Tuberculosis is not directly transmitted by inheritance.
But the predisposition to tuberculosis is so transmitted ; that is
to say, it is regarded as unquestionable that an inferior power
of resistance to the virus of tubercle passes by inheritance
from parent to offspring. Those predisposed to tuberculosis
tend to have a vigorous sexual impulse, and exhibit a high
degree of fertility.
(c) Gonorrhoea lessens or destroys fertility to such an
extent that, in from 40 to 50 per cent, of childless marriages,
the sterility is referable to gonorrhoeal infection. Gonorrhcea,
i.e. specific gonorrhoeal urethritis or vaginitis, is not itself
transmissible by inheritance; but gonorrhoea in the parent
may lead to certain diseases in the offspring, and the most
important of these is ophthalmia of the new-born^ — the com-
monest cause of blindness.
(/) Syphilis is in most cases transmissible by in-
heritance. The children of syphilitic parents are commonly
feeble-minded or idiotic; or bodily, mentally, or morally
degenerate ; and they possess an inferior power of resistance
to diseases.
Tlic Age of the Parents. — The age of the parents at the
time of procreation has a marked influence upon the health
of the offspring. The parents should not be too young. It
is not well that the mother should be less than twenty, or
Marriage and Heredity 8i
the father less than twenty-four years of age. Many of the
children of such extremely youthful parents are weakly, and
have poor health. On the other hand, the parents should
not be very old. When the mother is over forty and the
father over fifty years of age, the children are apt to be
weakly; also they are apt to be left orphaned at a com-
paratively early age. It is also undesirable that there should
be a great difference between the ages of the parents. Thus
the parents should be young, but not too young. The
younger they are, the more children can they procreate — first
of all, because their fertility is greater in youth, and, secondly,
because their married life lasts longer. Qualitatively, also,
the children of such marriages are usually healthier. As a
matter of fact, the age indicated is the normal age for
marriage — the age at which the great majority enter upon
marriage.
The Marriage of Near Kin. — We still lack precise informa-
tion to enable us to decide whether the marriage of near kin
is injurious to the offspring of such marriages. According to
certain (unoflScial) statistics, of 1000 marriages, from 7 to 11
are those of persons near akin. Naturally, in certain remote
and inaccessible districts, the proportion of such marriages
is greater than this. Two very different views have been put
forward by scientific authorities. According to one school,
the marriages of persons near akin either prove completely
sterile, or else produce offspring defective in body or in mind.
According to the other school, blood relationship has per se
no influence upon the offspring of the unions of nearly-related
persons ; where the parents (in such marriages) are themselves
free from defects transmissible by inheritance, there is no
reason to anticipate that the offspring will be in any way
defective, unless other noxious influences (in addition to the
kinship of the parents), such as disease, debility, exhaustion
from previous excesses, &c., have been at work. But if such
noxious influences have affected both parents, the danger of
some congenital defect appearing in the children is very great.
We certainly see many cases in which the marriage of near
kin results in the procreation of largo and thoroughly healthy
families; but, in contrast with these, we also see many cases
F
82 Elements of Child- Protection
in which the offspring of such marriages have proved non-
viable or degenerate (especially, bHnd, deaf-mute, idiotic, in-
sane, polydactylous, or affected with congenital developmental
defects).
Marriages between persons whose qualities are extremely
divergent, and marriages between persons whose qualities are
too closely similar, are alike undesirable. Neither the offspring
of marriages between those belonging to different races nor the
offspring of marriages between those too closely related appear
to be a gain for the race. It is the degree of divergence or of
resemblance which here plays the decisive part.
It remains a subject of controversy whether the institution
of exogamy originated from the fact that it was regarded as
desirable to refresh the blood of the tribe by cross-fertilisation
with the blood of another tribe. But it is incontestably estab-
lished that since historic times began there has existed in the
human race a natural antipathy to incestuous sexual relations,
and more especially to incestuous marriages. The mental
abnormahties seen in the offspring of incestuous marriages are
to a large extent expHcable from the fact that the incestuous
relationship was itself the outcome of mental abnormality in
those who entered upon that relationship.
The possibihty of the hereditary transmission of disease
is greater in the case of the marriage of near kin than it is in
ordinary marriages. When both parents suffer from the same
transmissible defect, the likelihood that that defect will mani-
fest itself m the offsprmg in a graver form is greatly increased.
Thus, in the case of the offspring of nearly related persons,
the probability of the appearance of certain transmissible
defects is considerable. For perfectly healthy parents are
rarities, and when husband and wife are closely related the
probability that both will suffer from the same transmissible
defect or disorder is relatively high.
Disease in the Parents from the Legal Standpoint. — In relation
to marriage, disease has a twofold significance: on the one
hand, it may be a factor leading to the dissolution of the
marriage (owing to divorce, nullity of marriage, venereal in-
fection); on the other hand, the existence of disease may
prevent marriage. Very naturally, the latter factor is of
Marriage and Heredity ^'^^
preponderant importance, because we lay the chief stress upon
prevention. It is for this reason that so little attention is
paid to the legal significance of the former factor.
Divorce. — In cases in which one partner to a marriage
suffers from disease, divorce should be rendered as easy as
possible. The interests of the children are often put forward
as reasons against this course. There is no doubt that many
married couples to-day refrain from separation or divorce solely
because they regard it as to their children's interest that they
should continue to live together. But it is precisely on the
ground of the children's interest that such marriages ought to
be dissolved, and that the child or children should remain
with the healthy parent. The opposite course would only
destroy the happiness of the healthy parent, without doing
the other paront any good.
Marriage-Prohibitions in Past Times. — The marriage-prohi-
bitions of former times may be classified under two heads,
ecclesiastical and civil. The leading principle of the canon
law of marriage is the limitation to monogamy of the permis-
sible forms of the sexual relationship. More strictly, indeed,
we may say, the limitation to ecclesiastical marriage. Mar-
riage is a sacrament, and therefore indissoluble ; it conforms
to ecclesiastical law only when certain formalities have been
observed, and when no ecclesiastical prohibition has been
infringed (differences in religious belief, broken vows, &c.).
Civil marriage prohibitions date chiefly from the seven-
teenth and eighteenth centuries. They owe their origin to
the fear lest parents should allow their offspring to become
chargeable to the community, and especially to the poor-law
authorities. Such marriage-prohibitions, of course, concerned
chiefly the lower classes of the population, and especially
mendicants, prostitutes, persons in receipt of poor relief, persons
of disorderly life, offenders against the criminal law. A mar-
riage concluded in defiance of such prohibitions involved the
deprivation of certain legal rights, and also rendered the
offenders liable to punishment.
To-day, in the sphere of marriage-law, ecclesiastical law has
largely lost significance, and continues to lose what little it
still possesses, so that its marriage-prohibitions are coming to
84 Elements of Child- Protection
possess little more than historical interest. The civil marriage
prohibitions were repealed in the nineteenth century, because
they were found to have no other effect than to increase the
number of illegal unions and the births of illegitimate children,
and because they merely increased the burdens upon the
poor-law. Even in the nineteenth century, however, certain
political parties — the Conservatives, for example — desire that
these civil prohibitions should be reintroduced, but in this
form, that the marriage of persons actually in receipt of poor
relief should be forbidden, or that persons belonging to the
lower classes should be allowed to marry only when able to
demonstrate the possession of a small capital.
Marriage-prohibitions still exist to-day. The difference is
merely this, that in place of the ecclesiastical prohibitions and
the civil prohibitions affecting members of the lower classes,
moral, hygienic, and economic prohibitions and hindrances have
come into being, affecting the middle classes. The State, as a
rule, insists upon absolute celibacy in the case of its female
employees. Soldiers and officers are hemmed in by rigid
regulations, by which marriage is to a large extent rendered
impossible ; in the case of the proletariat, the liability to
compulsory military service offers the greatest obstacle to
early marriage. From Catholic priests, ecclesiastical prohibi-
tions demand absolute celibacy. As the result of these various
marriage-prohibitions, many persons who would probably have
been able to procreate healthy children are prevented marrying.
But there is to-day hardly ahy difficulty in the way of the
marriage of persons whose union is likely to lead to the pro-
creation of defective children. At most, minors, certified
lunatics, confirmed drunkards, wards in chancery, and near
relatives are forbidden to marry.
Froiposed Reforms. — Increasing attention is, however, being
paid to the possible legal applications of the doctrine of evolu-
tion. Even those who are opposed to any radical reforms see
that persons suffering from communicable venereal disease
must be unconditionally forbidden, on pain of very severe
punishment, not merely to contract marriage, not merely to
practise sexual intercourse, but to perform any act, of what-
ever kind, by which they could communicate infection. The
existing state of the law, by which, notwithstanding the great
Marriage and Heredity 85
frequency of sucli occurrences, isolated instances only of the
transmission of venereal diseases are punished (for example,
the case of the nurse who infects the child entrusted to her
care), is altogether unsatisfactory ; the communication of any
kind of venereal infection, in any possible way, should be
severely punished.
Those who recognise the need for improving the human
species by purposive selection go much further than this.
They desire that every person with regard to whom there
is strong reason to believe that his or her offspring would
be diseased, and every man or woman in a state in which
he or she would transmit infection to the sexual partner,
should be stringently forbidden to marry. Such persons are :
those with disease of the central nervous system, mental dis-
order, mental weakness, epilepsy, hysteria, idiocy; those with
diminished moral responsibility ; those suffering from syphilis,
gonorrhoea, tuberculosis, rachitis ; cripples, &c.
Objections. — The following objections are raised by those
who are adverse to the institution of such marriage pro-
hibitions as these : (a) They limit personal freedom, and
even in some cases actually abolish it. (&) By means of
marriage-prohibitions, it is possible to limit the number of
legitimate children born, but not the number of children as
a whole, since persons to whom legal marriage is forbidden
will in that case procreate illegitimate children. But it is
far from being desirable that this should happen. All the
defects previously enumerated would be present in such
children, and their birth would be unconditionally harmful
to society. It is statistically proved that marriage-prohibi-
tions lead to an increase in the number of illegitimate births.
In Bavaria, for example, down to the year 1868, the local
authorities imposed an unconditional veto upon the marriage
of persons supported solely by wage- earning; against this pro-
hibition there was no appeal Avhatever. In the year 1868 was
passed the law relating to marriage and domicile, by which
most of the former marriage-prohibitions were repealed. The
sequel of this was that, whereas from 1854 to 1868 illegiti-
mate births constituted 22 per cent, of all births, in the seven
years following 1868 the percentage of illegitimate births fell
to 12 6 per cent, (c) It is better, say the objectors, that a
86 Elements of Child-Protection
man suffering from venereal disease should marry, for in that
case he makes only one woman unhappy and procreates a
few children only. But if he is forbidden to marry, he has
intercourse with numerous women, especially with prosti-
tutes, he infects many women, and procreates more children.
{d) Marriage-prohibitions do not prevent unhappy marriages
only, but also those which would be likely to prove happy.
Many couples enter into marriage for other reasons than
desire for sexual intercourse. There are also many sick
persons upon whom marriage exercises a curative influence
— curing, or at least alleviating, the disease from which they
suffer. For example, many alcoholics become abstemious or
temperate as a result of marriage ; many weakly and delicate
girls become strong and healthy women when they marry.
Many marriages are happy although husband and wife do
not practise sexual intercourse ; and it is by no means uncom-
mon for a woman to marry a sick man simply because she
pities him, and wishes to act as his sick-nurse, (e) Marriage-
prohibitions accentuate class contrasts. (/) Diseased persons
commonly have no offspring, {g) Diseased persons to whom,
after consideration of their case, marriage is permitted, have the
responsibility taken out of their hands, and consequently tend
to lose all sense of responsibility. (A) Marriage- prohibitions
interfere with natural selection, inasmuch as they render im-
possible the acquirement of immunity to disease and the pro-
cess of regeneration. {%) It would be a logical counterpart to
marriage-prohibitions to compel healthy persons to enter
upon marriage — a course that is obviously impracticable.
The, Bight View. — The prohibitions suggested in the sec-
tion on " Proposed Reforms " are sound in principle. The
prevention of the birth of such children as are born in the
absence of effective prohibitions of this kind, effects an enor-
mous social economy. The children of thoroughly healthy
parents, who have married from love, are the healthiest ; such
marriages are, therefore, to be promoted. But it does not
follow that all other marriages than these should be pre-
vented. This would go too far, and would, moreover, be
utterly impracticable. Marriage-prohibitions must not err
by excess, and too energetic intervention in these matters
is undesirable. For such a course of action would render
Marriage and Heredity 87
it impossible for very raany persons to marry; and, in fact,
no one with any disease, mild or severe, and no one with any
kind of defect of body or mind, could enter upon marriage.
All that is practicable is, in the first place, to prevent the
marriage of those who are obviously suffering from serious
disease; and, in the second place, to prevent the marriage
of persons exhibiting defects of bodily development, or in
whom the sexual characters are inadequately developed, even
though such persons cannot be said to be suffering from dis-
ease {e.g. women with weakly-formed breasts, with poor hips,
with a badly-formed pelvis, &c.)
Passing now to consider the objections in detail, {a) is
true. But the mode of action of a State which introduces
such marriage-prohibitions differs quantitatively only, not
qualitatively, from the mode of action of other States to-day.
The marriage-prohibitions now in existence certainly limit
personal freedom ; but in other departments of the activity
of the modern State we encounter numerous institutions by
which individual liberty is far more seriously impaired. Con-
sider, for instance, compulsory military service: the modern
State insists that all young men shall undergo a medical
examination, and that those found to be physically fit shall
devote the best years of their life to the service of the State.
Besides, when we are considering the common weal, the question
of individual liberty is no longer decisive. The notion that
it is an inalienable right of every human being to found a
family may be quietly dismissed as a piece of egregious senti-
mentality. (&) By punitive measures, and by the diffusion of
enlightenment, it is possible to prevent the classes of persons
here mentioned from entering into illegitimate sexual relation-
ships. Women will not allow themselves to become entangled
with men to whom, for the reasons here considered, marriage
is forbidden ; first of all, because such men are considered to
be of inferior worth ; in the second place, because, in view of
the fact that an intimacy (liaisoii) cannot lead to marriage,
the intimacy is regarded as fruitless, (c) The probability of
transmitting venereal infection and the probability of pro-
creating children are both considerably greater in cases of
long-enduring intimacy than where there are numerous, brief,
frequently-changed sexual relationships, (d) It is altogether
88 Elements of Child- Protection
exceptional for marriage to exercise a curative influence upon
the progress of a disease, and this probability is one which
can never be counted upon. Once the marriage is contracted,
sexual intercourse and the procreation of children cannot be
prevented. (/) As regards persons suffering from tuberculosis
and alcoholism, the reverse of what was stated in objection (/)
is definitely established. {K) The data available as to the
immunising influence of inherited diseases against the same
diseases accidentally acquired {e.g. of congenital syphilis against
acquired syphilis) are extremely debatable. They seem, indeed,
to show provisionally that such an immunising eff'ect is non-
existent. The question of regeneration is still obscure, and
requires thorough investigation. It is certainly possible that
in some cases intermarriage between the diseased and the
healthy may lead, not to the deterioration, but to the improve-
ment of the race, owing to the fact that thereby favourable
elements are introduced into the family. The principal argu-
ment against this idea of regeneration is that, from marriages
in which both parties are healthy, healthier offspring un-
questionably result, than from marriages in which one or
both parties are diseased. The resulting postulate is, that
the healthy should marry the healthy.
Hoio to Effect Reforms. — No general rules can be formulated
regarding the marriage of persons suffering from disease. The
majority of diseases are of such a nature that their existence
can be established only by means of direct medical examination.
In most cases, medical examination will not justify the asser-
tion that the particular person must be altogether forbidden
to marry, but only that this particular person ought not to
marry some other specifically indicated individual ; should the
question arise regarding another proposed marriage (that is
to say, with a different individual), then a fresh medical
examination will be desirable. For example, we cannot lay it
down as a general rule that the marriage of persons suffering
from tuberculosis must be unconditionally forbidden; all we
are able to say is, that when anyone suffering from tuberculosis
desires to marry, that person ought first to submit to a thorough
medical examination. It is therefore necessary that prior to
marriage there should be a medical examination made by one
of a number of doctors officially appointed for this purpose.
Marriage and Heredity 89
As a result of their examination, these officials will give an
opinion, whether the marriage of" the person they have ex-
amined with some other person specifically named is or is not
desirable in the interest of the common weal.
There is yet another way in which this idea might be
carried out. (a) Everyone wishing to marry should provide,
in addition to the various documents which are now requisite
to the official sanction of marriage, a medical certificate to
the effect that he is free from any disease which should prevent
his marriage with the other party named in the certificate.
Many, indeed, wish that, in addition to this certificate, another
should be provided, to the effect that of the two parties about
to enter into marriage, the woman will be presumably com-
petent to suckle her child, to bring it up, and to educate
it ; the man, that he will presumably be competent to under-
take the two duties last named. (&) Before the marriage is
solemnised, the physicians of both parties should hold a con-
sultation, and decide jointly whether the marriage is permissible,
(c) Everyone who enters into marriage should be under
statutory obligation to insure his life, and this also involves
a complete medical examination, id) Many consider that
the following method of procedure would suffice. Before
the marriage is solemnised, both parties should be medically
examined, and the result of the medical examination of each
should be communicated to the other. If they then wish to
proceed with the marriage, no further obstacles should be
interposed.
The Tendency of Evolution. — The importance of marriage-
prohibitions on hygienic grounds is continually increasing.
Recent legislation in many States of the American Union
furnish us with the best examples of this evolutionary ten-
dency. In the social life of the future, marriage-prohibitions
on hygienic grounds will play a very important part. The
detailed treatment of this question at any particular time
and in any particular country will of course depend upon
the acquirements of medical science. It is probable that the
general principles will be statutorily determined, and that
medical examination will ultimately be made compulsory in
the case of everyone contemplating marriage.
CHAPTER III
THE PROTECTION OF ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN
The Legal Position of the Illegitimate Child. — The legal
position of the illegitimate child is regulated by civil law only
in respect of certain relationships ; and the brief and restricted
enactments on this subject are in sharp contrast with the
great importance of the matter. Even in those countries
in which the position of illegitimate children is relatively
favourable, it is only in relation to the mother and to the
blood-relatives of the mother that the legal position of the
illegitimate child corresponds with that of the legitimate child ;
no further duty is imposed upon the father of any illegiti-
mate child than to provide for the child until it is sixteen
years of age an allowance for maintenance corresponding
to the social position of the mother. Even in these countries
the proof of paternity is apt to be a matter of considerable
difficulty. The father of a natural child can raise various
objections ; for instance, he may allege loose conduct on
the part of the mother {exceptio phirium concumhentium), and
the proof of this will discharge him of his duty of main-
tenance.
In civil law there are various institutions by which the
position of the illegitimate child may be improved; for
example, recognition, adoption of the child, and, above all,
legitimisation. But of course these will redound to the
advantage of those children only towards whom the natural
father has no feeling of hostility. By legitimisation, the
illegitimate child acquires the position of the legitimate
child. There are two chief methods of legitimisation, viz.,
legitimatio per subsequens matrimonium, and legitimatio per
rescriptum principis. About 25 to 30 per cent, of all ille-
gitimate children are legitimised. Of children legitimised
The Protection of I legitimate Children 91
during the first year of life, tlie process is effected in the
great majority during the second and third months after
birth. The older the child, the less likelihood is there of
its legitimisation ; and legitimisation is less probable in
towns than in the country.
Beasons for these Legal Disabilities. — The defenders of the
existing legal order, when asked why it is that the civil law
deals so harshly with the illegitimate child, are accustomed
to answer as follows. Marriage is the foundation of society;
if the legal position of the illegitimate child were as good as
that of the legitimate child, this foundation would be shattered.
Those who enter into illegitimate sexual relationships, and
even the issue of such relationships, must incur serious legal
disabilities; for otherwise the principal motive to marriage
would be removed, and people would light-heartedly enter
into illegitimate sexual unions. Ordinarily, it is only upon
the basis of permanent marriage that a groundwork can be
erected providing for those moral principles which are the
indispensable preconditions of the legal rights and duties of
family life ; only in permanent marriage, and the family
life which is the outcome of permanent marriage, do we
obtain adequate guarantees for the fulfilment of these duties
and for the proper exercise of these rights. It is only in
an insignificant minority of instances that the natural associa-
tion between an illegitimate child and its father leads to the
formation of a more intimate bond between the two. In
most cases, the father is indifferent and even hostile to his
illegitimate child. He regards it as a burden, and has no
interest in its well-being, or in its bodily and mental develop-
ment. Only in the rarest cases does an illegitimate child
share directly in the family life and in the property of the
father ; and if the father does take over the care for and
upbringing of the child, he often does this solely in his own
financial interest, in order subsequently to hand over the care
of the child to the person who will undertake this at the
cheapest rate. In such cases the moral and circumstantial
prerequisites to the foundation of true family relationships
are utterly lacking ; and this is true above all of those cases
in which the fatherhood of the child is not voluntarily acknow-
92 Elements of CJiild-ProtedioJi
ledged, but is admitted as the sequel of a successful bastardy
suit. It has also to be remembered that the proof of the
fatherhood of an illegitimate child, though it cannot be re-
garded as impossible, is nevertheless beset by numerous and
considerable practical difficulties ; and, in addition, that the
adoption of legal measures to enable the paternity of an
illegitimate child to be established with comparative ease
would involve very grave social dangers, if the acceptance of
extensive family responsibilities were to be made consequent
upon such proof of paternity. The laws of inheritance pro-
tect the institution of private property and the institution
of legal marriage ; for the integrity of both of these institu-
tions would be threatened if the illegitimate child were
endowed with the right to inherit its father's property.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Illegitimate Birth. — Three
different views prevail regarding the relative advantages and
disadvantages of illegitimate births, (1) Illegitimate children
come into the world favourably equipped, for their parents are
young, and their union depends not upon interest, but upon
love. (2) Illegitimate children are hereditarily defective, as
is clearly manifest in all relationships. Private statistical
data show that in respect of body-weight and body-length the
illegitimate new-born, boys as well as girls, compare unfavour-
ably with the legitimate. Many illegitimate children exhibit a
disposition to various mental disorders (degenerative neuroses
and psychoses). Since in most cases the father is unknown,
and his qualities therefore elude observation, there would
appear to be some ground for the assumption that the
hereditary tainting of illegitimate children is even greater than
it is actually proved to be. (3) Illegitimate children come
into the world with the same equipment as legitimate children.
The first of these views is erroneous, if only for the reason
that in men often nothing more than sensuality, and in
women often nothing more than self-interest, leads to the
formation of an irregular sexual intimacy. But neither the
second view nor the third can be accepted without reserve.
In interpreting the statistical data relating to illegitimacy,
many circumstances have to be considered. Attention must
always be paid to the question, which were the intimacies in
The Protection of Illegitimate Children 93
which the conditions were similar to those of married life, and
to the question as to the extent to which the peculiarities
apparent' in the illegitimate are dependent solely upon the
legal disabilities of their status. The material conditions in
which illegitimate children are placed must be compared with
those of legitimate children belonging to similar social classes.
It would be altogether fallacious to compare the condition of
illegitimate children with the average condition of legitimate
children, instead of with the average condition of children of
the proletariat. If these considerations receive due attention,
it will become apparent that illegitimacy ipcr se is not a
decisive factor, but merely renders more apparent the dis-
advantages attendant on being brought up under the con-
ditions inevitable for the children of the proletariat.
Abortio7i, Premature Birth, Still- Birth. — The general causes
of abortion, premature birth, and still-birth operate even more
frequently in cases of illegitimate than in cases of legitimate
birth. The chief causes are the following : (a) Keeping at
work up to the time of childbirth, (h) Criminal abortion,
(c) Syphilitic infection, which, as is well known, is intimately
associated with extra - conjugal sexual intercourse. With
regard to {a), unmarried mothers, who are for the most part
working-class women, servant-maids, laundresses, sempstresses,
&c., are commonly compelled to remain at work until preg-
nancy is far advanced. With regard to (6), the fear of
disgrace and the prospect of poverty impel many unmarried
women about to become mothers to attempt to procure
abortion. These factors naturally affect town-dwellers to a
greater extent than they affect persons living in the country.
In Europe, miscarriages and still-births occur in cases of
illegitimate births about 25 per cent, more frequently than in
cases of legitimate births. These statistical data must, how-
ever, be corrected by the consideration of the following facts :
{a) Many live-born illegitimate children are returned as still-
born, in order to conceal the manipulations which were
effected during or immediately after birth. On the other
hand, many still-born children arc returned as live-born, for
the reason that many material interests may render such a
misreport desirable. (6) The larger moiety of illegitimate
94 Elements of Child-Protection
births are children born to primiparae. For this reason,
the percentage of still-births is greater than in the case of
all legitimate births taken together — although the effect of
the primiparous state of the mother is to some extent
counteracted by the fact that the mother of an illegitimate
child is commonly quite young.
Childbirih in Unmarried Mothers. — When a married woman
is about to become a mother, she makes early preparation of
all that will be required during childbirth and the lying-in
period. A large proportion of unmarried mothers, on the
other hand, spend their last penny before the termination
of pregnancy, and are altogether destitute when the time
of their delivery arrives. A sense of shame prevents many
pregnant women from entering a lying-in hospital, although
to do this would provide them with free medical aid. Most
women also have a dread of the gynecological clinique, because
they think they will be made use of there for the instruction
of students. To unmarried mothers, many charitable institu-
tions close their doors. {a) But notwithstanding this, the
majority of unmarried mothers are delivered at public lying-
in hospitals, gynecological cliniques, and obstetric wards of
general hospitals. (6) A small proportion are delivered in
private lying-in institutions (and these naturally of a bad
class, since such women lack money to pay the fees de-
manded by the better-class institutions), (c) A third moiety
are delivered amid conditions the most unfavourable that can
possibly be imagined. All these circumstances combine to
exercise a most unfavourable influence upon the morbidity
and the mortality of illegitimate new-born infants.
Causes of the Great Mortality of Illegitimate Children. — Owing
to causes which come into operation immediately or shortly after
birth (syphilis, marasmus, congenital debility, »S:c.), a much
larger percentage of illegitimate children succumb than of
legitimate children. The mother returns to work almost
immediately after the birth of her child ; usually her work
takes her away from home, but if otherwise, it is almost
certain to be work which will prevent her giving proper care
to her child. Hence the great majority of unmarried mothers
are forced to separate from their children almost immediately
The Protection of Illegitimate Chitdren 95
after the birth of the latter. In many cases, the mother does
not even commit her child to a fomidling hospital, or entrust
it to a foster mother, but she kills it or exposes it immediately
after birth. It is well known that infanticide and the expos-
ing of infants are almost exclusively the work of unmarried
mothers ; and in a considerable proportion of cases, criminal
abortion is the outcome of an attempt on the part of an
unmarried woman to conceal the fact that she has been
impregnated,
Baby-farming is in actual practice nothing but a cruel
method of infanticide — a method whose causation is apparent
on brief consideration. It has been pointed out that the great
majority of unmarried mothers belong to a social stratum in
which the average income is extremely low. A maid-servant
receives at best [in Germany and Austria] an annual wage of
from £10 to £15, a female factory-hand from £25 to £30.
The maintenance of an infant, if the elementary principles
of the hygiene of childhood are to be observed, and if the
foster-parents are to make any profit at all, costs at the very
least £15 a year. The mere nutriment of a child during the
first year of life costs 4d. per day, or a little more than £6 per
annum. When allowance is made for house-room, clothing,
and necessary incidental expenses, we reach a minimal total
of £10 to £11. How is it possible for the average unmarried
mother to find the sum asked by the foster-parents ? Those
who, as foster-parents, assume the charge of an illegitimate
child, cannot reckon on the child's remaining permanently in
their care, and ultimately becoming a useful member of the
family. The mother's payments are scanty and irregular.
Her intentions may be good at the outset, and perhaps she
has not yet completely exhausted her savings. At first too,
perhaps, the father gives, or at least promises, a little pecuniary
aid. But when the child is out of sight, his willingness to
make sacrifices on its behalf soon wanes. Nothing more is
heard of the father. The mother is perhaps out of work for
a time, and a fresh pregnancy may ensue. The foster-parents
know very well that if this particular child dies, they will
readily find another to be entrusted to their care. Sometimes
the mother's own interest in the life of her child fades. How,
96 Eleme7its of Child- Protection
indeed, can she continue to love it, when it is kept at a
distance from her, and when to provide the money needed
for its maintenance demands the greatest possible sacrifices ?
Why should she not desire the child's death, when this would
not merely remove a difficulty from her own path, but might
well be regarded as the best possible thing for the child itself,
ailing and in lack of proper and loving care ? Thus there
is often a tacit understanding between the mother and the
foster-mother, that the child's life shall be as short as possible.
Unfortunately in such cases it is rarely possible to punish the
foster-parents, since in the case of infants it is so difficult to
determine precisely where ignorance, stupidity, and poverty
end and infanticide by deliberate neglect begins. The law
rightly prescribes severe penalties for infanticide ; but we may
well ask whether it is worse for a mother to suffocate her child
immediately after its birth, or, by the lack of proper care, to
inflict upon the infant a more tedious but no less certain doom.
We often hear it asserted that such murderous baby-farming
is in Europe a thing of the past. My own opinion is that
France is the only European country of which this assertion
may possibly be true.
The food and other necessaries supplied to illegitimate
children are commonly inadequate. The more important
contributory causes of the enormous mortality of illegitimate
children (the primiparous condition of the mother, syphilis,
and intra-uterine influences) have previously been mentioned.
It is owing to the co-operation of these various unfavourable
factors that the death-rate of illegitimate is so much higher
than that of legitimate children — the ratio between the two
death-rates in the civilised countries of Europe during the
twentieth century being, according to my calculations, as 1"4 :1.
Only in those countries in which the mortality among legiti-
mate infants or the general infant mortality is higher, does a
comparison between the infantile death-rates of the legitimate
and the illegitimate, respectively, furnish a result which appears
less unfavourable to the lattter. What this high death-rate
of illegitimate children really means becomes apparent when
we recall the fact that every year in Europe no fewer than
600,000 illegitimate children are born. In reality the infantile
The Protection of Illegitimate Children 97
death-rate among the illegitimate is even greater than these
figures would appear to show ; for a proportion of those born as
illegitimate are subsequently legitimised, and, in consequence
of this, many infants which at birth were included among the
illegitimate, appear in the mortality lists among the legitimate.
In the country, the infantile death-rate is greater than in the
towns. The differences in the death-rates of illegitimate and
of legitimate children, respectively, are greatest in the first
month of life, and diminish month by month as age advances.
In other words, the expectation of life of an illegitimate infant
increases month by month after birth. After the first year
of life, the ratio between the death-rates of illegitimate and
legitimate children is less unfavourable to the former than in
infants under one year of age.
Criminality in the Blegitimate. — Private and official statistical
data combine to prove that in illegitimate children criminality
is considerably more common than it is in the legitimate. In
individual countries, and in respect of different criminal offences,
the relationships are very variable ; but there is not a single
civilised country in which we fail to find that the average
criminality-rate of illegitimate children is considerably higher
than the average criminality-rate of the legitimate. We see
this difference maintained, alike in respect of the number of
punishable offences committed on the average by each con-
victed person, in respect of particular offences in the case
of those who experience only one conviction, and finally in
respect of the percentage of convicted offenders among the
two respective classes. Not a single punishable offence can
be mentioned, in respect of which we fail to find that the
percentage of illegitimates convicted of that offence is larger
than the percentage of legitimates so convicted. Moreover,
if we compare recidivists and major offenders with other
criminals, Ave find that the unfavourable influence of illegiti-
macy is especially marked in the case of the former. The
conclusions drawn from the criminal statistics are confirmed
by those obtained from reformatories and similar institutions ;
everywhere wc find a higher criminality-rate among the
illegitimate.
One circumstance, however, which is commonly overlooked,.
G
98 Elements of Child-Protection
has to be taken into account. Among those convicted of
criminal oft'ences, a certain percentage are persons of illegiti-
mate birth (a); a certain percentage of all births are those
of illegitimates (5) ; a certain percentage of persons who have
attained the age at which they become legally liable to
punishment for their actions are persons of illegitimate birth (c).
It is not the ratio between the numbers in class («) and
the numbers in class (&) that we have to consider, but the
ratio between the numbers in class (a) and the numbers in
class (c). For the death-rate among illegitimate children
is much higher than the death-rate of the legitimate ; and the
number of the illegitimate diminishes through legitimisation.
Thus a much smaller proportion of young persons and of
adults consists of persons of illegitimate birth than in the
case of the new-born. The proper method of comparison
would be to ascertain whether the percentage of illegitimate
children at a certain age convicted of criminal offences or
undergoing education in a reformatory is greater than the
percentage of legitimate children of like age found to be
undergoing the same punishment or the same education.
All the causes of crime — imperfect education, poverty,
hereditary taint — are present to a greater extent in the
illegitimate than in the legitimate. How can we expect that
an illegitimate child will be properly brought up when
the father commonly accepts no responsibility for the matter,
and the mother is usually forced to commit her child to the
care of a baby-farmer or to send it to a foundling hospital ?
By the contemptuous attitude of the general public towards
him, and by his inferior legal, social, and economic position,
the person of illegitimate birth is, as it were, forced to seek
revenge from society for the wrongs which, in his opinion,
society has inflicted upon him. Medical statistics establish
beyond dispute the fact that among illegitimate children
the proportion of feeble-minded is larger than among the
legitimate.
Illegitimacy and Prostihition. — I have not been able to
obtain trustworthy statistical data as to what percentage
of prostitutes are persons of illegitimate birth, but it is
generally supposed that the proportion is as high as 30 per
The Protection of Illegitimate Children 99
cent. A very brief examination of the matter shows that
among prostitutes there is a higher percentage of illegitimates
than among the general population. The reason for this
state of affairs is doubtless the inferior legal position of
illegitimate children under the conditions of our time. Illegiti-
mate girls are not properly brought up ; they are despised by
the world even if their conduct is irreproachable, and thus
one of the most potent reasons for remaming respectable —
the fear of the loss of good repute — is lacking in their case.
A woman who receives no help, or inadequate help, from the
father of her illegitimate child, is very apt to become a
prostitute.
Occuj}ation in Belationsliip to Illegitimacy. — The illegitimate
originate in the ranks of the proletariat, and remain in those
ranks. The statistics of the subject show that about 90
per cent, of adult persons of illegitimate birth are manual
workers, and that not more than a fourth of these are skilled
artisans. Statistics prove also that about 10 per cent, more
of legitimate males are able to qualify by examination for
a reduction of the term of military service to one year, than
in the case of illegitimate males.
The Different Classes of the Illegitimate. — Those who wish to
understand the position of illegitimate children must consider
the different classes of the illegitimate. («) There are many
differences in these respects in various countries. For example,
in certain countries the children born to a betrothed pair
have a better legal position than other illegitimate children.
In some countries, again, the legal position of children born
of an adulterous or of an incestuous union is worse than that
of other illegitimate children.
The social position of the parents, and the existence or
non-existence of differences in social rank between father and
mother, are circumstances which may exercise a decisive
influence upon the position of an illegitimate child. It might
almost be maintained that the higher the social position
of the unmarried mother, the worse will be the position of
her child. For the higher the social position, the more
sinful is sexual indulgence considered on the part of a woman
except under the forms of marriage; the unmarried mother,
lOO Elements of Child- Protection
when her social position has been a good one, is apt to be
driven from her family, boycotted by society, and abandoned
by her seducer. The greater the difference in social rank
between the two parents, the worse will be the position of
the child ; when the father's position is much better than the
mother's, he usually refuses to acknowledge the child at all.
(c) The assumption that those women who marry after bearing
an illegitimate child, marry in most cases the father of their
child, is erroneous. Erroneous also is the assumption that
the position of an illegitimate child with a step-father is
less favourable than the position of the illegitimate child
which has been legitimised through the subsequent marriage
of its true parents. As regards Germany, we learn from
private statistical data, on the one hand, that nearly 50 per
cent, of the women who marry after giving birth to an
illegitimate child, marry another man than the father of that
child ; and, on the other hand, that the position of illegitimate
children who thus acquire a step-father is about as good as
that of legitimate children in similar classes of society ; and
their position is certainly much better than that of those
illegitimate children whose mothers remain unmarried. We
should be led to expect this from the fact that the step-
father in such cases marries the woman because he loves her,
and does not regard the child as a serious objection; moreover,
the records show that such marriages are commonly effected
when illegitimate children are still quite young, so that from
its early youth upwards the child is a member of the family
circle. It seems almost incredible that it should be better
for an illegitimate child for its mother to die than for her
to remain alive, but unmarried ; and yet this may very
well be the case, for the upbringing the illegitimate child
receives from its own mother is apt to be most unsatisfactory ;
but should the mother die, the child will usually be cared
for by the poor-law authorities.
Illegitimacy and Child-Protection. — The mortality and the
criminality of illegitimate children are important elements
in general mortality and general criminality ; they are closely
dependent upon the legal position of illegitimate children,
and one of the principal aims of child- protection is to
The Protection of Illegitimate Children loi
diminish criminality and mortality. For these reasons, the
legal position of illegitimate children exercises a decisive
influence "in determining the methods and the intensity of
child-protection. The history of illegitimate children would,
as a rule, be even more tragic than it is, if the community
at large and the State intervened only in order to counter-
act the disadvantages resulting from the inferior legal posi-
tion of illegitimate children, and if no attempt were made
to undertake the work of child-protection from the point of
view of criminal law or from that of local administrative
activity. But when we study the position of child-protec-
tion in the individual countries of Europe, we see at once
that that position is influenced mainly by one consideration,
namely, the legal status of the illegitimate child, Numerous
and important branches of child-protection — the care of found-
lings, for instance — are concerned chiefly with illegitimate
children ; and in other departments of child-protection the
protection of the illegitimate must be more vigorous than
that of the legitimate. But the more unfavourable the legal
status of the illegitimate child, the more energetic must in-
tervention be from the side of criminal law and from that
of local administration, not only for the protection of the
illegitimate themselves, but also for the protection of society
against the illegitimate. Where the status of the illegitimate
child is a favourable one, the importance of child-protection
by means of criminal law and local administrative activity
is much less than elsewhere.
The Teutonic and the Latin methods of dealing with
illegitimate children are distinguished by the fact that in
the Teutonic States inquiry into paternity is permitted,
whilst in the Latin States it is forbidden. Where the
Latin system prevails — that is, where inquiry into paternity
is forbidden — as in France and Italy, the local authorities
find it necessary to board out more children than in those
countries in which the inquiry into paternity is allowed ; for
in the latter a larger proportion of unmarried mothers secure
an allowance for maintenance from the fathers of their chil-
dren, and for this reason more illegitimate children are
boarded out directly by the mothers. An assimilation
I02 Elements of Child- Protection
of the legal status of legitimate and illegitimate children would
obviate numerous evils, so that a few paragraphs in the code
of civil law would render superfluous a considerable propor-
tion of the child-protection now dependent upon criminal law
and local administrative activity.
Until the Italian legal code provides for the proper recog-
nition of jigli di genitori ignoti, any attempt at administra-
tive reform of the Italian methods of dealing with foundlings
would be futile. [In Italy, not even the mother is compelled
to recognise her child ; recognition must not be confused with
legitimisation. A child which is recognised neither by the
father nor by the mother is termed Jiglio di genitori ignoti (the
child of unknown parents), and it is only a child recognised
by at least one parent which is termed ^^/to illcgitimo (illegiti-
mate child).] As long as Section 340 of the French Civil
Code continues to state categorically, " La recherche de la
paternity est interdite," not even the risk of capital punish-
ment will restrain from infanticide the mother of an ille^iti-
o
mate child, more especially in view of the fact that in such
cases humanely disposed jurymen now so frequently bring
in a verdict of Not Guilty.
It may be hoped that before long it will be generally
recognised that any attempt to reform child -protection, and
especially our dealings with foundlings, must begin with a
reform in the legal status of the illegitimate child. Never-
theless, child-protection by the local authorities and through
the instrumentality of the criminal law, and, above all, our
ways of dealing with foundlings, exert a great influence upon
the position of illegitimate children. It is still in dispute
whether these things aftect the numbers of illegitimate chil-
dren. It is widely assumed that the existence of foundling
hospitals leads to an increase in the number of illegitimate
children. But in reality foundling hospitals are not a cause,
but a consequence, of the large numbers of illegitimate
children.
The Tendency of Evolution. — As time goes on, the posi-
tion of illegitimate children steadily improves. Formerly,
illegitimacy entailed grave civil and ecclesiastical disabili-
ties; to-day, the only difl'erences between illegitimate and
The Pi^otection of Illegitwtate Children 103
legitimate children concern their respective legal status, and
even the^e differences are gradually disappearing. The cir-
cumstance that public opinion is taking an ever milder view
regarding illegitimate sexual intimacy, exercises a great in-
fluence upon the position of the illegitimate child, and a
much more extensive mitigation of public opinion in this
direction may be confidently anticipated. The fate of the
illegitimate child is greatly influenced by the judgment passed
upon illegitimate sexual intercourse by the associates, parents,
and relatives of the mother. Among the Jews, owing to the
sacred character of their family life, the birth of illegitimate
children was altogether exceptional. But such a high esti-
mation of marriage is apt to result in complete rupture of
relations between the fallen one and her family. Although
among the Jews infant mortality in general is lower than
among the Gentiles, the mortality of illegitimate children
among the Jews is even higher than among the Gentile
population.
In most countries to-day we may observe an unmis-
takable tendency towards the improvement of the legal posi-
tion of the illegitimate child. This tendency is perceptible
in those countries in which inquiry into paternity is per-
mitted. In the Latin countries the necessity of permitting
inquiry into paternity is becoming more and more widely
recognised. In many countries we find, often in association
with foundling hospitals, institutions for the provision of
maintenance for illegitimate children.
The reforms of the immediate future, some of which, in
certain countries, have actually been effected, are the follow-
ing : (a) In every country the inquiry into paternity must
be permitted. (Z)) The legal proceedings for the discovery
of paternity must be initiated and pursued by the local
authorities or some other official body, (c) Where the father
fails to pay the necessary maintenance for his illegitimate
child, vigorous measures of compulsion must be available
(imprisonment, forced labour, &c.). Such measures of com-
pulsion already exist in many countries. id) The child's
maintenance should not be merely such as will provide what
are called " bare necessaries," but should suffice for its proper
I04 Elements of Child- Protection
upbringing, {c) The natural father should be forced to pay,
not for the child's maintenance only, but also the mother's
expenses in childbed ; he should be forced to contribute the
last-named expenses, and what is necessary for the child's
maintenance shortly after birth, before the child is actually
born — that is, at a time when the needs of mother and child
are greatest. (/) The objections which the father is to-day
able to raise in bastardy actions should be abolished.
A Radical Reform. — Marriage will best be protected by
preventing the birth of illegitimate children. This can only
be effected by imposing upon the father of an illegitimate
child the same responsibilities that are now imposed upon the
father of a legitimate child. Men would be much more
careful to avoid the procreation of illegitimate children if
they were unable to get off so cheaply as they can to-day.
The objection that in the moment of passion no one thinks of
consequences is unsound. In most cases, before the sexual
act there is a period in which the man has leisure to think of
the consequences of what he is going to do. The fact that in
countries in which inquiry into paternity is permitted the
number of illegitimate children is no smaller than in coun-
tries in which such inquiry is forbidden, proves nothing.
For other circumstances besides this influence the number
of illegitimate children, and in the Teutonic countries it is
probable that inquiry into paternity is permitted only in order
to counteract these other factors. The objection that such
regulations as have been proposed would promote immorality,
that they would make women far more ready than they are at
present to enter into an illicit sexual relationship, and would
thus lead to an increase in the number of illegitimate children,
is unsound. The present system tends to render inoperative
factors which might exercise a great influence on the conduct
of the stronger sex. Moreover, all these objections are ren-
dered nugatory by the fact that hitherto the most severe
punishments and the most extreme moral condemnation of
illegitimate sexual relationships have not sufficed to hinder
these.
It is objected that the proposed reforms could only be
introduced in association with the abolition of monogamy and
The Protection of Illegitimate Children 105
the introduction of free love. If the legal consequences of
marriage and of illegitimate sexual union were made identical,
there would be no reason for entering the marriage state, for
monogamy would be a legal institution without any peculiar
legal consequences. But in marriage three distinct legal
relationships have to be considered : the mutual relation-
ship of husband and wife, their relationship to persons
outside the family, and the relationship of the parents to
their children. The fact that the children resulting from a
sexual relationship are legitimised does not constitute that
relationship a marriage.
In the interest of the illegitimate child the argument is
often put forward that it is not right for the illegitimate
child to be punished for the errors of its parents. This
argument is totally false. If the interest of marriage and
that of society really demanded that the legal position of
the illegitimate child should be an unfavourable one, the
circumstance that the child is blameless is altogether irre-
levant. The interest of society is paramount, and in case of
need even innocent children must be sacrificed to this interest.
CHAPTER IV
LIMITED POWERS OF MINORS AND GUARDIANSHIP
Limited Powers of Minors. — The legal protection of the
child against the consequences of its own acts is closely
associated with the questions of parental authority and of
guardianship. In fact the regulation of this matter really
forms part of the regulation of parental authority and of
guardianship. The minor lacks the requisite degree of
intellectual maturity and of business experience to enable
it to act independently in legal matters without injury to
its own interests ; hence, in the matter of legacies, it often
happens that a child is willing to enter into bargains which
its maturer judgment would rightly repudiate. The law,
indeed, protects everyone against usury and extortion, and
gives to everyone the legal right to dispute the validity of an
undertaking extracted from him by knavery or under stress
of threats. But these institutions would not suffice to protect
children, inasmuch as the right to repudiate an undertaking
when that undertaking has already been acted upon would
be of extremely questionable value. Moreover, the law of
parcimony forbids that persons should enter into legal under-
takings, and subsequently attempt to repudiate them.
The special legal protection conferred upon minors con-
sists of a limitation of their powers to enter into valid business
engagements, the extent and consequences of the limitation
being such as to render any engagements made by minors as
harmless as possible. In the majority of legal systems, this
leading idea is carried into effect as follows. Two classes of
undertaking are distinguished : first, those by which the minor
acquires certain rights or is freed from certain obligations ;
and, secondly, those which effect neither the one nor the
other. Inasmuch as undertakings of the first-named order
Limited Powers of Minors and Guardianship 107
are only such as are to the minor's advantage, no guardianship
is necessary in the case of these, and the minor's powers to
act are here unrestricted. But undertakings of the last-
named order can be entered into by a minor only with the
consent of his legal representative ; thus, a disadvantageous
undertaking given by a minor without the consent of his
legal representative is invalid, and the validity of the under-
taking is conditional upon the consent of the guardian.
The Tendency of Evolution. — Two points have especially to
be considered in respect of the future regulation of this
problem : the abolition of free competition, and the abolition
of the right of individual inheritance. Many persons consider
that it would be a logical outcome of the abolition of the
right of individual inheritance for the State to undertake the
maintenance of all widows and orphans, either through the
instrumentality of a system of compulsory insurance analogous
to Workmen's Insurance, or else by a method of provision
analogous to that now made for the widows and orphans of
those in the employ of the State.
The Nature of Guardianship. — The purpose of guardianship
is to provide minors with the equivalent of parents. A
guardian is appointed for a minor when the latter is not
subjected to any parental authority ; or when, although the
minor has parents, these are unfitted, through lack of means
or through defect of personal character, to make a proper use
of their parental authority. The analogy between parental
authority and guardianship should result in the guardian, in
his care for the person and property of the ward, being
invested with almost the same duties and rights as belong
to the possessor of parental authority. But since the relation-
ship between ward and guardian is less intimate than the
relationship between a child and its parents, the guardian's
sphere of activity is naturally a more restricted one. For
example, in respect of certain very important undertakings,
outside the limits of the guardian's usual sphere of adminis-
trative activity, the hitter's powers are restricted by the
qualification that in such cases the undertaking is rendered
valid only with the prior assent of the Board of Guardianship
(see footnote to p. 74).
io8 Elements of Child- Protection
Guardianship of Poor Children. — The principal aim of
guardianship to-day is to provide for the careful administra-
tion of the property of the ward, and it thus has no bearing
upon the fate of orphans of the proletarian class, although these
are really more in need of guardianship than orphan children
belonging to the upper classes. The only " property " of the
proletarian child, whether orphaned or not, is its power of
working for wages. The adequate cultivation and utilisation
of this power is more important to the proletarian child than
the right administration of its property is to the child of the
well-to-do. Although, as a rule, the proletarian child begins to
work for wages while still under age, our existing legal systems
make no provision for guardians and the Board of Guardian-
ship to exercise much influence upon the working conditions
of such children. It is owing to this defect in our laws that
the exploitation of the labour-power of minors is so widely
prevalent.
To obviate these disadvantages, the following institutions
are necessary, although they would temporarily interfere with
social intercourse. Contracts of service in the case of minors
should not be valid without the assent of the latter 's legal
representatives and that of the Board of Guardianship, and
such contracts should be terminable at any time by the legal
representative with the approval of the Board of Guardianship.
Should the parents of a child secretly arrange for it a contract
of service, or should they compel the child to work for wages,
they should have no legal claim to any portion of these wages.
Where such measures are in operation, as in some of the States
of the American Union, children are much less frequently
compelled by their parents to work for wages.
Gruardianship of Illegitimate Children. — The guardianship of
illegitimate children is a matter of great importance : first,
because a very large number of influences affect illegitimate
children unfavourably, and the children have to be protected
against these influences ; secondly, because the guardian has
to safeguard the interests of his ward against the natural father
and also against the Destitution Authority ; thirdly, because in
many countries the laws provide that every illegitimate child
should have a guardian. Who should be the guardian of an
Limited Powers of Alinors and Guardianship 109
illegitimate child ? The guardian may be, (a) the mother,
{h) the father, (c) some other relative, {d) a stranger.
(«) According to the laws of most countries, the mother
has no parental authority over her illegitimate child ; indeed,
in some cases, the mother is not even gTanted legal powers of
guardianship over her illegitimate child (or is granted such
powers only if she herself is of full age). The reasons for this
are as follows : The considerations on account of which the
granting of parental authority to the married mother is regarded
as permissible, have no bearing upon the case of the un-
married mother. The interest of the illegitimate child, and,
indirectly, the interest of society at large, urgently demand
the securest possible guarantees that the child will be properly
brought up. Even if the unmarried mother is capable of
undertaking and exercising the duties and rights involved in
parental authority, she still too often lacks the necessary good-
will and the requisite earnestness. In many cases the un-
married mother does not feel for her illegitimate child the
interest and the love which are felt by the married mother for
the legitimate child ; she is rather inclined to be indifferent
towards her illegitimate child, and to regard it merely as a
serious burden, from which she hopes to be free, and the sooner
the better. In addition, the unmarried mother seldom has a
settled home of her own, and in order to gain her livelihood
she commonly has to separate herself from her child. More-
over, the position of the unmarried mother differs from that of
the married mother in this respect, that the latter, as a rule,
does not acquire the parental authority until after the death of
her child's father — that is to say, when she is herself of mature
age. The care of the property and the exercise of the powers
of a legal representative are associated with the exercise of
parental authority, and there is an obvious danger, in many
instances, that a thoughtless mother might utilise the child's
property — more especially an allowance for maintenance made
by the father, or a capital sum paid by the latter to provide
for the child — in her own interest, instead of in that of the
child, and that in this way the provision made by the child's
natural father would be unprofitably employed. If the mother
of an illegitimate child be disallowed the right of acting as the
no Elements of Child- Protection
child's legal representative, we obviate the danger that that
right may be misused by a dissolute or thoughtless mother by
making fraudulent claims for a bastardy allowance in the name
of the child upon various men who may have had intercourse
with her during the period of pregnancy. In many cases, un-
married mothers are dissolute, extravagant, and therefore un-
trustworthy persons, and for this reason it is in the interest of
morality that the unmarried mother should not be able to
derive any direct pecuniary advantage as a result of her
position. Often she cannot or will not make the necessary
claim upon the father of the child, either from shame or from
undue sentimentality, or, again, because she still secretly hopes
that he will marry her, and fears to offend him, or, finally, be-
cause in many cases she is not herself certain who is the father
of her child. The various reasons we have been considering
are not altogether free from objection. The advocates of the
emancipation of women, and also the socialists, contest these
reasons with considerable force on the ground that other
persons than the mother of an illegitimate child, who are
suggested as guardians, are even less fitted for the position
than she may be herself.
{l)) It is impossible, in any case, that the natural father
should be the child's guardian. How, for example, can he
be expected to sue himself for the child's maintenance ? It
often happens that the mother refuses to name the father
of her child, but recommends him as guardian, and he actually
is in some cases appointed guardian. To avoid this, many wish
to make it the mother's legal duty to disclose the name of the
child's father to the Board of Guardianship.
(c) One of the child's relatives is no suitable person for
guardian. The mother's relatives have in most cases broken
with the mother owing to the birth of the illegitimate child.
The relatives of the father of an illegitimate child are as little
suited to act as guardians as the father himself.
{d) A stranger is utterly unsuitable for the guardianship
of an illegitimate child. In most cases he has no interest
whatever in the child, and very frequently, from sheer laziness,
he fails to make good the claim for maintenance against the
father. Indeed, he is not in a position to make such a claim
Limited Powers of Minoi's and Guardianship 1 1 1
good. He is ill-informed, inexperienced, ignorant of the law,
does not understand the procedure of the Boards of Guardian-
ship, and is incompetent to overcome the mother's opposition.
His appointment is often long delayed, although it is a fact
of general experience that a claim for maintenance can more
readily be established the earlier proceedings are taken against
the father. The father often changes his residence, and the
guardian has no facilities for obtaining information about his
dwelling-place or his means.
The Defects of Individual Guardianship. — As time goes on
it becomes increasingly difficult to obtain suitable guardians
for children of the lower classes. Owing to the increasing
frequency of migration, owing to the search for work and
means of livelihood, and owing to the development of the
means of communication, the wider family ties have been
loosened and in part entirely destroyed. Since it is only in
the case of propertied wards that the guardian receives any
remuneration, the guardianship of a ward without means is
a purely honorary office. But we cannot rely upon finding a
self-sacrificing disposition in the relatives of a proletarian child.
If a man of a higher class than that to which the child belongs
be appointed, he will be afraid lest he should have to put his
hand in his own pocket. If a man of a lower class be appointed,
the child will not regard him with the necessary respect.
In small communities, where the circumstances are simple,
where the number of births and deaths is small, where every-
one knows everyone else, and where the guardian is under
the control of everybody, the difficulties are not so great.
But in large towns the population is in a state of continual
flux, a large proportion has immigrated from the country
districts, and has neither relatives nor acquaintances in the
towns, and the Boards of Guardianship are unlikely to know
anyone suitable for the position of guardian. In large towns,
persons living under the same roof may be utter strangers,
not knowing one another's name nor even one another's general
appearance. Since the appointment as guardian is one which
as a rule cannot be refused, it is easy to understand the manner
in which one who has been appointed guardian against his
will is likely to neglect his duties. As the legal representative
112 Elements of Child- Protection
of tlae child, the guardian has frequent dealing with the local
authorities. Since the ward can make claims upon the Desti-
tution Authority, his domicile must be established, for which
purpose it may be necessary to pay a visit to the locality in
question, &c.
The guardian, especially one who belongs to the lower
classes, is without experience, is ignorant of the law, is ignorant
of the methods of procedure of the local authorities, and fails
to inspire respect in the strangers with whom he has to deal.
Often the guardian, far from assisting the poor-law authorities
in their work, puts needless obstacles in the way of these latter,
and renders it difficult for them to carry out their aims.
This last remark applies even more forcibly to the other
legal representatives of minors, viz. to their parents. It often
happens that the legal representative endeavours to exercise
an evil influence upon a child under the care of the poor-law
authorities ; while the child is still quite young, he ignores its
existence, but as soon as it attains an age at which it becomes
competent to earn any money, he demands that it should be
handed over to his care. If the Board surrenders the care
of the child, all the trouble previously taken to bring it up
properly will usually be found to have been wasted, for the child
now returns to the evil environment from which it had formerly
been removed. In England, a law passed in the year 1899
gives the Poor Law Guardians the right to refuse to accede to
the request of parents that a child should be restored to their
care in cases in which the parents' life is such as to make it im-
possible for them to provide for the child's regular education, or
when the parents are persons with vicious habits. Attempts
are being made to improve the system of individual guardian-
ship, by a thorough reconstruction, by the organisation of the
guardians, &c. It is mainly owing to the defects that have
been pointed out in the system of individual guardianship
that official (general or collective) guardianship, and institu-
tional guardianship, have come into existence.
Nature of Official and Institutional Guardianship. — The legal
basis of official guardianship is the right and the duty of
the State to act as the supreme guardian of all minors.
Its characteristics are as follows: Over a specified group of
Limited Powers of Minors and Guardianship 113
children — children put out to nurse, foundlings, or illegitimate
children, a particular person (he may be a private individual
or one in an official position), in virtue of the authority of the
law (that is, without specific appointment in each case, and
without the option of refusing in particular cases to exercise
his powers), exercises the powers of a guardian. In certain
cases, official guardianship involves powers superseding those
of ordinary parental authority (this applies to the case of
illegitimate children, destitute children, and children put out
to nurse). There can be no reasonable objection to this, for
in such cases the parents' own authority exists de jure only,
and not de facto. But the parental authority is not irrevocably
invested in the official guardian, and the latter exercises only
such rights and duties as properly belong to a guardian.
For example, the right of usufruct in a child's property
cannot be assigned to the official guardian. Institutional
guardianship consists in the exercise of guardianship by a
State educational institution, or other State institution for the
care of children, over children in that institution, the actual
powers of guardianship being invested in the director or some
other official of the institution.
Advantages of Official and Institutional Guardianship. — {a)
The local authorities entrusted with the general care of a
particular group of children — destitute children, for instance
— can readily, and with little additional trouble, assume the
duties of guardianship. Experience shows that this combina-
tion of duties gives extremely satisfactory results, without
imposing on the Boards in question any serious increase in
their duties. The administrative Boards controlling reforma-
tory schools must, if their duties are to be properly performed,
possess unlimited authority in respect of all matters bearing on
the upbringing of those under their care. In Europe, the official
guardianship of morally uncontrollable children is likely to bring
into being a system of children's courts, with probation officers,
or to develop that system further where it already exists.
(6) The official guardian is much better able than the
individual guardian to make good the claim for a maintenance
allowance for an illegitimate child. The official guardian,
who is in most cases an official working on behalf of the poor-
H
114 Elements of Child- Protection
law authorities, will push such a claim with the greatest
possible vigour, in order to prevent the cost of the child's
maintenance from coming upon the poor law. The official
guardian will be actively at work on the child's behalf within
a very few days of its birth, and will probably have been
able to secure that a proper provision for maintenance shall
have been made at the very time when it is most urgently
needed. The father will show much more respect to the
official guardian — a man in an official position — than he will
to the individual guardian. In Germany it has been the
general experience, that in most cases the father of an illegiti-
mate child, when summoned by the official guardian, puts in
an appearance, admits his paternity, recognises the child, and
undertakes to make an allowance for maintenance. Nor
does it so rarely happen that, under the persuasion of the
official guardian, the child's father and mother agree to
marry, and to legitimise their child. The official guardian
owes his influence to his official position.
(c) The official guardian possesses special legal and
educational experience, and in the management of the large
number of cases with which he has to deal acquires yet more
experience. For these reasons he is often consulted in difficult
cases by individual guardians, and even by many parents.
id,) It is easier for the official guardian than it is for
the private guardian to find suitable employment for his
wards. He is better acquainted with employers and with
w^orking conditions. It is not to his interest that his wards
should begin wage-earning at the earliest possible age ; thus,
under his guardianship, many who would otherwise have
become unskilled labourers, are trained to be skilled artisans.
(But to make it possible to attain this end, and because the
years immediately after leaving school are the years most
dangerous to the child, the official guardianship must be
continued until the child attains its majority.)
(e) Since the existence of the official guardian makes the
appointment of private guardians superfluous, the persons
Avho would have otherwise been engaged as private guardians
are set free for other spheres of activity.
(/) Institutional guardianship renders it possible for the
Limited Powers of Minors and Guardianship 1 1 5
influence of the guardians to be maintained very effectively
even after tlie minor has left the institution.
Objections to Collective and Institutional Guardianship. — The
following objections to collective and to institutional guardian-
ship have been put forward, {a) A conflict of interests and
duties may arise. The business of the poor-law authorities is
to keep down expenses, but the guardian has to think first of
all of the interests of his ward, who may need the financial
assistance of the poor-law authorities. (Jb) The local authorities
are not in a position to carry out properly the duties of official
guardianship. In a large local governmental area the circum-
stances of individual residents are not adequately known ; whilst
in a small area, suitable official guardians are not likely to be
forthcoming, (c) The authority administering the work of
official guardianship has to accept a position of subordination in
relation to the (central) Board of Guardianship. Thus there
arises friction, and the autonomy of the local authorities may
even be endangered, {d) Owing to the fact that the wards
under the charge of an official guardian are very numerous, the
duties are necessarily discharged in a bureaucratic and stereo-
typed manner, and the requisite individualisation is lacking.
These Objections Ansivered. — There is no doubt whatever
that official guardianship gives better results than an other-
wise equally efficient system of private guardianship. But
the very statement of the antithesis involves a fallacy, for
the kernel of the matter is, that in cases in which no com-
petent and willing individual guardian is available, the official
guardian is there to take over the necessary duties. The fact
that an official guardian exists need not prevent the placing
of the child under the guardianship of a suitable private
person, should such a one be forthcoming. Objection (&)
is valid to this extent, that in small local governmental areas,
in which the cost of official guardianship falls upon the poor
rate, and the burden of this rate is grievously felt, official
guardianship cannot be properly carried out. Objection {d)
has but little validity. Of course, the official guardian cannot
do everything himself. He must have confidential assistants,
who will visit the foster-parents of the ward, and report to
him everything of importance concerning the child. The
1 1 6 Elements of Child-Protection
official guardian has not only to supervise the work of these
confidential assistants, to support them with his advice in
difficult cases, and to control the necessary expenditure ; he
has also to attend to all the legal aspects of his charge, and
to perform the duties entailed upon him as legal representative
of his ward. Thus the official guardian's duties may be
classified as follows : {a) the upbringing of his ward ; (&) legal
duties ; (c) the choice of confidential assistants. In the first
department, the most important matter is the careful choice
of the foster-parents. The official guardian's experience and
business connections undoubtedly make him far more likely
than the individual guardian to secure good foster-parents.
The legal duties of the official guardian, such as the provision
of maintenance for the child, are merely routine official duties.
It is much easier to secure the requisite ten confidential
assistants than to secure a hundred private guardians.
Tlie Tendency of Evohdion. — (a) The property of a ward
is usually inherited, and as time goes on such property becomes
of less and less importance. The guardianship we are con-
sidering here has very little to do with such questions of
property, and the guardian's activities are practically limited
to securing the personal well-being of the child. (6) Official
guardianship is a typical example, on the one hand, of the
manner in which a matter appertaining to civil law tends
to become an affair of local administrative activity, and in
which duties originally honorary and benevolent tend to pass
into the hands of a salaried public official ; and, on the other
hand, of the fact that in this sphere also the principle of
the division of labour comes to be ever more strictly applied, so
that functions formerly exercised non-professionally by private
individuals are now discharged professionally by public servants.
The importance of official guardianship has steadily in-
creased. The idea that the guardianship of children supported
by the community might be exercised by the poor-law
authorities was first put into practice in France towards the
end of the eighteenth century. In other countries the same
idea has been applied with greater or less modification. In
Germany, official and institutional guardianship were per-
mitted by the Civil Code of 1900, Official guardianship
Limited Pozvers of Minors and Guardianship 117
exists at present only in the larger towns ; but the institution
continues to spread. In France, a law enacted in the year
1889 permits the voluntary transference of parental authority
to the Assistance PiiUique, in which case the Prefect or his
representative, the Departmental Inspector des en/ants assistes,
acts as guardian. By the law passed in the year 1904, the
same inspector acts as guardian of the enfants assistes. But
the inspector has no concern with the enforcement of the rights
of illegitimate children as against their father, since any inquiry
into paternity is forbidden by the French Civil Code. Official
guardianship exists in many of the cantons of Switzerland.
Certain Civil Laws tohich are of Importance in Relation to
Child-Protection. — (a) Legitimisation has been considered above.
{b) Adoption would be a very important and valuable
institution from the point of view of child-protection, if
adopted children were more numerous. The fact that this
institution exists is often disadvantageous from the point
of view of child-protection. In many cases it operates as an
obstacle to the legitimisation of the child by the father,
although legitimisation would be more advantageous to the
child than adoption. For in many cases the father, if he could
not adopt the child, would legitimise it. A certain though
small proportion of foster-parents adopt their foster children.
This tendency is certainly one worthy of encouragement.
(c) We have also to refer to the legal relationships which
arise when a contract has been made for the temporary or
permanent, partial or complete, upbringing of a child. As
an example of permanent and complete upbringing, may be
adduced the upbringing of a child by foster-parents. In this
case, the duties of the foster-parent are controlled by special legal
stipulations. As an example of temporary or partial upbringing,
may be mentioned the case of a child sent to a boarding school
at a distance from its home, a child boarding with a family,
and various similar arrangements. All these legal relationships
are covered by the laws relating to contract, and by the laws
relating to family life. This is a matter of considerable import-
ance, because, in a legal relationship taking the forms of family
life, the presumption is that a child's upbringing is effected
without any expectation of a return, i.e. gratuitously.
J5.— DEPARTMENT OF
LOCAL ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIVITY
CHAPTER I
CHILD - PROTECTION BEFORE, DURING, AND
IMMEDIATELY AFTER BIRTH
Introductory. — The physical, mental, and moral health of
human beings depends very largely upon the conditions in
which they are brought up, upon the conditions which operate
upon them while still within the mother's womb, and upon
the circumstances in which they were born. Was the child
the offspring of a legitimate or of an illegitimate sexual
relationship ? At the time of procreation, were its parents
mentally and physically healthy, or were they diseased ?
During pregnancy, was the mother obliged to work for her
living, or could she take proper care of herself; did she or
did she not deliberately attempt to injure or destroy the fruit
of her womb ? During parturition, did she or did she not
receive proper medical aid ? These are the stars with a
knowledge of which we can accurately forecast the individual
human horoscope.
Before Birth. — It is a matter of great importance that
pregnant women should regulate their lives in accordance
with certain elementary rules of hygiene, and for this reason
it is urgently necessary that women should be properly
instructed in this respect. Syphilis is one of the most
potent causes of intra-uterine death and of abortion and
premature labour. Everything possible should be done to
prevent persons suffering from syphilis practising sexual inter-
course, and to protect the fruit of conception from subsequent
syphilitic infection. One of the most effective means of
prevention would be the abolition of prostitution. Abortion
Child- Protection Before, During, and After Birth 1 1 9
is possible from tlie very outset of pregnancy, and attempts at
its prevention must therefore be taken in hand thus early.
In the later stages of pregnancy care should be taken
to prevent pregnant women doing any arduous work.
The data obtainable from lying-in hospitals show that the
vitality of the new-born infant is greater in proportion as
a longer time is spent by the mother in the institution
prior to delivery. The best course, but one which is at
present almost impracticable, from considerations of cost,
would be for pregnant women to enter a public lying-in
hospital during the sixth month of pregnancy, and to
remain there till the time of delivery, doing nothing more
than the lighter household duties of the institution. A
less radical procedure would be to prohibit pregnant women
from workinfj for wages for a certain time — such as eight
weeks — before the expected termination of pregnancy. (At
the present day, the only restrictions imposed are upon wage-
earning by women for a certain period after childbirth, and
this prohibition relates only to employment in factories and
workshops.)
The following are the objections to the enforcement of
such a prohibition as has been suggested, (a) Administra-
tive difficulties would make it impossible of application except
in the case of women employed in factories and workshops.
{h) The prohibition would force pregnant women, if they
received no material compensation, to earn a living, either
by prostitution or else by some work — perhaps even more
arduous than that which has been forbidden to them —
outside the purview of the Factory Acts ; in domestic
service, as sempstresses, washerwomen, ironers, &c. To-day,
in large factories and workshops, the employer pays no
attention to the question whether his female employees are
or are not pregnant ; and other employers than those are dis-
inclined to employ pregnant women at all. Consider, for
instance, the case of women servants. To-day, many preg-
nant women go to work in a factory or a workshop, simply
because there is no other employment open to them, (c) The
prohibition would necessitate the compulsory notification of
pregnancy.
I20 Elements of Ckild-Pi'otection
During Birth. — The health both of the mother and of the
child suffers in many cases, unless during and after delivery
the mother is attended by a qualified midwife or by a medical
practitioner. The reasons for the frequent lack of skilled
help in such cases are as follows : {a) Poverty ; (&) desire for
secrecy — this particularly in unmarried mothers ; (c) in thinly-
populated districts the help of a qualified midwife or that
of a medical practitioner is not always easy to obtain ; and
even should such help be forthcoming, in the event of serious
difficulty in delivery, the assistance of a skilled specialist will
be unattainable.
With regard to {a), it is necessary for poor pregnant
women that the services of midwife and physician should
be available gratuitously. This may be arranged, either
through the woman being attended gratuitously in her own
home by a monthly nurse or midwife and a doctor, the fees
of these latter being paid out of charitable or public funds for
poor relief; or else by her free admission to a public lying-in
hospital. In many countries, the Krankenkassen^ support
women (in most cases only women employed in factories
and workshops) for some weeks after delivery, and provide
for the free attendance of doctor and monthly nurse or
midwife.
(h) It is necessary that unmarried mothers should be
legally compelled to arrange for the attendance of a midwife
or medical practitioner, and, on the other hand, that the
services of these should be provided for unmarried mothers
in childbirth. Of course, it would be going too far to insist
that unmarried mothers, or other persons who are aware of
their condition, should, under heavy penalties, notify the local
authorities of the state of affairs. Although such a provision
does exist in the legal system of several countries, it is
unworkable in practice.
(c) With regard to provision for proper midwifery attend-
ance in thinly-populated districts, what is needed is a proper
organisation of the services of medical practitioners or mid-
^ Krankenkasien. — These are the executive, institutions for the administration
of the medical benefits of the workmen's insurance laws of Germany, and of
other countries with laws based on the German model. — Translator's Note.
Child- Protection Before, During^ and After Birth 1 2 1
wives in such a way that these are equitably distributed
throughout the country in proportion to population, and so
that in every local governmental area there shall be at least
one midwife and one doctor. The proper training of midwives
is a matter of great importance, but, above all, a midwife
should understand that at the least sign of danger it is her
duty to send for a doctor. It is also a matter of great
importance that all medical practitioners should have an
adequate training in midwifery.
After Birth. — In public lying-in hospitals, women usually
remain no more than one to two weeks after delivery ; they
are then discharged, regardless of their condition (physical
and mental helplessness, &c.). Those institutions which are
connected with a foundling hospital are exceptions in this
respect, for some of the women enter the foundling hospital
as wet nurses. In the interest of the child it is, above all,
necessary that the mother should be well cared for after
delivery, for it is during the first three or four weeks after
birth that the child is most of all dependent upon the maternal
breast. The resumption of work by the mother very soon
after delivery, before the resolution of the uterus is completed,
and before the abdominal walls have recovered their tone,
plays a great part in the causation of the numerous acute and
chronic diseases of women. If the woman is sent back into
the street almost immediately after delivery, she has no
option but to return to work. She must do this, first, because
pregnancy and childbirth have exhausted her savings, and,
secondly, because she is afraid, if she delays to return, that
she will find her place filled. To-day this is becoming
generally understood, and institutions are arising in which
women can be properly cared for during and after childbirth.
Homes for lying-in women and convalescent homes, in which
mothers with their children can remain for a considerable
time after delivery, subserve this purpose. Quite recently,
organisations have been founded for the domestic care of
women in childbed — the so-called Hauspfiegevcrcine (Domestic
Care Clubs). They send out Hauspflegerinnen (Domestic Assist-
ants), who do the housework of the woman during her
confinement, and thus secure for her the necessary rest and
122 Elements of Child- Protection
quiet. But, unfortunately, in most cases, these associations
help married women only. Very little has as yet been
done by the State to help women in childbirth. All that
communal activity has effected in this direction has been
the work of the community at large. Institutions are now
being founded, equipped with proper apparatus (incubators,
warm chambers, &c.), in which prematurely-born children can
be cared for until they acquire the normal powers of resistance
of the full-time infant.
The Insuranct of Motherhood. — Recently, the insurance of
motherhood has been recommended, especially by the advocates
of the emancipation of women, on the following grounds.
Neglect of women during pregnancy, childbirth, and the
lymg-in period, and neglect of new-born infants, are responsible
for numerous and serious disadvantages. Childbirth is very
painful and extremely arduous, and the woman who gives
birth to a child performs a supremely valuable social service.
The suggestion is, that the insurance of motherhood should
provide for every aspect of women's task of reproduction. It
should support women during pregnancy ; during parturi-
tion, and during the lying-in period ; a full allowance should
be provided for eight weeks before and eight weeks after
delivery ; free attendance of a midwife, with free medical help
if requisite, and such other care as may be needed, should be
provided for the delivery. In connection with the insurance
of motherhood, suitable homes should be erected for pregnant
women, lying-in women, and new-born infants, and the
women and children admitted to these institutions should be
gratuitously supported. The insurance of motherhood, it is
suggested, should be compulsory, on the one hand, for all
wage-earning women, and, on the other, for all married women
whose husbands earn less than a certain minimum wage. All
these women should pay contributions. In other respects,
the cost of the insurance of motherhood should be met on
the same lines as the cost of the Krankenkassen (see note on
page 120). Thus it is not proposed that the insurance of
motherhood should take the form of an entirely independent
branch of national insurance. Many contend that child-bearing
is just as necessary a branch of national economy as the
Child- P7^otection Before, During, and After Birth 123
wage-paid labour of men, and that for this reason women
should be directly remunerated for this social service ; they
wish that the insurance of motherhood on these lines should
provide for the child's upbringing until it becomes old enough
to earn its own living. But even the most radical advocates
of the insurance of motherhood regard this idea of the
endowment of motherhood as extreme, and as impracticable
at present.
The following objections have been raised against the insur-
ance of motherhood, (a) No sound actuarial foundation can be
provided for such insurance. The birth-rate cannot be pre-
dicted with certainty, so that the amount of contributions and
the benefits cannot be calculated with the requisite precision.
(&) Motherhood depends upon physiological processes, and
has nothing whatever to do with illness.
The objection (a) is based upon ignorance or upon mis-
understanding of the facts. The expected number of births
can be calculated with the same precision as the expected
number of deaths. The objection (5) is also erroneous.
Women need medical aid during pregnancy, childbirth, and
the lying-in period. Moreover, the aim of sickness insurance
is not merely the care and the cure of sick persons, but also
the prevention of the diseases, which in many cases can be
prevented by the proper treatment of women in pregnancy,
childbirth, and the lying-in period. Since, in the case of
pregnancy and parturition, malingering (for fear of which
liberal payment during sickness is considered undesirable)
may be almost entirely excluded, the insurance of mother-
hood can be effected on very liberal terms, and there is all
the more reason for this, because pregnancy and childbirth
entail upon the mother greatly increased expenditure. It is
hardly conceivable that women would incur pregnancy and
parturition solely on account of the proposed pecuniary
advantages.
Insurance of motherhood is to-day of considerable import-
ance in Germany, France, and Italy. In Italy it was intro-
duced some years ago on national lines. In France and
Germany, mutual co-operative associations for this purpose
have been founded by the women concerned. The principal
124 Elements of Child- Protection
contributors to the expenses are the insured themselves, all
contributing alike, irrespective of the fact whether they are poor
or well-to-do — that is to say, motherhood insurance is entirely
free from the characteristics of poor relief. The co-operative
organisations for motherhood insurance are run upon similar
lines to the Krankenkassen, with which, indeed, they are some-
times closely associated (Mufterschaftskassenverhdnde), The
local authorities have nothing more to do with the matter
than to co-operate in the foundation, organisation, and manage-
ment of these Kasscn. The results of this development have
been extremely satisfactory ; for example, experience shows
that a much larger percentage of insured mothers than of
non-insured suckle their own children.
The Tendency of Evolution. — It is as yet impossible to pre-
dict the future course of development in this matter, and to
foresee whether it will take the form of a further elaboration
of motherhood insurance. This much only is certain, that all
women will receive proper care in pregnancy, and during and
after childbirth. From a certain stage in her pregnancy until
a certain period after delivery, no woman will be allowed to
work for wages. Women far advanced in pregnancy, during
delivery, and throughout the lying-in period, will be cared
for almost exclusively in institutions. Such institutions will
be very numerous, if only for the reason that the domestic
care of childbirth will become rarer and rarer, that the insti-
tutional care of such women is far better and cheaper than
any other, and that the extension of institutional care is a
tendency of evolution.
CHAPTER II
INFANT-LIFE PROTECTION
Introductory. — The protection of infant life is all the more
necessary in view of the fact that it is during infancy that
human beings are least able to withstand injurious external
influences. The success of the campaign against excessive
child mortality depends above all upon the success of our
measures for infant-life protection. During intra-uterine life
the relationship between the child and the mother is of such a
kind that the legislator must protect the mother if he wishes
to protect the child. The institutions described in the last
chapter relate chiefly to the mother, and it is indirectly only
that they redound to the advantage of the child. After birth
the relationship between the child and its mother is a different
one. The child is no longer a part of the mother's body, but
is obviously and unmistakably a separate human being, although
for nine or ten months after birth (that is to say, for a period
about equal in duration to the period of intra-uterine life) the
child remains absolutely dependent on the mother. It is char-
acteristic of all the mammalia that the individual young should
be suckled by an animal of its own species ; for the milk of
every species contains certain substances peculiarly adapted for
the needs of that species, so that suckling by a mammal of
another species is likely to exercise an injurious influence.
Man is also one of the mammalia, and in the case of human
beings suckling by any other mammal is almost excluded
from possibility. There are important differences between
human milk and the milk of all other mammals. For
example, human milk contains certain substances which
exercise a preventive influence against certain human diseases,
but cow's milk contains these substances in much smaller
proportion, or not at all. It follows from this, that in the
126 Elements of Child- Protection
nourishment of a human infant we cannot without danger
replace human milk by the milk of any other mammal — and
cow's milk is an especially dangerous substitute for human
milk. For this reason, numerous methods of treating cow's
milk are employed to make it resemble human milk, such as
dilution, the addition of sugar, &c.
Advantages of the, Natural Feeding of Infants. — The natural
method of nourishment — that is to say, suckling at the maternal
breast, is the only method of infant-feeding which properly
complies with natural requirements. The adoption or non-
adoption of this method is a matter of decisive influence upon
the subsequent health of the child. The ideal is that the child
should be suckled until it is nine months old. But, at least,
we should insist upon the mother giving suck for the first
weeks of the infant's life, two months being regarded as an
irreducible minimum. After two months, the dangers of arti-
ficial feeding are considerably less. Within certain limits, the
longer infants are suckled, the lower are their disease-rate and
death-rate, the greater is their power of resistance to disease,
and the higher is their mental capacity. When we compare
the results of natural feeding with those of artificial feeding
of infants, we cannot fail to recognise that the former method
gives children greater powers of resistance to and recovery
from those diseases which are inseparable from the nutritive
processes. Artificial feeding frequently leads to illness, life-
long debility, premature death, &c. In children suckled by
their own mothers, digestive disorders are usually trifling ; in
children suckled by a wet-nurse, such disorders are more
frequent and more obstinate, but are seldom really dangerous ;
in artificially- fed infants, such disorders are extraordinarily
common, their course is extremely serious, and a fatal issue is
far from rare.
Statistical data prove beyond question that methods of
feeding have a great influence upon infant mortality. The
death-rate is higher in proportion to the degree to which the
mode of nutrition diverges from the natural method of suckling
by the child's own mother ; the death-rate is higher in children
suckled by wet-nurses than in those suckled by their own
mothers: it is much his/her in children fed on cow's milk
Infant-Life Protection 127
than in breast-fed children. Among 1000 children dying
during the first year of life, medical returns show that 450
succumb to digestive disorders and marasmus. Many phy-
sicians go so far as to ascribe 70 per cent, to 80 per cent, of
all infantile deaths to artificial feeding. A statistical error
arises in this way, that children dying immediately after birth,
before they could have been put to the breast at all, are apt
to be included among the deaths due to artificial feeding,
whereby, of course, the evil effects of this practice are over-
estimated. Where artificial feeding is badly carried out, the
infantile mortality is enormous. The children that escape
death tend to become rachitic, anaemic, or weakly, and later in
life readily succumb to tuberculosis.
The enormous importance of natural feeding, and the
extent of the difference between artificial and natural feeding,
are manifested by the following examples : The statistics of
child mortality invariably show that in those European coun-
tries in which most children are suckled by their mothers,
child mortality is lowest. In Sweden and Norway, where even
the wealthiest mothers suckle their own children, mortality
during the first year of life hardly amounts to 10 per cent.,
whereas in other European countries the infantile death-rate
is 12 per cent, to 15 per cent., or even more. It is erroneously
believed that there is a law in Sweden making it obligatory
upon mothers to suckle their children. No such law exists.
During the siege of Paris, in the years 1870—71, the infant
mortality in that city fell from 30 per cent, to 17 per cent.
The reason for this fall was that the Parisian women were
forced to suckle their own children, for, owing to the siege,
cow's milk was unattainable, and the usual supply of wet-
nurses from the country was cut off.
Natural feeding is not only better than artificial, but also
cheaper. Of course, in considering the question of the cost of
artificial feeding, the method employed has to be taken into
account. For example, artificially-fed infants are often given
much more milk than they really need. But artificial feeding
is artificial, and whereas instinct prescribes the methods of
natural feeding, it gives no guidance in the matter of artificial
feeding. The changes occurring in the female breast in conse-
128 Elements of Child- Protection
quence of pregnancy and childbirth draw a woman's attention
to the fact that she has certain maternal duties to fulfil. The
neglect of nature's commands commonly entails disorders to
health. It remains uncertain whether disease germs can be
transmitted to the infant through its mother's milk. It is
still more questionable whether, in the act of suckling, vitally
important maternal qualities can be transmitted from mother
to child. There is some doubt whether the continuance of
lactation is a fairly sure preventive of the occurrence of a fresh
pregnancy. If this question can definitely be answered in the
affirmative, there can be no doubt that for a mother to suckle
her infant gives an increased chance of life not to that infant
only, but to the other children in the family, because thereby
these children are relieved of the dangers entailed by too large
a family.
History of Artificial Feeding. — It is uncertain during what re-
spective periods of human history the practice of rearing infants
by means of wet-nurses, and the practice of rearing them by arti-
ficial feeding, first made their appearance. To-day, certainly,
both these methods of rearing infants prevail very widely — far
more widely than at any former time. No official statistics
exist showing the proportion of all infants born alive that are
suckled by the mother, suckled by wet-nurses, and artificially
fed, respectively. According to some private investigators, in
large towns less than half of all infants are suckled by their
own mothers, and in France the proportion of those which are
otherwise nourished is said to range from 60 per cent, to 70
per cent. Certainly, the conditions with regard to this matter
are worse in France than they are elsewhere.
Many physicians believe that the constitutional incapacity
of women to suckle their children is increasing. They point
out that an unused organ tends to atrophy ; and they con-
sider, not merely that the incapacity to suckle is transmitted
by inheritance, but that when so transmitted, the incapacity
persists throughout all subsequent generations. But this
view, whose soundness would deprive us of our most effective
weapon in our campaign against excessive infant mortality,
is erroneous. The recent investigations of various medical
practitioners especially interested in the diseases of children
Infant- Life Protection 129
have shown that (even in districts in which for generations
mothers have almost completely abandoned the practice of
suckling their children), when properly advised, 90 per cent,
of all women proved capable of suckling, if not for the full
nine months, at any rate for a considerable period, before
it was necessary to have recourse to cow's milk. There are
doubtless women who are really unable to suckle their chil-
dren ; and there are others who could do so, but in whom suck-
ling is contra-indicated, either in their own interest or in that
of the child. For example, a woman who is pregnant cannot
give suck, for the human organism is not adapted to bear
the common strain of pregnancy and of lactation. In the
interest of the child that is being suckled, it is necessary that
weaning should be effected directly a new pregnancy begins.
Women suffering from chronic alcoholism and those addicted
to morphine should not suckle their children, for the reason
that a comparatively large quantity of the alcohol ingested,
or of the morphine, as the case may be, is excreted in the
milk. A child suffering from an infective disease, such as
syphilis or tuberculosis, should be artificially fed, owing to
the danger of infection.
Causes of the Failure to Suckle. — The reasons for a mother's
failure to suckle her infant may be classified under two main
heads : she will not, or she cannot. Unwillingness plays a
great part among the upper classes of society. Dread of
inconvenience, laziness, fear of the loss of physical charms,
social duties and pleasures to which such women devote a
great deal of time, and which they are unwilling to renounce
— such are the considerations operative in these cases. In-
ability to suckle is a more frequent cause among women of
the proletariat. In consequence of their poverty, such women
are often forced to work away from home the whole day long.
It is not yet definitely ascertained whether constitutional
inability to suckle is commoner among proletarian women
than among women of other classes. It is a greater evil for
a proletarian mother to fail to suckle her infant than it is
for a mother of the upper classes similarly to fail. The pro-
letarian mother cannot afford to pay a wet-nurse, and the
child must therefore be artificially fed. In this event, the
I
130 Elements of Child- Protection
proletarian mother is likely to feed her child less well than
an upper-class mother who also adopts artificial methods of
feeding, for the former is too poor to obtain the best milk,
and she lacks time to prepare the milk properly, and to give
it to her child in suitably small quantities and at suitably
short intervals.
The idea that a smaller proportion of mothers of the poorer
classes suckle their children than among the well-to-do is
erroneous. But it is a fact that of those children who are
not suckled by their own mothers, among the upper classes
a much larger proportion are suckled by wet-nurses than
among the lower classes ; it is also the case that when chil-
dren of the upper classes are not suckled by their own mothers,
they commonly have wet-nurses in their own homes, and are
not entrusted to the care of foster-parents ; and finally, when
we come to hand-fed children, among the upper classes a
greater proportion of these are comparatively well fed than
among the lower. A smaller percentage of illegitimate than
of legitimate children are suckled by their own mothers; a
larger percentage of the illegitimate than of the legitimate
are artificially fed. The unmarried mother is in most cases
poor, the birth of the child makes her poverty extreme, and
by no means always does she receive a maintenance allowance
from her child's father. To be able to live, she must either
act as wet-nurse to another woman's child, or must go out to
work.
Wet-Nurses. — Poverty not only makes it impossible for
many women to suckle their own infants, but forces them
to suckle the child of another. The great majorit}'^ of wet-
nurses are recruited from the ranks of the proletariat, and,
indeed, for the most part, belong to the class of unmarried
mothers. Married women are less inclined to sacrifice their
own child for the good of the child of another woman. The
readiness of many mothers to renounce the duty of suckling
their children is perhaps referable to the fact that wet-nurses
may be procured so easily and at such small cost. Thus
poverty is also an indirect cause of the fact that many upper-
class mothers fail to suckle their children. The children
of wet-nurses are either fed artificially, or suckled by another
Infant- Life Protection 131
woman. The sad position of such children, and their enor-
mous death-rate during the first years of life, are only too
well known. When a woman takes employment as a wet-
nurse, two children suffer — («) the child she suckles, and
(5) her own child, which would otherwise, in all probability,
be suckled by its own mother. In favour of the traffic in
wet-nurses, it is frequently maintained that the children of
wet-nurses, owing to the good wages earned by their mothers,
are well cared for, whereas otherwise they would be badly
cared for. The sophistical character of this argument is
sufficiently obvious.
If a child is not suckled by its own mother, it is either
suckled by another woman, or else artificially fed ; and the
child may either remain in its maternal home, or it may
be sent to be reared elsewhere. If the infant is sent else-
where, either its relatives or some benevolent society may
arrange for its care. Wet-nurses are thus resident or non-
resident. In foundling hospitals, those wet-nurses who give
suck to children in the institution are known as resident
wet-nurses. From the standpoint of civil law, resident wet-
nurses have entered into a contract of service with their
employer, and the latter undertakes to provide in return
for their services a stipulated remuneration. A non-resident
wet-nurse, on the other hand, undertakes to provide in a
certain manner for the infant boarded with her. It is
obviously preferable that an individual child should be suckled
by a resident wet-nurse, since in such conditions the wet-nurse
can be supervised much more strictly than when she receives
the infant in her own home. But in the case of children
in a foundling hospital, it is preferable that they should be
boarded out with non-resident wet-nurses, for in the present
condition of medical science, the institutional care of infants
is a very difficult matter to carry out with success.
But the choice of a wet-nurse involves other considera-
tions in addition to those just stated. A woman can safely
be employed in this capacity only if her own confinement has
taken place some little time before. By suckling the child of
another the wet-nurse deprives her own child of its natural
nourishment. The wet-nurse may be suffering from some
132 Elements of Child- Protection
infective disorder, and may transmit this disorder to her
nursling. Conversely, the nursling may be suffering from
congenital syphilis, or from tuberculosis, and may infect the
nurse. It is very difficult in infants-in-arms to recognise
syphilis with certainty. For these reasons it is only to healthy
wet-nurses, for whose own children a proper provision can be
made (for instance, when the wet-nurse's child has already
been suckled for six months, or when it has died), that the
local authorities give permission to suckle the child of a
stranger. This applies both to resident and to non-resident
nurses. In the case of the latter, in view of the fact already
mentioned, that they cannot be properly supervised by the
child's relatives, supervision by the local authority is indis-
pensable. There are no physiological difficulties in the way of
suckling two infants, either simultaneously or successively.
The latter procedure is, however, to be preferred. In all
civilised countries baby-farming has been subjected to legal
regulations. Although these regulations vary greatly in dif-
ferent countries, they relate not only to infants, but also to
older children. The age at which supervision of such children
ceases is a very variable one. As an example may be men-
tioned the French law of the year 1874. This law deals with
children boarded out by foundling hospitals, but only to those
under two years of age received for a money payment. It is
becoming obvious to-day to most persons that children boarded
out by their relatives require official supervision, even if the
children are received gratuitously.
Cows Milk. — Pure cow's milk is the best substitute for the
maternal milk. Where milk is to be used for infant-feeding,
it should be drawn in a properly-kept cowshed, it should
be cooled, placed for delivery in vessels of a suitable size for
an individual infant's meal, diluted or otherwise prepared as
demanded by the age and special necessities of the case, and
used as soon as possible. To-day the price of cow's milk
suitable for infant-feeding is so high that the lower classes
find it almost impossible to obtain it. It is a matter of very
great importance that good milk should be rendered available
for the lower classes at a low price. Recently much attention
has been paid to the improvement of the technique of milking,
Infant- Life Protection 133
of the transport of milk, and of the care of milk when
delivered. The local authorities supervise the production
and transport of milk as a part of their public-health ad-
ministration. Improvements in cattle-breeding, a thorough
organisation of the cowsheds and dairies and of the methods
of milking, and an organisation of the entire dairy business
have effected much improvement. Both private associations
and the local authorities begin to lay stress on the supply of
milk for infants, especially in towns, in which the provision
of good milk is even more important than it is in country
districts. We must leave the question open whether infants
can be infected by the milk of cows suffering from Pcrlsuclit or
bovine tuberculosis ; it certainly cannot be a matter of indif-
ference whether the milk contains tubercle bacilli. At the
present time, unfortunately, in the anything but hygienic
dairies of our country districts, many of the cows are suffering
from Ferlsucht.
In many countries, especially France, Germany, and
England, Infant's Milk Depots (Gouttes de Lait) have been
founded, at which the poor can obtain infant's milk gratui-
tously or very cheaply. The deficit is made up by individual
contributions, by public grants-in-aid, or by the profit on milk
sold to the well-to-do. Of late years a few English munici-
palities have begun to administer such Infant's Milk Depots
themselves. Such Infant's Milk Depots appear to do more
harm than good. By providing milk gratuitously or very
cheaply they give a premium to those mothers who feed their
children artificially, and this leads many who would otherwise
suckle their children to bring them up by hand. Vainly in
France are prizes ofiered to mothers, and especially to unmarried
mothers, to induce them to suckle their own children, when
simultaneously institutions are founded to reward mothers
who bring up their children by hand. Infant's Milk Depots
must be under continuous medical supervision, such super-
vision to include the mothers and children attending the
depot, since in default of this there is no guarantee that the
mothers would use the milk properly in the nourishment of
their infants. Of late it has been found necessary, especially
in France, to associate with the administration of the Infant's
134 Elements of Child- Protection
Milk Depots the continuous medical supervision of the infants,
medical advice to the mothers, control of the use of the milk,
and advice to the mothers to suckle their own children. The
French Infant's Milk Depots are now associated with the
giving of advice to mothers {consultation de nourrissons), so
that the mothers can be properly instructed regarding all
matters bearing on infant-feeding. Several times a week
mothers' classes are held, at which all possible stress is laid
on the need for women to suckle their own children, this
theoretical advice being re-enforced by the giving of prizes.
If natural feeding is rejected or is impossible, advice is given
as to suitable artificial feeding. Domiciliary visits are made
to see that this advice is properly followed. Thus the Infant's
Milk Depots tend more and more to develop into centres for
the general care of infancy ; their original aim will pass more
and more into the background as advice to mothers becomes
associated with children's clinics (such as we find already in
many university towns), or with hospitals for infants, schools
for midwives, and lying-in hospitals. Such a development
may be expected in the near future.
Infant's Milk Depots, advice to mothers, and all the
institutions and measures forming part of the campaign to
lower infant mortality, must invariably have the general aim
of promoting the public welfare, and must never assume the
form of Poor-Relief, otherwise many who need their services
will fail to avail themselves of these, for, as is well known,
a great many people are frightened away from any institution
connected with the system of Poor-Relief. It is sufficiently
proved that those Infant's Milk Depots in which the milk is
given in accordance with individual medical prescriptions,
which are subjected to medical supervision, which are asso-
ciated with the giving of advice to mothers, which give milk
free or at a low price only to those whose infants are kept
under regular observation, promote breast-feeding by the
mothers, and effect a notable diminution in infant mortality.
Otker Methods of Artificial Feeding, — Nothing more need
be said here of the other methods of artificial feeding — that
is, of those in which no cow's milk is used — beyond this, that
they are in opposition to the essential principles of hygiene.
Infant- Life Protection 135
and that they are of less than no value. Everyone who has
the mterest of society at heart should do all in his power to
secure the complete discontinuance of such methods.
Institutional Care of Infants. — The mstitutional care of
infants, if it is to be carried out in accordance with hygienic
principles, is too costly. Hence it is applicable only in the
case of weakly and sickly infants, and is out of the question
for the permanent care of healthy infants. With regard to
the institutional care of healthy infants, it is asserted that,
even in the most modern and best -managed foundling hospi-
tals and hospitals for infants, epidemic diseases — such as pneu-
monia, contagious ophthalmia, and intestinal catarrh — inevitably
appear, and in such circumstances are extremely difficult to
treat with success. It is, however, necessary to consider the
following facts. Unquestionably, the institutional care of infants
was formerly far from satisfactory. Certain diseases, the seeds
of which have been sown in the institution, only develop in
full severity after the child has been boarded out. This de-
pends upon : (a) the primary lack of resisting power of the
infants, which is the disastrous sequel of the unfavourable
conditions of life to which they were exposed before entering
the institution ; (6) the lack of proper individualisation (for
example, the continuous lying in bed, bad air, lack of suffi-
cient cleanliness) — the so-called " hospitalism " or " hospital-
marasmus " is referable to these influences ; (c) a failure to
meet the demands of hospital hygiene, so that the origina-
tion and the development of the infectious diseases are facili-
tated ; (c?) artificial feeding, by which the working of these
evil influences is powerfully reinforced. But all these errors
are avoidable. Nothing more is requisite for their avoidance
than strict observance of the rules of modern hospital hygiene,
with individualisation in all departments, and especially in the
matter of diet, which should whenever possible be carried
out through the instrumentality of wet-nurses. Since wet-
nurses of the best quality are difficult to obtain in sufficient
numbers, it is best that the hospital for infants should be
associated with a lying-in hospital.
The. Crtche. — In the families of the poor, the elder
children have in most cases to work for their living, so that
136 Elements of Child- Protection
even these are not continuously available for the care of the
younger children. This applies especially to those families
whose members work away from home, and in places to which
the younger children cannot be taken. When a peasant with
his wife and his elder children works in the fields, it is possible
to take even quite little children to the place of work and to
keep an eye on them there ; but when a workman with his
wife and his elder children works in a shop, a factory, or a
workshop, to take the younger children there is impossible.
But young children must on no account be left without super-
vision, for this exposes them to all kinds of dangers — to burns
and scalds, falling out of window, &c. Moreover, an infant-
in-arms cannot be entrusted to the care of the older children,
if only for the reason that this is injurious to the latter alike
in body and in mind. They have, for example, to drag the
baby about with them wherever they go, are kept away from
school, &c. To board out an infant is, in the first place,
costly, and, in the second place, separates the infant com-
pletely from its parents. In many cases it is only by the
fact that she keeps her child with her, and becomes attached
to it, that an unmarried mother is restrained from adopting
an immoral life. Thus there is need of a place to which the
children may be sent, either permanently or only during the
hours in which the family are at work. Institutions for this
purpose actually came into existence only as a sequel of the
development of the factory system. They are known as
creches, and provide for the care, not of infants merely, but
of children up to the age of three. The need for and value
of such institutions is obvious. It is a real service to parents
of the poorer classes, if not far from their dwelling or from
their place of work there exists an institution at which, either
gratuitously or for a nominal payment, their little children
can be properly cared for. Early in the day the mother
takes her infant to the creche, during the midday pause
goes there if necessary to suckle the child, and fetches it
home in the evening.
Illegitimate children are in many places refused admis-
sion to the creches. This refusal merits our strongest dis-
approval. The reasons alleged for this course are of two
Infant- Life Protection 137
different kinds. First, we are told that we must not en-
courage girls to be immoral ; secondly, it is said that married
mothers will hesitate to entrust their children to a creche
which also receives illegitimate children. The injustice of
this practice is more and more generally understood, and
the better course more commonly prevails. Of course, only
such illegitimate children should be received at a creche as
are cared for by their own mothers during the hours of the
day when they are not at the institution. Illegitimate chil-
dren boarded out with foster-parents should not be admitted
to a creche, because foster-parents who send to a creche the
child entrusted to their care are not properly fulfilling the
duty they have undertaken, and those who cannot look
after, the foster-child themselves should not receive one
at all.
In most countries creches are founded and maintained
by private benevolence, and are merely supervised by the
State. Only in a few countries — Hungary, for instance —
has the State imposed upon the local authorities the duty
of founding and maintaining such institutions; and the
central authority has itself founded and maintained such
institutions, and in these the matrons of the Public Homes
for Children {Kinderhewahranstalten) receive their training.
To-day various defects exist in these creches. Not in-
frequently the attendants lack the necessary experience in
the care of children, medical supervision is often inadequate,
the building is unsuitable, the infants are artificially fed, the
creche is often too far from factory, workshop, or home, so
that artificial feeding or feeding by a wet-nurse is encouraged.
Before long creches will become national institutions. They
will become more numerous ; they will be used more readily ;
their faults will be corrected.
Particular mention must be made of factory creches and
family creches. (a) Many factory owners construct creches
and feeding-rooms for the infants of women working in their
factories, and arrange for such women to leave work at in-
tervals to suckle their children. The employers do this, not
so much from the goodness of their hearts, as with an eye
to their own well-considered interest. The working time they
138 Elements of Child- Protection
lose amounts to very little, and they hope that their bene-
volent actions will secure the goodwill, and consequently the
hearty co-operation, of their workpeople. (6) A recent develop-
ment is the family creche. Adequate maintenance and free
house-room are guaranteed to a widow, in return for her un-
dertaking to care during the day for a restricted number
of infants (and in some cases, also, children of school age).
Family creches share to some extent the advantages of the
family care of infants. Their great and obvious advantage
lies in the fact that they facilitate decentralisation — that is,
the creche can be nearer to the homes of the infants' parents.
Their main defect lies in their failure, as a rule, to satisfy
the demands of modern hygiene; a second disadvantage is
that systematic occupation for the older children is usually
difficult to arrange in the family creche. For these reasons
it is unlikely that they will ever become very general.
Proposed Beforms. — Proper training and discipline are
requisite, not only for midwives, but also for medical practi-
tioners. Proper training of mothers is also necessary. Most
young mothers seek advice above all from midwives, and these
latter often advise very badly. In the first place, there are
many matters connected with the care of infancy about which
midwives have no expert knowledge. Secondly, midwives
often advise mothers not to suckle their children, but to bring
them up by hand, because the case is sooner done with and
the midwife has less to do when the mother does not suckle.
In many German towns, a number of the institutions for
the care of infants, and also the offices for the registration
of births, distribute printed instructions regarding the care
of infants, with especial reference to the matter of infant-
feeding. The principle of these attempts is sound, but un-
fortunately many such leaflets are rather long-winded, and
consequently remain unread.
It has been suggested that every woman entering upon
marriage should have to display a knowledge of the elements
of the hygiene of infant life, and more especially of the
principles of infant- feeding ; or else that the duty should be
imposed upon women of acquiring the requisite knowledge
within six months after marriage — by attendance at one of
Infant' Life Protection 139
a number of schools to be founded with this end in view.
The idea of this proposal is sound, but it is one which it is
hardly possible to put into practice precisely in the form here
stated.
Radkal Solution of the Problem. — It is one ot the most
important aims of child-protection that during the first year
of life the infant should be nourished at the maternal breast.
Every possible effort must be made to secure that the infant
should not be separated from its mother; and if separation
from the mother is unavoidable, that the child should not be
hand-fed, but suckled by a wet-nurse. Finally, when artificial
feeding of the infant is inevitable, it is the aim of child-
protection to secure that the technique of this feeding should
be the best possible.
Two of the institutions of modern civil law are of such
a nature as to favour wet-nursing and hand-feeding, and to
hinder the attainment of the primary aims of child-protection.
The first of these is that, within limits, the parents are free to
determine how their child shall be brought up ; so that, for
instance, the mother is free to entrust her child to a wet-nurse,
or even to have it brought up by hand. Hence the reform
of these matters must begin with legislation securing that
the legal position of legitimate and of illegitimate children
shall be identical ; and, secondly, imposing it upon all mothers
as a legal obligation to suckle their own children when they
are physically competent to do so.
The last-named measure is by some considered too radical, on
the ground that its enforcement would infringe the sacred prin-
ciple of the freedom of contract, and would violate the sanctity
of family life. But these are merely empty phrases ; and such
considerations cannot for a moment counterbalance the urgent
need for the proper protection of infant life. Even to-day, it is
an accepted legal principle that in the case of contracts involving
the personal service of the contracting parties within the limits
of family life, the contract cannot be fulfilled by proxy. Thus,
in the matter of the nourishment of an infant during the first
months of life — that is to say, in respect of the performance
of an act which is merely the continuation and the sequel of
the physiological state brought into being by sexual intercourse
I40 Elements of Child- Protection
and;by pregnancy, the demand that no substitution be allowed,
that lactation by proxy be prohibited, is a logical application
of existing and accepted legal principles. In the sphere of
family life, the principle of the freedom of contract finds even
to-day no more than a restricted application ; and with the
disappearance of the economic order based upon free com-
petition, the principle of the freedom of contract is destined
altogether to disappear. Beyond question, the suggested reform
would involve a very serious limitation of personal liberty.
But the limitation would be no greater than those that are
imposed in most modern States by various ordinances affecting
the right of the individual to the free disposal of his own
body — for instance, compulsory military service, compulsory
vaccination, and compulsory removal to a hospital for in-
fectious diseases. The proposed reform would knit closer the
bonds between mother and child, and it would curtail the
love of personal luxury and the pleasure-seeking of the women
of the well-to-do classes. The legal measure here suggested
was known to the old Prussian law, and to this law alone.
It does not appear in any legal code of to-day. The two
reasons that prevent its immediate adoption by any modern
State are these : in the first place, it would affect the women
of the upper classes much more than those of the lower, and
would expose the former in especial to punishment; in the
second place, a necessary corollary of any such law would be
the provision for women of the lower classes'^ of a suitable
allowance for maintenance during the period of lactation.
f :
CHAPTER III
THE CARE OF FOUNDLINGS, WET-NURSING, AND
BABY-FARMING
Terminology. — In this work, when we speak of " the care of
foundlings," the term is used throughout in the ^videst signifi-
cation, to denote the general care of the children boarded out,
or otherwise placed in external care by the Poor Law Boards
or other administrative instruments of poor-relief. Thus we
do not refer to the care of all abandoned children, nor even
to the care of all foundlings, but merely to the care of
children permanently and completely abandoned by their
relatives. It is necessary to lay this great stress upon the
accurate definition of the term, for the reason that in Ger-
many and in England the systems by which the community
undertakes the care of foundlings is fiercely attacked ; but the
opponents of the institution are attacking something very
different from what many of them imagine. To-day the care
of abandoned children, and institutions for the care of these
children, are altogether different from the foundling hospitals
of former times ; abandoned children are cared for by the
community, not only in countries in which foundling hospitals
exist, but also in Germany and England, for in these latter
countries, the so-called Germanic system for the care of
abandoned children, though there not spoken of as " care
for foundlings," amounts to the same thing.
History of the Care of Foundlings. — For two reasons it is
necessary that we should deal with the history of the care of
foundlings. In the first place, it is a branch of child-protection
which is rightly considered to be of great importance, and yet in
regard to this branch the most erroneous views prevail alike
among laymen and non-laymen. In the second place, the
care of foundlings to-day cannot possibly be understood by
142 Elements of Child- Protection
those who know nothing of the history of the institution.
Even during the time at which infanticide and the exposing of
children were still legally permissible among the Romans, these
practices were condemned by public opinion, especially when
the excuse of great poverty was lacking, and they were
regarded as a misuse of parental authority. This applies
even more to infanticide than to the exposing of children ; for
in the case of the latter, it was always possible that the child
would be rescued and brought up by a third person. The
Church naturally regarded both infanticide and the exposing
of children as immoral and sinful. But what could the
Church do to prevent infanticide ? Infanticide was largely a
result of the fact that the Church and public opinion strongly
condemned illegitimate sexual relationships; in actual fact,
infanticide was usually the act of an unmarried mother. The
only course open to the Church, if it wished to prevent
infanticide, was to tolerate the exposure of children, and to
take steps to ensure that the children thus exposed should
not perish. The Church permitted the lesser evil in order to
prevent the greater. According to some authorities, the
priests even publicly exhorted fallen women to expose their
children at the church doors. In many churches, marble
basins were placed, in which children could be left. In
many communities, it was the duty of the verger to take
first charge of exposed children. Thus, the exposing of
children on these lines became transformed into a kind of
legitimate transference to another of the duty of maintaining
a child. To expose a child in any other way was a punishable
offence. Since those children that survived had to be brought
up, the Church made provision for this also. Gradually
institutions were founded, to which children were brought
secretly, where they were received without restriction as to
number, and where they were brought up. The institution of
the turn-table dates from about the year 1200, and for many
centuries thereafter was the general method for the secret
reception of the children. The turn-table is a box, one side
of which is left open, fixed in the outer wall of the foundling
hospital, and rotating upon a vertical axis. Anyone wishing
to leave a child at the institution has merely to pass the child
The Care of Foimdlings 143
through the opening on to the turn-table, and then to ring the
bell adjacent to the turn-table. Someone within the institu-
tion thereupon rotates the table to receive the child, while the
person who brought it can go away unseen.
The foundling hospitals of former times were mere death-
traps, with an infant mortality of 60 to 95 per cent. With
the advance of medical and educational science, and with the
growth of milder views regarding illegitimate sexual rela-
tionships, foundling hospitals have been greatly transformed.
Turn-tables have for the most part been abolished, so that
they remain to-day in a few countries only, and in a few
foundlmg hospitals. Unrestricted and secret reception of
infants has been replaced by restricted and public reception ;
institutional care has given place to external care ; natural
feeding, wherever possible, is preferred to artificial feeding.
By these means, the infant mortality has been greatly dimin-
ished, and those children that survive receive a much better
upbringing. With the passage of time, the foundling hospitals
have come to receive not foundlings (abandoned and exposed
children) only, but also other children inadequately cared for
by the persons legally responsible (parents, guardians, &c.).
The foundling hospitals thus take over the work formerly
done by orphan asylums and similar institutions.
The children received by a modern institution remain
under its roof for a short time only, until foster-parents
have been found for them, and return to the institution
only in the event of illness. Children that are ill when
first received, are boarded out only after they have recovered.
The foster-parents are remunerated and subject to inspection.
Thus the modern foundling hospital is : 1, A depot for the
reception of children ; 2. A children's hospital ; 3. The centre
for the supervision of the children that are boarded out.
The latest phases in the development of the care of found-
lings can best be studied in Hungary. In this country the
matter has been the subject of recent legislation and regula-
tion, and every child declared by the local authorities to be
abandoned or neglected is received into a foundling hospital.
There have, of course, been countries and districts in Europe
in which such institutions as foundling hospitals never de-
144 Elements of Child- Protection
veloped, or in which those that did develop soon passed into
disuse (for instance, in consequence of the Reformation) ; here
foundlings were cared for in another way. The feudal chiefs,
who, as is well known, cared for the poor within the limits of
their fief, took over also in such cases the care of foundlings.
Owing to the desire for the rapid increase in population
characteristic of the dominance of the mercantile system of
political economy, foundling hospitals existed transitorily in
Protestant countries.
The Latin System and the Germanic System. — Two circum-
stances mainly determine the manner in which in a particular
country the care of foundlings is regulated. The first of these
is the condition of poor relief in the country we are consider-
ing, inasmuch as the care of foundlings is merely one section
of poor relief. The second is the legal position of illegitimate
children, for the majority of the children to be dealt with in
this connection are illegitimate. The essential peculiarity of
the Latin system lies in this, that abandoned and neglected
children are dealt with through the mediation of foundling
hospitals. This system obtains especially in those countries
in which no inquiry into paternity is permitted. In the
Germanic system, on the other hand, foundling hospitals are
unknown, and abandoned and neglected children are dealt
Avith on the same lines as other destitute persons. The
children are cared for directly by the local authorities
responsible for poor relief, being in some cases boarded out,
in others cared for in orphan asylums or other institutions.
The foster-parents of boarded-out children are directly super-
vised by the Poor Law authorities. If the parents or other
near relatives of the children are living, it is only when the
relatives are unable to provide properly for the children, or
are themselves in need of poor relief, that the children are
regarded as requiring public assistance. The public assist-
ance, m such cases, is not given to the child, but to the
person or persons regarded as legally responsible for the
child's support. Thus, the child remains with its family as
an individual relieved in common with its relatives. The
Latin system employs a similar method to the one just
explained for the relief of unmarried mothers (secours tem^
The Care of Foundlings 145
poraire — secoitrs mix filles-meres)' To render it unnecessary
for the mother to send her child to a foundling hospital, and
to relieve her of the cost of maintaining it outside, she is
provided with a monthly allowance. This method, which,
notwithstanding obvious defects, is ever more widely applied,
is of course associated with a supervision of the mother — a
supervision that is too often defective.
Institutional care is altogether unsuitable for infants. For
the child which cannot be cared for in its own family, the
only efficient and natural substitute is that it should be cared
for in another family; in comparison with this the best
institutional care is purely mechanical. Depots are, however,
indispensable for the temporary care of children until a suit-
able family can be found for their reception. It often happens,
for example, that a child needs public assistance immediately
after birth, and for such a child the depot is the only place
available. Of late years, even in the Germanic countries, this
has been more and more clearly recognised, and the Germanic
system has in consequence undergone substantial alterations.
Depots are being instituted, and much greater stress is being
laid on family care. In England again, the significance of
institutional care (the workhouse system) becomes con-
tinually less, and that of family care (the boarding- out system
and its modifications, scattered homes, &c.) becomes ever
greater. For the same reasons, orphan asylums are under-
going, though very slowly, a transformation similar to
that which most foundling hospitals have already ex-
perienced. The orphan asylum of the future will merely
be : 1, A children's depot : 2, a children's hospital ; 3, a
central station for the supervision of children placed in
external care.
Thus, in course of time, alike the Latin system and the
Germanic system have been extensively transformed, and as
a result of these transformations the two systems have been
assimilated to such an extent as to have become almost
identical. It is, in fact, almost impossible to point out any
notable difference between the modern Germanic and the
modern Latin system ; and the few differences that still exist
are gradually disappearing. The unmistakable tendency of
K
146 Elements of Child- Protection
evolution is that these two systems, so divergent in origin,
will ultimately be completely assimilated.
&oim Modern Methods for the Care of Foundlings. — It is
necessary to allude, further, to many modern methods for the
care of foundlings, some of which are applicable also in the
case of neglected children. These modern forms are — (a) up-
bringing in agricultural colonies and training ships, (l) rescue
homes for children, (c) scattered homes {Kindergruppen-
Familiensystem), (d) placing of the child together with its
mother in family care.
A rescue home for children is properly an asylum whose
aim is to undertake the upbringing of neglected children.
These homes are really a by-product of reformatory schools.
In fact, the only difference between a rescue home for children
and a reformatory school is that children are sent to the
latter by a magistrate's order, but this is not so in the case
of a rescue home.
The scattered home system originated in the endeavour
to replace the family by the formation of groups. It occupies
an intermediate position between institutional care and family
care ; and it is claimed that it combines some of the advantages
of institutional care with the good effects of family life upon
the character. The essence of the system is that somewhere
in the country, houses are built, or suitable houses rented,
in which the children are cared for in small groups. There
are from eight to twelve children in one house— that is, such
a number as are found in an ordinary large family. Each
house is managed by a childless couple of the superior working
class, the man being free to go to his work, while the woman
devotes her whole time to the children. The children attend
the public elementary school, associating freely with the other
children; the boys in the home are taught a trade by the
man, whilst the girls are taught housework by the woman.
The boarding out of an illegitimate child and its mother
is a system also practised in Hungary.
The Care of Foundlings, Wet-Nursing, and Baby -Farming. —
The care of foundlings is closely connected with baby-farming
and putting children out to nurse. Children completely and
permanently abandoned by their relatives are in fact boarded
The Care of Foundlings 147
out with nurses or brought up with foster-parents. The
principal difference between the Germanic system for the care
of foundlings and what is known as baby-farming consists in
this, that in the former the children are boarded out by
the admmistrators of the Poor Law, whilst in the latter case
it is the relatives of the children who make this arrangement
for them. The principal difference between the Latin system
for the care of foundlings and baby-farming consists m the
fact that in the former case the foundlings are in the first
instance received into a foundling hospital, whereas children
sent by their relatives to a baby-farm go there direct from
their homes.
Speaking generally, children at a baby-farm are younger
than those under the care of the Poor Law authorities, for
the need of putting the former out to nurse commences with
their birth. The mortality of children at a baby-farm is
usually greater than that of Poor Law children, supervision in
the case of the latter being commonly much more effective.
In most countries, State regulation of children under the
Poor Law extends only for the first few years of life, and
applies only to those boarded out for money ; but supervision
may extend through the later years of childhood, and even to
the attainment of full legal age, and may apply to all the
children for whose care the local authority is responsible.
In the countries in which the Latin system for the care
of foundlings prevails — in those, that is to say, in which no
inquiry into paternity is permitted (for example, in France
and Italy) — baby-farming is less prevalent than it is in
countries in which inquiry into paternity is permitted. The
reason for this is that in these latter countries a much larger
proportion of unmarried mothers receive from the natural
fathers an allowance for the maintenance of their children,
and therefore a much larger proportion of illegitimate children
in these countries are farmed out for pay. At the present
day, the requirements with which the nurses and foster-
parents have to comply in the case of all children (alike those
farmed out by their relatives and those boarded out by the
local authorities) are much the same in all countries ; and
there is the same general similarity in the matter of the
148 Elements of Child-Protection
principles of supervision and in that of tlie supervising
authority. The tendency of evolution is that all the nurses
and all the foster-parents should be supervised by the same
authority, and in accordance with identical principles.
Institutional Care versus Family Care. — If the child is not
cared for in its own home, the question arises, is recourse to be
had to institutional care or to family care (close or open
care). The following are the objections to institutional care.
{a) It does not readily allow proper attention to be paid
to the individuality of each child. The care of the emotional
life is a matter of especial difficulty. It is utterly impossible
that all the children in an institution should be truly and
individually loved. To pay a preference to individual children
arouses jealousy. In an institution the children learn nothing
about the daily experiences of family life (for example, the
difficulties of earning a living, troubles small and great) ; on
the other hand, occurrences which profoundly disturb the
life of the family (illness and death, for example) are matters
of daily experience in the life of institutions.
(&) In the institution the child never experiences absolute
freedom. On the contrary, it feels itself subject to unceasing
control.
(c) Epidemic diseases spread very readily.
{d) A few bad children may readily communicate un-
wholesome ideas and practices to the others.
(e) In institutional life, the children learn nothing of the
vital needs of daily life, or of the difficulties of the struggle
for existence ; and yet it is all the more necessary that they
should learn something about these matters, inasmuch as in
their subsequent life they will presumably have a hard
struggle for their daily bread. Whatever the child really
needs, it receives in the institution; thus an idea arises in
its mind that there is some higher power which cares for
all these things. The child has to make no effort, no sacrifices
are exacted from it ; in the institution, tests of the child's
power of resistance, such as might strengthen it to meet the
temptations of the outer world, are few and far between, for
from the temptations of the outer world it is sheltered by
the walls of the institution.
The Care of Foundlings 149
(/) The institution is not adapted to provide for the
complete education of a child — for the learning of a trade.
It is absolutely necessary that institutional care should be
supplemented by work under a master, in a technical school
or teaching workshop,
{g) Institutional care is costlier than family care.
Qi) Only family care can replace for a child the loss
of its own family. Family care is the only natural method of
upbringing, whereas the best possible institutional care is
purely mechanical, full of defects, and cannot possibly replace
a free life. In a sense, the institution is indeed a large family.
But in the free life, outside the particular family to which
the child belongs, there are thousands of others, communi-
cating and competing with one another. No such com-
petition exists in the institution ; the child's work there is
purely mechanical, but as soon as it enters the open world, the
child has to seek work, and often fails to find it.
{%) The State lays down the principles in accordance with
which the foster-parents must bring up the child, and sees
that the foster-parents have access to expert advice concern-
ing every department of the hygiene of childhood. The State
insists that whenever necessary the foster-children shall have
medical aid, that the children shall attend the elementary
school, &c. If the foster-parents apply these principles pro-
perly in their care of the foster-children, they are likely to
take care that their own children are treated at least equally
well. And if, in any community, these principles are applied
cordially and intelligently by the foster-parents, it is probable
that the other parents of the same community will follow this
good example.
iji) Statistical data show, moreover, that family care gives
better results than institutional care, alike physically, mentally,
and morally.
(/) With regard to the alleged defects of family care (such
as that foster-children are less well treated than the foster-
parents' own children, that they are exploited by the foster-
parents, that suitable foster-parents are hard to find), these
can readily be overcome.
From these considerations it would appear that only in
150 Elements of Child- Protection
special circumstances is institutional care necessary or desirable.
In the case, for instance, of children physically or mentally ill,
we cannot dispense with institutional care. Moreover, institu-
tions are necessary as a supplement to the system of family
care — institutions having the characteristics of a depot and
an asylum. Such depots are indispensable, if only for the
reason that orphans immediately after the loss of their parents
are in a condition of mingled depression and excitement, and
must, therefore, before being boarded with a family, be calmed
and strengthened for a time by a sojourn in an institution.
As a result of all these considerations, the tendency of
evolution is to replace institutional care by a form of family
care in which the foster-parents are supervised from a central
depot, which serves also for the temporary institutional care
of children needing such care. Whereas formerly institutional
upbringing was the dominant method, to-day family upbring-
ing has become of much greater importance.
Sv/pervision of Family Care. — The modern State no longer
regards the family care of children by others than their own
parents as a purely private matter. A few decades ago, to
receive children in this way for pay was an open profession,
but it is so no longer. The local authorities regulate the
matter in detail, defining very precisely the standard of life
of the boarded-out child and the methods of supervision ;
and, as a result of this intervention, the scandalous mortality
attendant upon the old-time baby-farming is now largely a
thing of the past. Where children are received in family care
for pay, the intention is that these children should have all
the advantages of the natural care they would have obtained
in their own families. Thus, as far as possible, the child
should remain permanently with the same family. In actual
fact, a proportion of the children committed to family care do
permanently remain with their foster-parents — a proportion
are indeed adopted. Since the children are as a rule the
offspring of poor parents, and inasmuch as well-to-do people
rarely trouble themselves to undertake the upbringing of
other people's children, the foster-parents will themselves
usually be poor. But they must not be extremely poor, for
if this were so, even though the remmieration were ample,
The Care of Foundlings 151
the greater part of the money would be used by them for
their own purposes, to the consequent detriment of the child.
But the foster-parents usually want to make some profit. In
many countries they have to demonstrate that there is no
absolute "financial necessity for them to receive a boarded-out
child. It is as well, in any case, that the social position of
the foster-parents should be at least a trifle higher than that
of the real parents of the child. Persons in receipt of public
assistance are not suitable as foster-parents.
The foster-mother must not have too much to do, apart
from her work for the child; and, above all, she should not
be employed away from the house. It is necessary that the
foster-parents should lead an orderly, decent life, that they
should be really fond of children, that they should have a
proper knowledge of how to bring up children, and that they
should live in a suitable house. The remuneration must be
reasonably high. If it is too low, the child will not be properly
cared for, w411 not get enough to eat, will very probably be ill-
treated and exploited. It has been statistically demonstrated
that the death-rate of boarded-out children is inversely propor-
tional to the amount paid for their care. The foster-parents
are supervised by the local authority. Medical practitioners
are the chief executive instruments of this supervision. Super-
vision by members of the laity is inadequate, for these do not
pay sufficient attention to hygienic considerations. Voluntary
honorary workers are also unsuitable, for the reason that years
of experience are requisite to a proper knowledge of the con-
ditions we are considering, and voluntary officers will not face
the unpleasantnesses incident to efficient inspection.
It is a very important question whether the family care of
children can better be carried out in country districts or in
towns. Children who are no longer quite young cannot in
any case be sent to the country, for they will already have
acquired the usual preference of their class for town life.
The following reasons are adduced for preferring family care
in the countr}' : — {a) In large towns, or in the neighbourhood
of such towns, owing to the high rents, the foster-parents will
not have a suitable dwelling. (5) The children must be kept
at a distance from the dangerous influences of town life, and, it
152 Eiemeitts of Child- Protection
may be, also from the influence of undesirable relatives living
in the town, (c) We ought to counteract the drift of popu-
lation into the town, and we can do this by sending these
children back to the country. {d) In the interest of the
agricultural districts, which suffer from insufficient labour, it
is desirable that these children should become agricultural
labourers.
In answer to these arguments, the following points have
to be considered : — (a) When the children grow up, they will
be influenced by the general drift from the country towards
the towns, and whereas they will probably have learned no
skilled trade in the country, the great majority of them will
fall into the ranks of the unskilled labourers. (&) From
the hygienic standpoint, it is important to remember that
the town population is more intelligent, and that in towns
medical aid is more readily available. Unquestionably, in
the country, the only foster-parents available would be agri-
cultural labourers and other manual labourers. In any case,
this question cannot be decided on general principles, but only
on a consideration of the needs of the individual case, with
especial reference to the question whether the child shows
an inclination towards agricultural work or manufacturing
industry.
Subsidiary Aims of the Care of Foundlings. — The care of
foundlings is utilised by the civil order for the attainment
of its ends. This system renders possible the upbringing of
submissive proletarians, immunised against socialist ideas, who
can be enlisted in the reserve army of labour. From the very
earliest times the existence of foundling hospitals has been
justified on the ground that through their instrumentality
persons were brought up who could devote their time, their
working powers, and their life wholly to the State. In the
beginning of the nineteenth century, children under the care
of the English Poor Law were hired out to the factory owners.
In Germany, among the arguments for the introduction of
coercive reformatory education, it was pointed out that by
this means cheaper labour could be provided for those agri-
cultural districts in which labour was scarce. In Hungary,
where a few years ago modern laws for child-protection were
The Care of Foundli?igs 153
passed, it is constantly pointed out as the task of child-
protection to bring up the children as " good patriots." For
this reason children are boarded out with " patriotic " foster-
parents only, and in districts .where a strong Hungarian
nationalist feeling prevails, boarded-out children are hardly
ever to be found. In the history of this institution, we
encounter again and again the idea that foundlings should be
brought up as soldiers, sailors, or colonial pioneers. Napoleon
the First wished to make use of foundlings for recruiting
the army, and especially for the marines. He did much to
secure that in every arrondissement in France, foundling
hospitals with turn-tables should be instituted ; and he even
arranged for the foundation of such institutions in the various
countries he conquered. Quite recently the idea has once
more recurred to utilise foundling hospitals and orphan
asylums as recruiting grounds for the army and the navy,
and with this end in view to combine these institutions with
military and naval training schools.
For the attainment of these ends, the civil order has laid
down the principle that from the first the children shall be
brought up with an eye to the conditions awaiting them in
the future — hard work, deprivation, and poverty. But this
principle is only partially sound. Undoubtedly the child must
be habituated to regular work, for only in this way will work
be other than distasteful. But the child should be taught in
such a way as to safeguard it from the lot of the great mass
of unskilled labourers. The standard of life of boarded-out
children should be a good one ; for only if the child has been
accustomed to such a standard, will it be spurred, after it
had become independent, to secure the same standard by its
own exertions. In the case of boarded-out children who
have already begun to work for wages, the attempt on the
part of employers to pay them at a specially low rate must
be strenuously resisted. The reason given in such cases by
the employers, that these children need much more atten-
tion than other young workpeople, is invalid. The wage in
such cases should be the standard wage of the district for
other workers doing the same class of work, as otherwise the
young people feel exploited and oppressed. The rightful aim
154 Elements of Child- Protection
is thus to lift foundlings out of the lower strata into the higher
strata of wage-labour.
The Tendency of Evolution. — {a) Baby-farraing is distin-
guished from the care of foundlings only by the fact that in
the former the children are entrusted to foster-parents by their
relatives instead of by the local authorities, (b) The various
systems for the care of foundlings tend to become continually
more similar. The general tendency in every case is to have
recourse to a system of family care supervised by the same
administrative authority, (c) There is a tendency to assimi-
late the upbringing of neglected and of criminal children, and to
adopt for both the same methods of family care and the same
kind of supervision, {d) The same remarks apply in the
case of children who have become legally liable to a coercive
reformatory education, {e) In course of time the supervision
of the foster-parents — indifferently whether the children com-
mitted to their care are materially or morally neglected or
criminal children, and whether they are boarded out by
the children's relatives or by the local authorities — comes
to be exercised by the same administrative authority and in
accordance with the same principles.
To-day, baby-farming represents the first stage of evolution,
the Latin system for the care of foundlings the second, the
Germanic system the third, coercive reformatory education
the fourth, the education of criminal children the fifth. In a
comparatively short time all the different branches of child-
protection will come to stand at the same level, and in so far
as they relate to children neglected by their relatives, in
whatever manner, they will all take the same form of family
care, under a unified centralised control, and supervised locally
by the same administrative authority.
CHAPTER IV
WOMEN'S LABOUR AND CHILD-LABOUR
History of Child-Labour. — During the Middle Ages child-
labour seems not to have been very general. At the time of
the guilds, improper utilisation of the working powers of
children and young persons was hardly possible. Night work
was unknown, and the working conditions were strictly
regulated by the guilds. In the statutes of the guilds, there
is no reference to child-labour ; whereas, had such labour been
at all common, its regulation would have been inevitable.
We find, for example, in the statutes precise rules as to
production, as to the sale of the finished products, as to the
hours of work, as to the number of craftsmen to be employed
by the individual masters, &c. As the guilds became mean-
spirited, the condition of the apprentices became worse.
With the development of manufacturing industry and the
growth of machine production, handicraftmanship lost its
dominant position. In consequence of the industrial revolu-
tion, the guilds perished, the principle of freedom of contract
was established, and in accordance with this prmciple the
working powers of the cheapest of all objects of exploitation,
children, were utilised. But the first phase of the develop-
ment of capitalism was the most dangerous one, not only for
youthful, but also for adult workers. In England, for example,
it was towards the end of the eighteenth century that the
conditions as regards child-labour were at their worst. The
factory owners hired children from the workhouses and
orphan asylums. These latter institutions were far from the
factories, and for this reason no ofiicial supervision of the
children was possible, and their care was left entirely in the
hands of the factory owners. The condition of these orphan
children, similarly with that of the other youthful workers.
156 Elements of Child- Protection
mocks every attempt at description. The most heartrending
tortm-es were customary. They were tormented with the
utmost refinement of cruelty; chained, flogged, starved to
emaciation, and driven to suicide. All this is easily com-
prehensible. The aim of the factory owner was to utilise as
rapidly as possible the opportunity resulting from the replace-
ment of hand-labour by machine-labour, to utilise it to gain
wealth for himself before machine-labour became general ; he
therefore procured his labour at the cheapest possible price,
and exploited the working powers of his employees to the
utmost limits. Before the days of capitalism, night work was
unknown, and, moreover, was quite unnecessary. But with
the growth of capitalist production, there came into existence
a number of industries which were carried on continuously
night and day, if only for the reason that any interruption of
the process of production would cause a great curtailment of
profit. Night work is extremely injurious in its effects, it
undermines the health (sleep during the day does not ade-
quately compensate for loss of sleep during the night),
morality, and the family life of the worker (who has no time
to occupy himself with his family). All these dangers are
even more serious in the case of women and children.
As regards the diffusion of child-labour, those branches of
manufacture which take the form of home-industry are by
far the worst. The manual workers fight the machine -workers
with the same weapons that these latter themselves employ.
These weapons flay the hand-workers even more than the
machine-workers, because the attempt is made to compete
with the machine-labour by human over-exertion. This pheno-
menon becomes apparent in every branch of industry directly
the use of machines begins. In agriculture, child-labour
becomes a serious matter only when manufacturing industry
comes to draw labour more and more from the country into
the towns, so that a scarcity of labour begins to prevail in the
country districts. Child-labour in agriculture is a necessary
accompaniment of the small-holding system, because the small-
holder is able transitorily to maintain his independence only
through the use of cheap labour in the form of the utilisation
of the working powers of all the members of his family. The
Women s Labour and Ckzld-Labotir 157
widely celebrated patriarchal conditions which were reputed
to exist in agriculture have completely passed away. When
the condition of the labour market renders it possible, certain
factory owners, even to-day, discharge men to replace them by
the cheaper labour of women and children.
Diffusion of Child-Labour. — In most countries the children,
alike in the villages and in the towns, are employed in agri-
cultural production, in trade, and in manufacturing industry.
They herd geese, cows, sheep, and swine ; work in the fields
and in the mines ; beg, sell matches, flowers, laces, news-
papers ; perform m the street, at the theatre, the circus, and
the music-hall ; work at home with their parents in inns and
drinking saloons, and work in factories and workshops. In
Germany, about two and a half million children are engaged
in wage-labour, and of these more than 600,000 are of school
age. Of these latter children of school age, nearly 60 per
cent, are engaged in manufacturing industry. The number
of children employed on Sunday is certainly not less than
100,000. In the years 1890-1894, the number of children
returned as working in factories underwent a decline, for the
law of 1891 and the need for notifying the employment of
children drove a portion of the children previously employed
in factories into unregulated domestic industry. In Switzer-
land, 5 0 per cent, of the children of school age are engaged in
wage-labour; in Austria, only about 30 per cent.
The child at work in the open air enjoys a healthy freedom
of movement. For this reason, under certain conditions (which,
however, to-day can hardly be said to obtain) agricultural
labour is healthier than any other. It is seasonal work — that
is, it is in abeyance in certain seasons of the year, but in other
seasons is pursued with the greatest diligence and the greatest
possible intensity, so that the children engaged in it must
work very hard from early in the morning till late in the
evening. No one who knows the wretched condition of the
country schools will speak favourably of the school training
of those children emjaired in agricultural work. Child-labour
in agriculture does not replace the labour of adults. Not-
withstanding the increase in agricultural child -labour, the
complaints of lack of labour-power in the country districs
158 Elements of Child-Protection
are unceasing. The increased working contributions of the
children are more than counterbalanced by the withdrawal
of adult labour. This is all the more important, because,
owing to the multiple character of agricultural activities and
the lesser extent of the division of labour, agriculture demands
more independence and ability from the worker than manu-
facturing industry.
Domestic work is an interesting field of child-labour.
Working-class parents are out at work all day, and have but
little time to give to housework. It is the children who
attend to this. They clean out the house, and wash and dress
and take care of the little ones ; that is to say, such children
do nearly as much work as those employed in factories or
workshops. In addition, the girls have to knit, sew, mend,
and cook.
Wage-earning work for children of school age is another
interesting question. The number of children of school age
engaged in such work is very great, and most of them are
engaged in domestic industry. For a proportion of school
children, the holidays mean simply harder work than ever,
because, when school attendance ceases for a time, there is no
hindrance to their exploitation.
The Causes of Child- Lcibour. — Capitalism, notwithstanding
the ever-increasing utilisation of machines, still needs a larger
and larger supply of human labour-power. Competition
becomes increasingly fierce, and therefore the capitalists are
driven to seek cheaper and ever cheaper human labour-power.
The material needs of children are much smaller than those
of adults. In Austria, the earnings of children engaged in
domestic industry for eight hours a day, in addition to their
school work, amount to from 6 to 20 keller (6d. to 2d.) daily.
In Germany, the wages of children per hour seldom exceed
7 or 8 pfennig (about one penny). The development of
technical science leads to a simplification of the process of
manufacture by means of a continually-increasing division
of labour. This renders it possible to employ in the work of
production persons who have no technical training whatever,
and whose bodily powers are very small. In the case of
children, technical training and bodily strength are less than
Womeiis Labour and Child- Labour 159
in the case of adults. The employers gladly make use of the
working powers of children for the following reasons : the
children are inexperienced, they are less inclined to combine
with their fellow-workers, they can more readily be forced
to accept' unfavourable conditions of work, and in the struggle
with his adult employees the possibility of replacing their
labour by that of children can be used by the employer as
a trump card. Through the employment of the labour of
children, the total quantity of labour available for employ-
ment is increased. It is owing to this fact, and to the greater
cheapness of their labour, that the employment of children
in wage-labour helps to force down the wages of adults. It is
through poverty as a rule that children are forced to adopt
wage-labour. The earnings of the parents and of other adult
members of the family are so small that the earnings of the
children are absolutely indispensable, and constitute no incon-
siderable addition to the family income. The parents, who,
according to the existing laws, for the most part have full
control over the earnings of children under age, have a direct
interest in sending the child to work. Many parents even
believe that they have unrestricted rights over their children,
and that there is no reason why they should not send the
latter to the hardest possible work in the earliest years of
childhood. Many parents think that it is good alike for them
and for their children that the latter should work for waofes.
They are too ignorant to understand that this expectation will
prove illusive, and that the actual result will be the precise
opposite of what they suppose. Many children are themselves
pleased to go out to work, which saves them from having
to spend every day and all day in their dull and gloomy
parental home, saves them from spending all their time under
the eyes of their parents, and secures for them freedom and
independence, and opportunity for all kinds of lawful and
unlawful pleasures.
Womms Lahour. — The parts played by the two sexes in
production and consumption differ in consequence of sexual
differences. It is for this reason that in earlier times women's
labour was concerned to a small extent only with production,
and was mainly employed in the regulation of consumption
i6o Elements of Child- Protection
within tlie household. With the development of commerce,
manufacturing industry, and town life, as a sequel of the
modern economico- technical changes resulting from the evolu-
tion of capitalism, which rendered home industry more difficult,
women's work entered upon a new phase. Women gradually
adopted work for wages, completely divorced from the home
and its labours. Whereas formerly women's work was per-
formed on behalf of certain specific persons, under conditions
largely of the women's own choice, women's work had now to
be conducted in accordance with a prescribed code of rules,
and the products were for consumption by unknown persons.
It is widely maintained that this change was referable to
the development of the movement for women's emancipation,
to the desire of women for independence, but this view is
erroneous. The change just mentioned, far from contributing
to the emancipation of women, has tended rather to fix the
yoke more firmly on their shoulders. The character of women's
work naturally experienced these changes in the towns earlier
than in the country, in manufacturing districts earlier than
in agricultural. Such wage-labour as women to-day carry on
in their own homes is urban, not rural, in character. Of late,
therefore, ever more and more women leave the domestic
hearth to sell their labour in the industrial market. Waofe-
labour employs an ever-increasing number of women. The
census returns of all civilised countries show that in the last
decade, notwithstanding special legislation for the regulation
of the work of female wage-earners,, there has been a marked
increase in women's work, and that this increase is propor-
tionally greater than that of the wage-labour of men. In
countries in which capitalist production is fully established,
wage-earning men constitute about 60 per cent, of the total
adult male population, whereas 25 to 30 per cent, of the adult
female population are wage-earning women. In the factories
of Germany, more than 1,000,000 women are employed, of
whom more than 30,000 are married.
The labour-force of women is utilised by capitalism on
much the same grounds as that of children. Female labour
is cheap, the customary wage for women being one-half to
one-third of that for men. The reasons for this are as follows.
Women s Labour and Child- Labour i6i
On the average women are more subject than men to bodily
disorders whereby their ability to work is interrupted. In
many women, wage-labour is merely a subsidiary occupation.
Such women are willing to accept lower pay, and thus depress
the wages of other women doing the same classes of work.
Moreover, they are unorganised, for the obvious reason that
in the case of women much less often than in the case of men
does wage-labour constitute their permanent life-work, and the
centre of their life's interest is to be found in their actual
or expected family life. Women are dexterous and quiet
workers, conscientious, punctual, change their dwelling-place
less readily than men, and are willing to undertake the most
disagreeable and difficult kinds of work (married women do
this for the sake of their families). Many girls are compelled
to work for absolute vital necessities. In the case of a married
couple, the husband's earnings may be so small that vital
necessities can be supplied only when the wife also goes out
to work. The most tragic feature of such cases is that the
woman is usually forced to go out to work precisely at the
time when, in consequence of illness, the large size of the family,
&c., she is especially needed at home.
The Conseqitenccs of Child-Lahour. — A moderate amount of
occupation for children accustoms them to bodily and mental
activity, cultivates in them a sense of diligence and economy,
and safeguards them against idleness and other evil courses.
Work affords an important educational influence, and one
whose value must not be underestimated. A moderate amount
of bodily work in addition to the mental work of school is
not merely harmless, but is in most cases desirable. It is
not wage-labour in and by itself which is harmful, but the
conditions under which that labour is usually carried out.
(This applies equally to the labour of women and of children.)
The greed of employers, the deficient resisting powers of
children, and the poverty of the children's relatives, make
child-labour dangerous in manifold ways for the bodily, mental,
and moral health of the child, (a) Character : the work is
monotonous, difficult, carried on in dusty, evil-smelling, damp
places, very early in the morning or late at night, (b) Dura-
tion: many children work five to six or even eight to ten
L
1 62 Elements of Chitd- Protection
hours, in addition to their school work, (c) Age : even to-day,
hundreds of children of six, seven, or eight go out to work for
wages ; in home-industries, children even of four or five are
employed, (c?) Other conditions : the tragical revelations of
official inquiries display very clearly certain other disastrous
results of child-labour.
Let us consider, for example, the case of the apprentices.
Although children of fourteen to sixteen years of age are not
so strong as the adult workers, they have to rise at an earlier
hour to put the workshop in order ; for the same reason they
leave later than the adult workers. They have to serve the
master, his family, and his assistants, and, in addition, to attend
school. Thus most apprentices have to work very hard from
early in the morning till late at night, and this not only in the
workshops, but also at domestic work. At the same time they
are often very badly treated. Many employers engage many
more apprentices than are really needed, simply in order to be
able to dispense with the services of assistants and servants,
whose duties are performed by the apprentices. In course of
time this ill-treatment of apprentices becomes more widely
diffused. The misery of the apprentices is greater in propor-
tion to the poverty of the factory or workshop in which they
are employed. No one need be surprised that there is univer-
sal complaint of the lack of apprentices. They are so badly
treated that no parents want their own child to become an
apprentice. Moreover, many families are so poor that their
children must earn money as soon as possible, and therefore
cannot be apprenticed. The relationship between apprentice
and master involves a contract on the one side to give care,
protection, and instruction, and on the other to do work.
Thus the relationship of the apprentice to the master is a
twofold one, the apprentice being a pupil, but also a workman.
It is the duty of the master to instruct the apprentice. For
this purpose the apprentice is wholly entrusted to the master's
care, and must carry out the duties ordered by the master.
The master is the stronger party economically, and possesses a
kind of parental authority over the apprentice, so that the
former's rights and duties in respect of the contract of service
cannot be very precisely defined. Such protective rules as
1
Women s Labour and Child-Labotir i6
:>
exist for apprentices practically ignore the smaller industries
and home-work, for in these the difficulties of proper super-
vision appear almost insuperable. What has been said will
have shown that there are sufficient causes for the miseries of
apprentices.
Thus it appears that factory work is not the worst of all
for children. The influence of factory work appears in such a
bad light simply because, owing to its being more readily
supervised, and owing to the facility for statistical statement
of its results, the data are in this case more readily obtainable.
The lives of children employed in circuses and similar
spectacular public entertainments are always in danger. Any
work which is disproportionate to the powers of the weak and
undeveloped body of the child is injurious to the latter's health.
Arduous work interferes with proper growth, and the effects of
such work may be especially disastrous in the female sex,
giving rise to pelvic contraction, &c. By interfering with the
proper development of individual organs, different forms of
child-labour give rise to characteristic deformities. It is a
well-known fact that the disease-rate and the death-rate are
higher in youthful wage-workers and in apprentices than in
other children. In this connection it suffices to refer to the
so-called "diseases of occupation." It is a matter of general
knowledge that in those districts in which children engage in
very arduous wage-labour, the percentage of adults found to
be fit for military service is exceptionally small. The best
example of this is found in those districts of Sicily in which
children work in the sulphur mines. In the year 1827, King
William III of Prussia ordered measures to be taken against
excessive child-labour, in consequence of reports made to him
to the effect that a large proportion of child-workers subse-
quently proved unfit for military service.
When a child begins in early youth to work for wages, his
school attendance is interfered with. If the child-worker does
attend school, it is so tired that it cannot follow the teacher
with sufficient attention. In districts in which a large percent-
age of the children are at work, the educational development
of the whole population suffers, and not merely that of those
who work for a living. Children whose occupation involves a
164 Elements of Child-Protection
very restricted use of their faculties become unfitted for other
occupations, and, indeed, lose almost entirely the faculty of
adaptation. In the streets of great manufacturing towns,
large seaports, and like places, we find numbers of children
engaged in the sale of matches, flowers, newspapers, &c., and
they hawk such wares also in public-houses, coffee taverns, and
the like. Most of them use this traffic merely as an excuse
for vagabondage, begging, criminal practices, or the offer of
then- persons for use by sexual perverts. They frequent the
streets by night as well as by day, and make no secret of the
fact that their aim is to beg rather than to sell their wares.
It will readily be understood that in the streets and other
places in which they hawk their wares, such children get into
very bad company, and are likely to become completely de-
praved. Those children who work in factories or workshops,
and those who are employed in agriculture, are in continuous
contact with adult workers, by night as well as by day, listen
to their obscene conversation, and watch their improper acts.
Some youthful workers are quite independent and free from
all supervision. Such workers often earn comparatively good
wages, and this early command of money is in such circum-
stances apt to be fruitful of evil in various ways.
Excessive work awakens in the child an aversion, and even
a hatred, to work. Such a child works only from compulsion
and under the influence of fear. The hatred of work thus
engendered becomes a cause of truancy and idleness. Vagabond-
age and begging are easier and more lucrative than incessant
toil. When the child perceives that its lot is one of arduous
toil, whilst others live, not comfortably merely, but in luxury,
anti-social sentiments are aroused. When such a child grows
up, we have an adult disinclined for exertion and taking
pleasure in nothing. Owing to the monotony of his occupa-
tion and the neglect of his education, his intelligence is dull
and stupid. He sees that his parents force him to work and
otherwise neglect him, and this destroys his afl'ection for his
relatives. The foundation of the authority of family life,
namely, the economic dependence of the other members of
the family upon its head, is undermined by child-labour.
Some wage-earning children are entirely dependent upon their
Women's Labour and Child-Labour 165
work, and, if unemployed, as often happens, they lose then-
only legitimate means of support, and are forced into vicious
modes of livelihood. It is proved by statistical data that a
larger percentage of youthful wage-earners than of other
children become criminals; and, further, that in those dis-
tricts in which child-labour especially prevails, criminality is
more extensive than in others.
The, Consequences of Women's Labour. — Many girls begin to
work for wages before their physical development is completed,
and when their sexual life is just beginning to awaken. The
injurious effects of work upon the health are much greater in
women not yet fully developed than in older women. By
hard work the subsequent development of the blossoming girl
is disturbed. By wage-labour girls are deprived of the oppor-
tunity of becoming acquainted with the details of household
management ; their mode of life is free and unsupervised, so
that they .^le apt at an early age to enter into illegitimate
sexual relationships. It will be readily understood that, in
different classes of workwomen, the unfavourable influence of
these factors will exert itself in different ways. It will sufiice
to refer to the different working conditions of female factory
hands and of female domestic servants.
There are many branches of manufacturing industry in
which women ought not to be employed at all, because the
work these branches involve is injurious to women's health,
and, in especial, to the functions of their sexual life ; there
are many other branches of industry in which women should
only be employed if certain specific precautions have been
taken, and if certain regulations are rigidly enforced. But
at present economic pressure forces women into these occupa-
tions also, and the necessary precautions and regulations are
too often ignored. Many women are engaged in the most
exhausting and offensive occupations, and have to continue at
work even in the later stages of pregnancy. It may even
happen that the capitalist pays a pregnant woman a smaller
wage than his other women workers, notwithstanding the fact
that her needs are greater. It will readily be understood
how disastrous may be the influence of this upon the unborn
child. The children of women who continue at work during
1 66 Elements of Child- Pi'otedion
pregnancy are born earlier and are weaker than tte children
of other women. Occupations especially dangerous for the
unborn child are those in which the mother has to sit for
long hours at a time in a bent posture ; those in which she
has to stand continuously; those in which she works in
contact with mercury, phosphorus, aniline, iodine, lead, or
nicotine. In women who continue to work during pregnancy,
miscarriage, premature labour, and still-births are commoner
than in other women. With regard to the question of the
prohibition of women's work during pregnancy and lactation,
another point has to be considered. If the woman remains
away from work throughout the whole period of pregnancy
and lactation, not only does she lose her place with her
employer, but also she loses to a large extent her previously
acquired skill and aptitude for work. It results from this
that the woman is no longer able to work when work again
becomes possible to her. If the mother of a young infant is
forced to engage in wage-labour, the consequences are ex-
tremely disastrous to the child, for its care is inevitably
neglected. The proletarian mother neglects her child in many
instances not, as is so often believed, because of the lack of
maternal affection, but simply because she is forced to go out
to work.
Obviously it makes a great difference whether the mother's
wage-earning work is carried on at home or elsewhere. In
the latter case the mother can do less for her child, but home-
work has the great and obvious disadvantage, that it trans-
forms the dwelling into a workshop, and thereby accentuates
the already-existing hygienic defects of the proletarian home.
Moreover, in domestic industry the protective regulation of
women's labour is far less complete, and the wages are also
lower. If the wife goes to work instead of the husband,
matters are not quite so bad as they otherwise might be,
for the husband in such cases to some extent takes his wife's
place in the household. The conditions are far worse when
both husband and wife go out to work. If both the parents
go to work in a factory, the interests of the entire family
suffer; the children receive no proper upbringing, and the
whole family life is ruined. In districts in which the married
Women s Labou7' and Child- Labour 167
women go out to work in factories, the percentage of mis-
carriages and of still-births, and the death-rate and the
criminality-rate among the children, are all greater than in
regions in which factory work for married women does not
prevail. In manufacturing regions, in times during which
female unemployment is widely prevalent, there is a decline
in infant mortality, in spite of the increasing poverty resulting
from the lack of employment. The death-rate of the children,
and more especially the death-rate of the infants, in any area,
is found to increase in a direct ratio with an increase in the
number of hours that the mothers work away from their
homes, and to vary inversely with the amount of the daily
earnings. The chief cause of high infant mortality is artificial
feeding, or rather the diseases engendered by artificial feeding.
Among the Jews, the infantile death-rate is lower than among
those of other creeds. The chief cause of this difference is
that so small a percentage of the Jewish married women work
for wages. But in the Jewish proletariat the conditions as
regards infantile mortality are identical with those that obtain
among the Christian proletariat.
The result of the wife's absence from home in order to
work for wages is that she is unable to attend to the work of
the household ; for this reason, the housekeeping of her
home is at once costly and bad; commodities and services
which in working-class homes are usually provided by the
labour of the housewife have to be obtained or provided
elsewhere for money — washing and mending, for instance.
Owing to the prevailing disorder of the household, many
articles have to be bought anew, when the old ones would
have done very well for a long time if carefully mended or
patched. Various housekeeping accessories are required ; a
servant may have to be employed. The dirt and disorder of
the dwelling, the bad feeding, and the irregular family life,
often drive the husband to drink ; and this further increases
the family expenses.
Begulation of Child - Lctbour. — Of all working conditions,
those aflfccting child-labour are perhaps most unrighteously
regulated. The relationship between the protection of child-
labour and the protection of other kinds of labour is analogous
1 68 Elements of Child-Protection
to the relationship between the sections of criminal law
dealing with youthful offenders and those dealing with
adult criminals. It is an actual fact that leofislation for the
protection of adult Avorkmen originated in the protection
of child-labour. It was in England, the true fatherland of
the factory system, that the regulation of child-labour first
made its appearance. The first English law for this purpose
was passed in the year 1802. Even as early as this it was
necessary to intervene for the protection of child-labour, for
at that time the conditions were perhaps the worst in the
whole history of child-labour. The individualist state, being
already to some degree permeated by socialist ideas, protects
women's labour and child-labour. But this protection, like that
of labour in general, was not in any way based upon ethical con-
siderations ; it arose simply from the need to protect the work-
ing capacity of the labourers considered as profit-making tools.
Moreover, in many countries, the regulations for the protection of
labour are for the most part evaded or ignored by the employers.
In the more advanced countries, but only in these, we find
the following legislative provisions for the regulation of child-
labour. Child-labour and compulsory school attendance are con-
tradictories. If merely in the interest of the protection of child-
labour, the State must ordain that every child shall attend school
from the age of six to the age of twelve, and must employ
every means in its power to see that the duty of school
attendance is never evaded. Kegulations are made for the
prevention of mendicancy by children. In addition, the State
prescribes the conditions under which children may perform
in public (in the theatre, the concert-room, the music-hall,
the circus, &c.). The general groundwork of these regulations
is that children under fifteen shall not appear in public for
money at all, and those over fifteen only by special permission
of the local authorities. Apprenticeship is also subject to
State regulation. Before the indentures are signed, it is
necessary to obtain the consent of the local authority, and
there must be a written contract between the child's legal
representative and the master. The master must employ the
child only upon suitable work, and must provide proper
housing, food, and education for the apprentice ; the appren-
Women s Labour and Child-Labour 169
tice must live in a place altogether apart from the workshop,
and must attend an apprentices' or continuation school ; the
master has no right to inflict corporal punishment. What
has been said about apprentices applies in some degree also
to juvenile domestic servants. The State regulates child-
labour in the larger workshops and in factories. The
employment for wages of children below a certain age is
completely forbidden. When this age is surpassed, a child
may be employed only when permission has been obtained
from the local authority. Night work by children is abso-
lutely prohibited ; a maximum number of hours is prescribed
for daily work (five to eight), and for weekly work (thirty to
forty-eight), adapted to the child's age and physical constitu-
tion ; the intervals (daily and weekly) for rest and the intervals
for meals, and also the minimum wage, are likewise prescribed.
The State, of course, arranges thait breach of these regula-
tions shoujr' be visited with punishment, with withdrawal of
the authority of the parent or guardian, and with prohibition of
the employment of children by the employer concerned.
Begidation of Women s Labour. — Night labour for women is
in some cases forbidden, in others allowed under certain restric-
tions. The employment of women in mines and in certain
other extremely dangerous occupations is forbidden. The
employment of women for a certain number of weeks after
childbirth is also forbidden. From various sides we hear a
proposal that women should be permitted to work as half-
timers — that is, for half the working day. It is suggested, to
secure continuity of work, that the women should work (during
the daytime only) in two shifts, half the women employees
during the morning, the other half during the afternoon. The
advocates of this proposal suggest that the women on the
morning shift could attend to their domestic duties in the
afternoon, and, conversely, that those on the afternoon shift
could attend to their domestic duties in the morning, and that
the supervision and care of the children could be mutually
arranged by the members of the two shifts. Most of the
advocates of this system propose merely its introduction as an
optional measure — that is to say, that women who wish to
work the whole day should not be forbidden to do so ; and
170 Elements of Child- Protection
they also propose that it should be applicable in the case of
married women only. In any case, we cannot expect great
things from any such system.
Reform of Apprenticeship. — To-day much thought is given
to the question of the reform of apprenticeship, which indeed
stands greatly in need of reform. The technical education of
the present day is extremely defective. The smaller employers
are unable to give proper instruction, because they lack both
time and capacity. The training of the apprentices in the
larger factories is also scrappy, because the division of labour
is of such a kind that none of the employees have time to give
to the instruction of apprentices, and these latter therefore
receive no more than a partial technical education. Moreover,
the owners of the larger factories are unwilling to receive
apprentices, because, if they do this, their factories are sub-
jected to a number of additional inconvenient regulations.
The apprentice no longer belongs, as in former times, to the
master's family, and no longer receives his education there ;
indeed, many masters do not even provide board and lodging
for their apprentices, and in that case the latter are apt to be
greatly neglected. It is obvious that great stress must be laid
upon the technical education of apprentices. But no import-
ance can be attached to the argument that through a proper
education of the apprentices an improvement would be effected
in the conditions of the lesser industries. What is necessary is
that the State should provide technical schools, and itself under-
take in these the education of apprentices. In some countries
quite a number of such technical schools have been founded,
but, owing to the great cost of these schools, the complete aboli-
tion of the system of the nominal instruction of apprentices at the
hands of their masters is not at present to be expected. Homes
of technical instruction for girls are also greatly needed, and do
already exist in many places. But such homes must on no
account be under the manasrement of the Church, nor must
they be dominated in any degree by the so-called religious
spirit. Their sole object is to provide for these learners board
and lodging on the same scale as they would have if they were
in service, and to provide them with opportunities of seeking
employment during their free time. A further crying need is
Women s Labour and Child-Labour 171
the organisation, not of apprentices only, but of the younger
workmen and workwomen generally. The organisation of the
workers is the most effective means for the prevention of their
ill-treatment at the hands of their employers.
The general attitude of socialists and trade-unionists
towards apprenticeship is the following : Many trade-unions
insist that in collective bargains between workpeople and their
employers there should be stipulations as to the maximum
number of apprentices to be employed by each individual
master ; before the contracts of apprenticeship are signed, the
unions call the attention of the relatives of the proposed
apprentice to the unfavourable position occupied by the
apprentices in certain branches of industry, and warn the
relatives against certain employers who are well known to
treat their apprentices badly ; some unions found their own
technical schools. No attention whatever need be paid to the
objection that such activities on the part of trade-unions tend
towards the revival of the old guild system.
Enforcement of such Regulations. — To secure a really effective
protection for women's labour and child-labour, it is necessary
that women and children should be protected in all branches
of labour, including agriculture and domestic service. If the
protection and regulation are limited to certain branches of
labour, the iaevitable result is that women and children are
driven out of the protected and regulated, into the unprotected
and unregulated trades. (This was the experience in Germany,
for example, as a sequel of the law passed in the year 1891.)
It is, above all, necessary that home industry should be regu-
lated, as, in default of this, no satisfactory results can be expected.
It is further essential that all children should be protected, re-
gardless of the relationship they may bear to the employer.
Employers related to the children they employ must be
subject to regulation just as much as others, for it is well
known that relatives who have once begun to exploit their
own children tend to become the most inconsiderate of all those
who overdrive youthful workers.
In the larger workshops, and in factories, the requisite
strict and continuous regulation of all the circumstances
which might affect children unfavourably is rendered fairly
172 Elements of Child- Protection
easy, owing to the fact that the number of such large estabhsh-
ments is comparatively small. But the stringency and reality
of the supervision still leave much to be desired, owing to the
great influence possessed by wealthy property owners. In
almost every country, year after year, the factory inspectors
report that the regulations for the protection of children work-
ing in factories are evaded, and yet the local authorities are
powerless to remedy these abuses. Where children work in
their own families, or in small workshops, the conditions are
always less favourable, owing to the close and intimate relation-
ship that obtains in these cases between child and employer.
Inasmuch as the number of families engaged in home industries
and employed at small workshops runs into millions, and in
view of the circumstance previously mentioned, that the pro-
tection of child home-workers involves an interference with
parental authority, regulation is here a much more difficult
matter.
The executive authorities to which is entrusted the enforce-
ment of these protective regulations are : medical practitioners,
factory inspectors, local governing bodies, police, and school
teachers. It is essential that the part played by the medical
practitioner should be largely extended. Permission for a child
to undertake wage-labour should depend absolutely upon the
permission of a certifying physician ; the doctors should
examine all the workplaces with an eye to their hygienic
requirements ; and from time to time they should examine
the female and youthful employees, to make sure that their
work is not injurious to their health. But we are still far
from the adoption of these simple and yet essential measures.
The rule of the factory inspectors is especially important, because
the enforcement of regulations for the protection of labour is
one of their principal and specific duties. In many of the
States of the American Union, in France, in England, and in
many of the federated States of the German Empire, there
already exist female factory inspectors. The school teachers
play an important part in regulation. They are constantly in
contact with the children, know their special circumstances,
are in a position to note abnormalities as they appear, and
readily ascertain the causes of such abnormalities. Above all,
Women s Labour and Child- Labour 173
is their role an important one in relation to the control of
domestic industry.
Ohje.ctions to the Protective Regulation of the Labour of Women
and Children. — Many objections have been advanced, chiefly by
the employers of labour, against the protective regulations we
have been considering. Most of these objections were first
heard in England more than a century ago, at the time of the
first legislation for the protection of child-workers ; but they
are continually and loudly reiterated to-day. They are the
following : («) Arduous physical toil, the work of the prole-
tarians, women's labour, are merely parts of the struggle for
existence with which we have no business to interfere, (h) The
work of women and children is indispensable to modern in-
dustry, for certam of its processes can be carried out only by
women, or by children, as the case may be. (c) The work is
not injurious to the health either of women or of children ; on
the contrary, it does them good, {d) The children ought to be
at work, otherwise they are either loafing about the streets or
making themselves a nuisance to their parents at home, (e) To
abolish women's labour and child-labour would simply be to
deprive them of their means of livelihood. (/) The suppression
of women's labour and child-labour renders it more difficult
for national industry to compete with foreign industry ; indeed,
it threatens the very existence of the national industry, {g)
Many advocates of the emancipation of women oppose the protec-
tion of women's labour on the ground that such protection limits
women's right to sell their labour, {h) In regions inhabited
by two or more nationalities regarded as being of unequal
value, it is thought to be permissible to exploit the labour of
the women and children of the reputedly inferior race. (In
the United States of America, for example, we are told that
the question is not one concerning American children, but one
concerning Slavonic and Italian children, which, however hard
they may have to work, are yet better off than they would
have been in their own fatherland. It is worthy of remark
that in the United States of America, especially in the Southern
and the Western States, the conditions in the matter of child-
labour are much the same as those that obtained in England
at the beginning of the nineteenth century.)
174 Elements of Child- Protection
These Objections Answered. — {a) The answer to this and to
similar arouments was sjiven in our discussion of Darwinism
in relation to child-protection. (6) There are no processes
for whose performance women and children are indispensable.
When, for certain stages of manufacture, women and children
are unobtainable, these stages are very well performed by
men or by machinery, (c) This is true only when the con-
ditions of work are properly regulated, {d) It is true that
certain work may exercise an educative influence ; but wage-
labour is entirely devoid of moralising and educative influences.
When we are told that by putting the child to work it learns
to love work, that it becomes thrifty and diligent, that it is
restrained from vagabondage, we may answer, that under
present conditions wage-labour for children has the very
opposite efi'ects. If child-labour in factories and workshops
really exerted such an educative influence as the employers
pretend, why do they not send their own children to work
in the factories, and why do they reserve these advantages for
the children of the proletariat? (/) Wherever, in certain
branches of industry, woman's labour and child-labour have
been forbidden, as, for example, in England, the following
results have been noted. An improvement in working con-
ditions is invariably followed by an increase in the intensity
of the work performed, and also by an improvement in its
quality. Manufacturing industry does not come to a stand-
still because, in consequence of regulation, certain processes
previously performed by women and children have now to be
carried out by machines or by men ; on the contrary, as a
result of this, the industry becomes more vigorous and more
efficient. It does so, first of all, because the latest improve-
ments in technique are perforce adopted when cheap labour
can no longer be exploited ; in the second place, because the
health of the workers, upon which above all the efficiency
of the industry depends, is increased. Kegulation therefore
actually increases the power of a national industry to make
headway against foreign competition. We have also to
remember that the same objections that we are now considering
have been advanced against the protection of adult male
labour, and have been shown by experience to be invalid
Women s Labour and Child- Labour 175
in this case also. This objection commonly makes its appear-
ance in the following form : in many branches of industry the
protection of the workers increases the cost of production and
lowers the quality of the goods produced ; this resulted, for
example, when the use in certain processes of lead, mercury,
phosphorus, and arsenic was forbidden, and the sequel was that
the commodities in question were imported from countries in
which such protection of labour did not exist. But this
argument is in fact an argument for the internationalisation
of the legislative protection of labour. For it involves an
admission that the disadvantages of such regulation cease
to exist when in a number of competing countries like measures
of protection prevail, so that no one of the countries enjoys
in this respect any commercial advantage over the others.
It is an actual fact that in very recent years the international
regulation of women's labour and child -labour on uniform
lines has made enormous advances. The very fact that the
protection of women's labour and child-labour tends to lead
ultimately to the adoption of a uniform international code, is an
extremely favourable phenomenon, in harmony with the general
tendency of evolution, {g) The argument from the side of
the advocates for the emancipation of women is fundamentally
false. It does not tend towards women's emancipation to
leave women free to seek their own destruction. If the
protection of women's labour leads to injurious results, the
only conclusion we can properly draw from this fact is that
our regulation must be effected in some other manner, so
that these injurious results may no longer occur. Qi) The
argument about the inferior races is a very dangerous one.
The rights of women and children are identical, to whatever
nationality they may happen to belong. We might just as
well maintain that the exploitation of the labour power of the
proletariat is quite justifiable on the ground that the pro-
letariat is of inferior quality to the other classes of society.
And if we are told that women and children are better off
in the factories and workshops than they are in their own
homes, the obvious answer to this is that, in that case, it
is absolutely essential that the conditions of their domestic
life should be improved.
176 Elements of Child- Pi^otection
Radical Solution of the Problem. — A radical solution of
this problem is to be expected only from an increase in the
wages of the adult male workers. Not until the earnings
of the father of the family suffice to provide adequately for
all the needs of the family, will it become unnecessary for
mother and children to work for wages. It is a fact of general
experience that those workmen who earn adequate wages do
not let their wives and children go out to work ; and also
that in the case of men occupied in the so-called seasonal
trades, it is only during the husbands' slack season that
the wives and children contribute by their earnings to the
family income (for instance, the wives and children of brick-
layers go out to work during the winter only). If women
and children did not undertake wage-labour, the supply of
labour in general would be much smaller, and as a result
of this the wages of the adult male workers would necessarily
rise. It is most probable that in course of time the adult
male workers will succeed in obtaining considerably higher
wages than they receive on the average to-day. Wage-labour
on the part of women and children will then for the most
part cease, and this will result in yet further increase in the
wages of the men. The adult male workers should not
lose sight of the fact that by allowing their wives and children
to work for wages they merely succeed in making their own
condition worse. For a short time after the wives and
children first begin to work there may, indeed, be an increase
in the family income ; but the ultimate result is to make life
harder, not merely for themselves, but for other workmen
in general. If, on the other hand, they do not allow their
wives and children to engage in wage-labour, they may
sometimes suffer for the moment, by a temporary diminution
in income; but they enter upon a path which cannot fail
ultimately to lead to benefit both for their own family and
for the other workers.
The Tendency of Evohition. — The tendency of evolution
is towards the disappearance of child-labour. It is statistically
proved that that the larger any industrial undertaking, the
smaller proportionately is the number of children employed
in that undertaking. But the tendency of evolution is un-
Women s Labour and Child- Labour 177
questionably in the direction of the development of gigantic
commercial enterprises through the absorption or competitive
destruction of a much larger number of comparatively small
enterprises. In the future we shall attain a condition in
which no one will be allowed to undertake work of any kind
which is injurious either to himself or to his offspring in any
way whatever. Much of the work of women and children for
wages such as goes on to-day will unquestionably be prohibited.
No doubt, wage work for women will exist in the future,
and some of it perhaps will be more intensive even than
to-day ; but, unquestionably, whatever wage work women do
will be in a form which can do no harm to the present or
to future generations. Children will be properly educated,
and until the years of their education are finished will engage
in such work only as is educative in its influence and character.
Technical manual instruction will be one of the principal
methods of education. As co-operative housekeeping spreads,
women will have much less domestic work to do than at
present. In this department of work also, the principle of
the division of labour will be applied, and the individual
details of the domestic economy of to-day will then be en-
trusted to the hands of professional specialists. Adult women
will engage in much the same sort of work as men, with
the exception of those occupations which experience shows
to be injurious, for sexual reasons, either to themselves or to
their offspring. In the regulation of women's work, considera-
tion will of course have to be paid to the physiological
disturbances which periodically recur in women.
M
CHAPTER V
THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AGAINST DISEASE
Introductory. — The objects of this department of child-
protection are, first, to prevent the child becoming ill;
secondly, if it has become ill, to cure it. The hygiene of
childhood deals with the former question, and pediatrics with
the latter. In this chapter we shall consider those problems
only which concern the health of children of the poorer
classes.
The Health of Proletarian Children. — Owing to the lesser
resisting power of children, the factors of ill-health operate
much more powerfully in the case of youthful than in the
case of adult proletarians. But other factors are in operation
in addition to this inferior power of resistance. Unfavourable
■conditions act upon proletarian women during pregnancy, and
affect proletarian children at the time of birth. The circum-
stance which more than all others is injurious to the health of
•these children, and which contributes to produce the result
that a larger percentage of working-class than of upper-class
■children are feeble-minded, is quantitative and qualitative insuf-
ficiency of nutriment. Studies of the relationship between the
prices of food-stuffs and the average working-class income have
shown that the majority of working men have an income too
small to provide for themselves and their children the minimum
quantity of nutritive materials (of the proper quality) which
physiological science has proved to be indispensable to the
daily renewal of the bodily forces. Statistical data prove
beyond question that the height and the body-weight of
proletarian children are less than those of children of the
well-to-do. Rickets is principally a disease of children of
the poorer classes. Among upper-class children the severer
forms of this disease is hardly ever seen. Rickets arises
178
The Protection of Child7^en against Disease 179
chiefly as a sequel of digestive disturbances ; and these, in
their turn, are referable to the deficiencies of artificial feeding.
Among the poor we find many more blind children and many
more deaf mutes than among the rich, the reason being that
among the poor, in so many instances, when the defect is first
noticed, no attempt is made to seek medical advice. According
to trustworthy statistical data, 9 5 per cent, of the occupants of
blind asylums belong to the poorer classes.
Causes of the Movement for the Protection of Proletarian
Children. — To-day great stress is laid upon attention to the
health not only of the general population, but in especial to
the health of children. During the nineteenth century the
view became general that in the interests of the health of the
children, society ought to be prepared to make any sacrifices.
In the domain of social hygiene — that is, of the science which
occupies the borderland between the science of public health
and the science of sociology — neither the men of theory nor
the men of practice can venture to adopt a one-sided class
outlook. During recent years, upon the groundwork of these
sound conceptions, a number of new institutions have been
founded, by means of which the general condition of public
health and the hygiene of childhood (including that of pro-
letarian childhood) have been considerably improved. In
many directions the advances in medical science tend to
counteract with success the disorders consequent upon the
development of capitalism. The technique of artificial feeding
has been greatly improved, and this has led to a reduction in
infantile mortality; ophthalmia of the new-born can now be
efficiently prevented, and this has led to a decrease in the
number of blind persons.
To the upper classes of society the health of the lower
classes is of importance for two reasons — {a) the former have
need of the working powers of the latter, and in bad hygienic
conditions these working powers are impaired ; (h) if the health
of the lower classes is neglected, it is not these classes alone
which suffer, but the rich suffer as well. For example, the
well-to-do are endangered when nothing is done to check the
spread of infectious diseases among the poor, and when poor
persons attacked by these diseases are left without proper
i8o Elements of Child-Protection
treatment. If the health of poor children be neglected, the
results are extremely serious, not for these children alone, but
for the children of the well-to-do and for adults.
Institutions. — Institutions are of great importance. A
larger proportion of the children of the poor than of the
children of the well-to-do are dealt with in institutions, for
well-to-do parents live in commodious houses, in which their
children can be properly cared for, they are able to summon
the doctor whenever necessary, and so on. The most important
institutions in this connection are hospitals for infants and
young children. Children's hospitals are not as yet very
numerous ; hospitals for infants are still fewer. The majority
of these institutions are maintained, not by the State or by the
local authority, but by the community at large. It is owing
to the fact that children's and infants' hospitals are so few in
number that medical practitioners are so inadequately trained
in respect of the hygiene of childhood and pediatrics, and in
especial in the hygiene and therapy of infant life. The need
for such hospitals is not satisfied by the foundation of children's
clinics. A combination of hospitals for infants with lying-in
hospitals or foundling hospitals is unquestionably along the
proper course of development.
If we wish to ascertain the value of institutions for children
who are blind, deaf-mute, crippled, or feeble-minded — if we
wish to learn whether it is socially worth while to take special
pains for the care of such children, or whether they can be
adequately cared for in general institutions, and what would
be the cost of these respective methods — we must study
statistics bearing on these questions. But, unfortunately,
these statistics are defective and extremely untrustworthy.
They are defective, because they fail to give us precise infor-
mation concerning personal data and concerning the percentage
of such children who are or may become fit to earn their own
living. They do not classify properly according to age, and
they do not state accurately how many of the children have
inherited and how many have acquired the defect from which
they suffer. (The youngest children will usually be found to
suffer from an inherited defect, since they will hardly have
had time to acquire it. Among those suffering from such
The Protection of Children against Disease i8i
defects, the young present a larger proportion of sufferers than
we find among the general population, because the mortality
of the children thus affected is higher than the mortality of
healthy children.) The statistics are untrustworthy, because
the existence of deaf-mutism is often overlooked until child-
hood is comparatively advanced, and feeble-mindedness may
not be recognised at all. In the twentieth century, in the
civilised countries of Europe, we find, per 100,000 of the
population, from 50 to 130 blind persons, from 60 to 250
deaf persons, 70 to 450 feeble-minded and insane (minimal
and maximal figures), and about 120 cripples. According to
certain statistical data, one-fourth of the blind and two-thirds
of the deaf-mutes are competent to earn their living, and 90
per cent, of the cripples are endowed with perfectly normal
mental powers. It is even maintained that from such children,
if they are otherwise healthy, we can, with comparatively
trifling effort, obtain useful members of society.
There is no doubt that when once such children have
been born, we must do the best we can for them and with
them. They must either be destroyed, or, in default of this,
must be developed and educated to the fullest extent of their
powers ; unless this is done, great evil ensues, for the children
become permanently dependent upon public assistance ; or
else (and this applies especially to the feeble-minded) become
confirmed criminals. When the defect is a serious one, such
children should on no account be brought up in the family
circle, or educated in ordinary schools ; it is absolutely neces-
sary to provide special schools and institutions for each class
of such defectives — blind schools, deaf-mute schools, cripple
schools, &c. Feeble-minded children, however, whose mental
level is only a very little below the average, or who are merely
backward from a temporary retardation of development, may
be educated in the ordinary schools, or in special classes of
these schools. Children with defective hearing should not
attend the public elementary school. Even if such a child is
exceptionally talented, and if it receives the greatest possible
amount of help at home, these circumstances will not make
up for the educational defects inevitably attendant upon its
deafness. As soon as examination by the school doctor shows
1 82 Elements of Child- Protection
that serious defect of hearing exists, or if such defect is
obvious even before medical examination has been made, the
child should be transferred to a special class or to a special
school for the deaf. As far as I am aware, such institutions
exist as yet only in Berlin.
In the treatment of defective children, the school teachers
as well as the doctors have a very important part to play.
It is best that those who teach such children should them-
selves have received specialised medical and educational
training. It was not until the beginning of the latter half
of the eighteenth century that any serious effort was made to
grapple with the problem of the education of the blind and the
deaf-mutes; it was more than a hundred years later before
the problems of the education of feeble-minded and of crippled
children respectively began to receive serious attention.
Country Holiday Funds and Open-air Schools. — The health
of town children sometimes needs a thorough restoration, in
default of which the child would become seriously ill in the
dusty and contaminated air of our large towns. But in chil-
dren of school age such restoration is possible only during the
summer holidays. This is where the country holiday funds
can play a very useful part. These began to come into
existence in Switzerland about thirty years ago, and have now
obtained a wide diffusion in all civilised countries, and especi-
ally in manufacturing countries. As with every new branch
of public care for the needs of the poor, and especially with
the institutions considered in this chapter, the first steps in
this matter were taken by the community at large — that is to
say, by private associations. It will be a task of the near
future to organise and unify these associations. Such country
holidays are an important feature of the campaign against tuber-
culosis. They have the further advantage, that they provide
the child with manifold new experiences. The societies take
poor and weakly, but not actually diseased children, and send
them to the country for the summer holidays, in some cases
boarding them with families, in other cases sending them to
special institutions. The advantages of the family system
are those of family life in general, and in addition that in
such a family the town child will learn much more about the
The Protection of Children against Disease 183
details of country life. Of late some of these societies have
gone on to the foundation of permanent holiday homes for
the relays of children they send to the country. Inasmuch
as the good effect of the summer visit to the country tends
soon to pass off, the after-care of the children during the
winter is very useful. In the case of children who for one
reason or another (for example, because they lack suitable
clothing, or because the society does not possess adequate
funds) cannot be sent to the country for a sufficiently long
time, semi-urban colonies and milk-stations are not without
their value. The children during the holiday season are
taken by the teacher in large groups (forty to sixty) into the
open, are well fed, and, if opportunity offers, given baths, and
in the evening taken home to their parents. Of late years
has originated the idea of the open-air school, which occupies
an intermediate place between the school and the sanatorium
for children. During the holiday season the children stay
in the forest, and receive every day a few hours' instruction
in the open air. Holiday playgrounds provide opportunities
for town children to play, under the guidance of suitable
persons, in school-yards and in parks. In this connection
may also be mentioned arrangements for the exchange of
children during the holiday season between town and country
families. Certain weakly and sickly children should during
the summer be sent to a spa or a sanatorium. There already
exist special spas, Kurorts, and sanatoria for children. There
are, for example, special seaside resorts for rickety and tuber-
cular children. \e.g. in England, for tubercular children,
Margate.]
Proposed Reforms. — It is the duty of the poor-law boards
to devote great attention to the health, not merely of those
children for whose care they are directly responsible, but also
for poor children in general. The law should provide a right
of interference on the part of the local authority in the case
of children whose health is endangered by prolonged confine-
ment to the house — for example, where there is grave danger
from exposure to infection — and this in cases in which it
is not possible to speak of " neglect " in the narrower sense
of the term. But if powers are given, in such cases, to
184 Elements of Child- Protection
remove a child for institutional care, it should only be till
such a time as is requisite for the domestic conditions to
be transformed, so that the child may return home without
danger to its health. In respect of the hospitals under the
direct control of the local authorities, it is necessary that the
latter should have the right of removal of children need-
ing hospital treatment whose parents do not send them to
hospital on their own initiative. This last idea is already
partially realised, inasmuch as certain modern foundling
hospitals receive for treatment sick children who have not
entered the hospital as foundlings.
Need for Enlightenment, — It is really astounding how little
the laity know about the elementary principles of the hygiene
of child life, and more especially of infant life. In respect
of the management of infants, the most absurd practices pre-
vail, some of which are largely responsible for the extent of
infant mortality. It is therefore of enormous importance that
the population in general, and especially the lower classes,
should be properly instructed in these matters. But even
medical practitioners lack sufficient instruction in respect of
the hygiene and therapy of childhood, and even more in
respect of the hygiene and therapy of infancy. This is due
to the fact that there is no proper teaching of these specialties
at most universities. Quite recently, however, there has been
some improvement in these respects.
The Tendency of Evolution. — The importance of such insti-
tutions as those we have been discussing will become ever
greater. Indeed, the great majority of sick persons will
ultimately receive institutional care. The functions we have
been considering, at present administered by the community
at large and by the local authority, will eventually be taken
over by the State.
CHAPTER VI
THE PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Im'portaTice of the Public Elementary School. — Of the various
schools, it is only the public elementary school with which
we need concern ourselves in this book. The State com-
pels no one to attend the higher school or the university.
The children of the lower classes of the population, whose
relatives are not in a position to provide instruction for them
in their own homes, are all sent to the public elementary
school. Now, since in a manufacturing town nearly three-
fourths of all the children belong to the lower classes, since
for this reason, of the children attending the public elemen-
tary schools, the enormous majority belong to the proletariat,
since, finally, only a minimal proportion of proletarian children
attend any other kind of school, it follows that the public
elementary school is primarily intended for the children of
the proletariat, and that practically the only school available
for these children is the public elementary school. To-day,
the children of the lower classes are educated almost exclu-
sively in the public elementary school, those of the middle
classes chiefly in the public elementary school, while those
of the upper classes are educated almost without exception
in their own homes by tutors and governesses. [Obviously
the writer refers here to the conditions obtaining in his own
country.]
Methods of Instruction. — Children at the present day can
be educated by any of the following methods : (a) The parents
themselves instruct their children ; (&) they have their children
taught by a tutor or a governess in their own homes ; (c) they
combine to carry on special schools for their own children
(family schools); {d) they send their children either to a
governmental or to a private school. In former days there
185
1 86 Elements of Child- Protection
existed no public schools. Parents either educated their own
children, or had them educated by a tutor or governess. As
time goes on the number of parents increases who are com-
petent to teach their children all that they learn at the public
elementary school ; but most parents have neither leisure nor
desire to undertake this. Consider, for example, the case of
the father of a family whose whole day is spent at work. Most
fathers of families make a better use of their time by devoting
all their energies to their trade or profession, instead of them-
selves attempting the education of their children. Thus here
also the principle of the division of labour comes more and more
fully into application. The parent gives his whole time to his
work for a livelihood, and the profession of teacher becomes
more and more exclusively that of a specialist. The children
of the proletariat are in need of education, and in their case,
apart from the question of leisure or desire, the parents lack
the necessary aptitude to instruct their own children. The
public elementary schools of to-day have come into existence
for the children of these lower strata of the population, and
the curriculum of such schools has been determined mainly
by the decision of the upper classes as to what it is expedient
that the lower classes should be taught.
Education at home by a tutor or governess is in certain
respects superior, and in other respects inferior, to that obtain-
able at the public elementary school. The advantages of
home instruction are, first, that it has a more individual
character, since the tutor or governess is more intimately
acquainted with the child, and each individual child receives a
comparatively larger share of the teacher's attention ; secondly,
in the case of a large family, we have the best possible type
of co-education; thirdly, the unhygienic influences of the
public elementary school can be avoided. The disadvan-
tages are : a really good tutor or governess is by no means
easy to find, and in the absence of such a one, the educa-
tion is most inefficient ; the domestic instructor is but a
single person, whereas in the public elementary school there
are a number of teachers, and the defects of one will be com-
pensated by the good qualities of another ; we may even say
that the defects of the teachers are more than compensated
The Public Elementary School 187
by the other influences of the public elementary school.
Education by a domestic instructor can never make good
for the child the lack of the multiform life of the school,
which affords so admirable a preparation for later life. In
the school there are many children who compete with one
another, but also form friendships with one another. How-
ever questionable it may be, on grounds of principle, whether
for the purposes of instruction and education it is proper to
appeal to the ambition, competitive zeal, and envy of children,
yet we have to admit that so long as the present order of
society continues, based upon individualism and free com-
petition, it is absolutely essential that children should be pre-
pared for individualism and free competition. If the domestic
instructor gets on friendly terms with the child, his authority
is apt thereby to be undermined ; but if he remains on purely
formal terms, he risks the repression of the child's individuality.
Friction between parents and domestic instructors is almost
inevitable. Education in the public elementary school costs
far less per child than domestic instruction, and this saving is
advantageous, not to the individual only, but from the stand-
point of public economy. It is altogether opposed to the
interest of public economy that each child should have a
separate teacher; that certain work, which can be properly
performed by a certain number of teachers, should be done
in such a way as to need ten times that number of teachers.
To do this is to waste time and energy which in the interest
of public economy might be much better employed. When
some children are educated at home and others in the public
elementary school, the two classes of children have entirely a
different education, and this can only tend to accentuate class
contrasts, which are already excessive.
The General Obligation of School Attendance. — The economic
order of to-day, based as it is upon free competition, should
impose like conditions upon all the competitors in the economic
struggle. We cannot speak of free competition unless all the
competitors start from scratch ; in a system of free competition
all should start with the same educational opportunities. A&
time goes on the desire becomes ever more general that every
member of the community should secure a certain minimum
1 88 Elements of Child- Protection
of education ; and it is felt that the State is not merely justi-
fied but obliged to secure this minimum for all. Thus it
becomes continually more important that every adult should
have this elementary minimum of education. The existing
economic order is based upon a general knowledge of writing
and reading. One unable to read or write is hardly in a
position to safeguard his most elementary interests. He
should also know the first principles of arithmetic, inas-
much as to-day the value of all commodities is expressed
in multiples of the monetary unit. The State is well aware
that compulsory education involves a limitation of personal
freedom and an interference with family life ; but none the
less the modern State finds it necessary to insist that every
child shall receive a minimum of education.
The State imposes the duty upon those responsible for
the care of the child, of sending this child to the public
elementary school from the age of six to the age of fifteen,
or, in default of this, of giving the child an equivalent educa-
tion at home. On the one hand, the State itself institutes
public elementary schools ; and, on the other hand, the State
gives to the various religious organisations, to the local autho-
rities, and to private individuals, the right to found and carry
on elementary schools, with the proviso that in these schools
children shall receive the same education (neither more nor
less) as in the State schools. Thus, the State has no con-
cern as to what education the child's relatives may think
desirable, but exercises compulsion to secure the adoption
of its own educational standard, either by inflicting penal-
ties if the child does not attend school, or even by removal
of the child for compulsory education away from home.
But the so-called general obligation of school attendance
is not really general, and applies exclusively, or almost ex-
clusively, to the lower classes of the population. The other
classes can evade the obligation of school attendance by having
their children educated at home. The proletarian parents
are well aware that the elementary school teaches neither in
matter nor in manner in accordance with proletarian con-
ceptions; but at present they have to submit. The duty
of universal school attendance is not very strictly enforced.
The Public Elementary School 189
Even in the most highly civilised countries, a certain pro-
portion of children of school age receive no elementary educa-
tion. In many countries the universal obligation of school
attendance exists only on paper. The conditions in this re-
spect are especially bad, on the one hand, in the country dis-
tricts (where, therefore, the proportion of illiterates is much
greater than in the towns), and, secondly, in districts where
there is a great demand for labour. The principle of uni-
versal compulsory school attendance is not accepted without
opposition. It is resisted by many proletarian parents who
wish their children to engage in wage-labour at an early age,
and it is resisted also by many capitalists who think they could
make larger profits with cheaper labour.
The Purpose of the Elementary School. — To enable us to
answer the question, what is the purpose of the public
elementary school, it is necessary that we should first be
able to decide what is the purpose of education. This ques-
tion is not educational merely, but also social and political.
The purpose of the public elementary school is dependent
at any particular period upon the general characteristics of
that period ; for, first, one learns, not at school, but in life ;
secondly, the dominant authority in the State in any epoch
wishes to instil in the minds of the young whatever " virtues "
are considered essential to the maintenance of the power of
the dominant caste. All political parties consider the public
elementary school to be extremely important, and each one
of them wishes to use this institution for its own purposes.
They all recognise that the future belongs to the young, that
the public elementary school plays the leading part in the
education of the young ; and each party sees that its special
aims can be attained only by the education of individuals to
consider that these aims are sacred and desirable. The ad-
herents of a particular political tendency therefore oppose
the inculcation in the public elementary schools of any ten-
dency adverse to their own, but they regard it as self-evident
that their own views ought to be inculcated in the elementary
school.
Instruction versus Education. — Many persons contend that
the aim of the school is not so much education as instruction.
190 Ele7nents of Child- Protection
They consider that the main factor in education is not the
school, but the family. But this is certain, that even in the
school which thinks only of instructing its pupils, education
in the wider sense is effected. In school life, in school
friendships, in the sense of solidarity, in the friendly com-
petition between schoolfellows, in the necessity to learn, are
embodied powerful educative influences. It is, in fact, essential
that the school should educate as well as instruct. The public
elementary school of to-day makes therefore a very great
mistake if it insists on intellectual rather than on moral
education, and upon instruction rather than upon education.
Moral Instruction. — According to the views of education-
alists, it is the aim of the public elementary school to educate
children to be, (a) religious, (&) patriotic, (c) obedient, {d^
humble, (e) subordinate citizens. The elementary school of
to-day does in fact mainly subserve these ends.
(a) Religious instruction and the inculcation of the fear of
God are no proper part of the work of the public elementary
school. Among all the factors of education, it is certainly
not the public elementary school which should undertake this
branch of instruction.
(&) The public elementary school has to teach children to
love their country ; but this should on no account be done in
such a way as to inspire hatred for other countries.
(c) The old elementary schools taught obedience and sub-
ordination. But to-day, when the conditions are quite different
from those of the Middle Ages, the public elementary school
should do nothing of the kind, but should rather teach inde-
pendent judgment, promptness of action, and soundness of
decision. The public elementary school is a public institution
like the (State) railway and the post office, and compulsory
school attendance is a civic duty analogous to the duty of
military service. But it is necessary to protest most energeti-
cally against the inference sometimes drawn from the analogy
between the two last-named duties, that the elementary school
should be the preparatory school to the barrack, and the
barrack a sort of continuation school to the elementary school
— against the doctrine that children should be disciplined to
a blind obedience. We must carefully avoid overestimating
The Public Elementary School 191
the importance of discipline. The school must and does use
compulsion. Discipline is an important means of elementary
school education, and such education is unthinkable without
discipline. But children are sufl&ciently disciplined by mere
attendance at school for a certain time.
{d) The following idea is very generally diffused, that it is
the aim of the school to prepare children for the life they will
have to lead when they are grown up. Most of the children
attending the public elementary schools will become prole-
tarians, wage-workers. Since the proletarian must be diligent,
thrifty, humble, disciplined, it is regarded as the duty of
the elementary school to inculcate these virtues. But these
so-called virtues are not virtues at all. The greatest obstacle
to any improvement in the lot of the average wage-earner
is that he should be content with thmgs as they are. The
labourers' wage represents the minimum that he finds requisite
to the satisfaction of his needs ; when his needs increase, his
wages rise. Every friend of social progress should endeavour
to secure that the elementary school should arouse in the
children certain needs and desu-es.
{e) Many persons wish to utilise the public elementary
school to turn children away from socialist ideas. This is to
be done by making the children acquainted with the dangers
which the realisation of socialist theories would involve, and
in addition by inculcating in the children the afore-mentioned
virtues. But the attainment of this end is less easy than
such persons imagine. The public elementary school exercises
a certain influence. The workman who has received at school
education and instruction of the suggested type will doubtless
less readily become an enthusiastic adherent of the socialist
party than the workman who has never attended an elementary
school, and who was an illiterate until he first came under the
influence of his trade union. But the notions inculcated in
the public elementary school in respect of obedience, humility,
and the like are readily eradicated by a short experience of
socialist comradeship, and replaced by social-democratic ideas.
General Culture. — It is by no means one of the aims of the
public elementary school to provide general culture. Even
less is this the aim of education than it is the aim of the
192 Elements of Child- Protection
public elementary school — and tlie provision of general culture
by the latter would appear to be entirely out of the question.
During the few years a child spends at the public elementary
school, it is impossible to attempt to impart all that is included
in the wide field of general culture.
Individuality. — A large proportion of those pupils with a
well-marked individuality can develop their personality even
in the school. The tendency of the school is in many cases
to rub off the edges and corners of individuality. But it is
impossible to approve of the extent to which, in the public
elementary school of to-day, the children's individuality is
repressed. Our present elementary schools do not individualise
enough. Their principal aim is, not so much to provide a
sound education, as to force all the pupils through the same
rigid curriculum, without making any allowance for their
various special aptitudes. (For what good end is it that the
modern educational authority should regulate every detail of
school-life, down to the quality and price of the articles used
in class, and even to the colour of the manuscript books
and the precise number of pages they are to contain ?) In
the elementary school of to-day, owing to the large size of the
classes and the small number and defective training of the
teachers, individualisation is impossible.
Beauty. — The school must not indeed attempt to make all
the children into artists ; but the children must most certainly
be taught to understand and appreciate beauty — that is, the
arts. Our present public elementary schools are extremely
defective from this point of view.
Knowledge. — Knowledge gives the individual power, and
provides him with a powerful weapon in the struggle for
existence. The dominant classes, for the protection of their
own egoistic interests, keep knowledge for themselves, and
refuse to provide the lower classes with the means and
weapons for their liberation. The State insists upon a minimal
quantity of knowlege for every one of its members, because
this is to the interest of the community and of the upper
classes. But since to impart to the common people anything
beyond this minimum of knowledge would threaten the
dominance of the upper classes, or would at any rate involve
The Public Elementary School 193
pecuniary sacrifices on the part of the latter, and since it
might even lead to the liberation of the lower classes, the
functional activity of the public elementary schools is kept
at as low a level as possible, and is limited as much as
possible both intrinsically and extrinsically. The State and
the upper classes devote to popular education only such
an amount as is found to be absolutely essential. They
are well aware that much more could be done than is done
in the way of popular education ; but since they know also
that this would redound chiefly to the advantage of the lower
classes, they propose no advance upon the present system.
This affords a satisfactory explanation of the fact that the
modern State spends so much less upon elementary schools
than upon middle or high schools — that is, upon institutions
for the upper classes, and why the State spends so much
less upon education in general than upon other things. The
budget of any modern State would exemplify the fact that
the individualist State spends at least five times as much for
military purposes as upon elementary education. The more
complete the division of labour, the more do employers tend to
utilise the services of unskilled labourers — that is, the services
of those whose work is of such a character that all they need
know to enable them to perform it is at most a little reading,
writing, and arithmetic. The capitalists have no use for
workmen with more knowledge than this, for the unskilled
workers are cheaper. The owning class are not inclined to
make sacrifices to enable the children of workpeople to learn
more in the elementary school. They know very well that
to do this would merely be to do themselves harm, for the
more the workman knows the more readily does he think
independently, the more critical is he, and the more readily
does he recognise the defects of the existing social order.
Science. — The modern public elementary school professes
to teach children science. But they must first of all give
their pupils desire and capacity for the acquirement of science.
It should not be their aim to impart to the child the elements
of any particular science, but rather to develop a capacity for
a speedy acquisition of the knowledge it will find necessary in
the course of its life. The procedure of the older elementary
N
194 Elements of Child- Protection
school whicli laid stress only upon memory is almost com-
pletely a thing of the past. But even to-day the elementary
schools of Europe lay most emphasis upon the exhibition by
their pupils of extensive knowledge, and this involves an
overtaxing of the memory at the expense of the powers of
thought. The elementary schools of the United States of
America, on the other hand, do not so much endeavour to
secure that a certain quantity of knowledge should be imparted,
they do not so much insist upon thorough instruction, and
strict concentration in the narrower sense of the term, as
endeavour to effect a stimulated interest and a certain degree
of orientation in all departments of knowledge. The latter
system is the sounder. But a certain foundation of positive
knowledge is absolutely essential, for upon this foundation is
based the acquirement of all the knowledge subsequently
gained, and necessary for the purposes of life. The modern
elementary school teaches much and many things, including
much that is altogether superfluous, but what the children
will really need in life is either not taught at all, or taught
defectively and inefficiently. Great emphasis is laid upon
religion, grammar, and history; modern science is compara-
tively ignored ; technical instruction, drawing, natural history,
the principles of morals, political economy, and legislation, are
neglected. (It is through the neglect of the last-mentioned
that it results that man is perhaps able to understand his
responsibilities towards his Heavenly Judge, but certainly not
towards any earthly one.) When we examine the teaching
of history in the modern elementary school, we find that the
pupils, instead of acquiring some general ideas upon universal
history, and the history of civilisation, have their minds
crammed with a jingo record of wars and dynasties, a mass
of dates of battles and other trivial incidents, patriotic anni-
versaries, and a biassed selection of anecdotes — all this having
no other object than to bring the children up as jingoes and
anti-socialists.
Home Worli. — The idea that children must have no home
work to do, and that they should do all their work at school, is
an exaggerated one. But the fact remains that the tendency
of the modern elementary school is to overburden children
The Public Elementaiy School 195
with home work. This is all the worse because the work at
school is often too much for the pupils, and to add home
work is then sheer cruelty. The domestic arrangements in
the majority of proletarian homes are so exiguous, that it is
impossible for children to find the necessary conveniences
and the necessary order and quiet for any considerable amount
of home work.
The, Exclusion of Certain Children. — In the public ele-
mentary schools we find many children who ought not to be
there — children, for example, with arrested development,
abnormal, neglected, &c. If in any class there are many
children suffering from arrest of mental development, one
of two things may happen — the teacher may devote special
attention to them, or he may not. In the former case, the
progress of the whole class is hindered ; in the latter case,
the unfortunate backward children fall yet farther behind.
Morally neglected children, and children with criminal ten-
dencies, should be removed from the school, or they will
corrupt the other children. But if they are excluded, we
have to fear that we are depriving them of their last chance
of improvement, and that they will become more neglected
than ever. To-day we find that there is a most deplorable
increase, above all in the large towns and manufacturing
centres, in the number of children who habitually evade school
attendance or play truant from school, idle about through the
days, and then, after school hours, and in fear of punishment,
keep also away from home. It has been proved that the
great majority of these habitual truants are feeble-mmded to
a degree, and for this reason tend to adopt a vagabond life.
If such a child is excluded from school, it legally attains the
condition of liberation from the obligation of school attendance
which it had previously attained illegally though in actual
fact. Chiefly in consequence of the inadequate psychological
training of the teachers, feeble-mindedness and other mental
and moral abnormalities in children are apt to be overlooked.
It is desirable that all teachers should receive a far more
thorough training in the psychology of education than has
hitherto been customary. It is necessary that for weak-minded
children, or for those who are in other respects backward or
196 Elements of Child- Protection
abnormal, special schools, or in great educational institutions,
special classes (disciplinary classes), should be founded. Of
late years a start has been made in this direction.
Rewards and P^inishmcnts. — In the public elementary school
of to-day, sound methods and principles in the matter of
rewards and punishments find but little application. Corporal
punishment is freely used, and in many cases the children are
grossly ill-treated. In the United States of America, the
general experience has been that in schools in which corporal
punishment is unknown, better results are obtained and a
higher general level is reached than in schools in which
corporal punishment is customary. The mere knowledge that
they are liable to such degrading punishment suffices to lower
the children's morale, whereas, when they feel themselves
absolutely secure from the risk of such punishment, they feel
themselves from the first to be honoured and respected. In
the better elementary schools of the United States corporal
punishment is in fact unknown.
The Constitutional Element. — In the order of the modern
school no constitutional element is recognised ; the teacher is
an absolute ruler, and the pupils are subjects without rights.
But this system is not one fitted to prepare the children for
democratic social and political life. In the United States of
America some of the elementary schools have a method of
government which is quasi-parliamentary in character. It
is desirable to introduce this system into Europe, although
certain modifications may be necessary. The relationship
between teacher and pupil should be as follows. The teacher
does not work solely by authority. He explains in all cases
the reasons for his commands and prohibitions ; he recognises
and admits his own mistakes, treats his pupils as equals, and
makes common cause with the well-behaved children to keep
the ill-behaved in order ; just as in the education of the
individual we counteract the morbid elements in the dis-
position by cultivating the healthy elements, so in his school
the teacher uses the good elements to counteract the bad
ones. By making common cause with the well-behaved
children against the ill-behaved, he induces the former to
become unconsciously the instructors and educators of the
The Public Elementary School 197
latter. He endeavours to effect the growth among the
children of a public opinion, which shall warn transgressors
and prescribe their punishment. He must also utilise free
discussion among his pupils as a means of stimulation and
instruction. (Parents should emploj^ much the same methods
in the upbringing of their own children.)
Parents and the, School. — The view that the teacher need
concern himself about the child only so long as the latter is
within the four walls of the school, and that he is justified in
completely ignoring all that happens to the child outside the
school, is utterly false, and must be abandoned. To-day a
question which attracts much attention is how parents may
be induced to support the teacher. In this respect the
conditions in Europe are worse than those in the United
States of America. In Europe parents commonly rejoice
when the school takes the burden of children off' their hands.
Many teachers, on the other hand, are instinctive bureaucrats,
who regard it as wrong for the parents to exert any influence
whatever upon the teacher's relationship to his pupils. Quite
recently the following view has begun to prevail — that it is
the duty of the parents to send their children to the lowest
class of the elementary school with such a grounding that the
teacher may readily proceed to build thereon; the parents
should remain throughout in contact with the teachers. This
contact may be of a manifold kind : the teachers keep the
parents acquainted with all the important details of the course
of instruction, and at voluntary evening reunions explain to
the parents the concrete problems of education. We can
approve the conduct neither of those parents who always
uphold the teacher against their children, nor of those, on the
other hand, who always abuse the teacher to the child. The
former procedure brings the children up as slaves, the latter
undermines the foundations of the respect which every teacher
should inspire in his pupils.
Sexv/d Education. — A thorough reform of sexual educa-
tion is absolutely essential. 1. The question of co-education
does not properly belong to this work, and can be touched
on merely in passing. In the public elementary schools
almost all over the world co-education is the rule ; elemen-
198 Elements of Child- Protection
tary schools for one sex only are exceptional/ 2. The
Church regards the sexual life as something essentially
immoral, of which the child is to know nothing whatever.
Its motto is : Silence. The earlier elementary schools,
owing to their intimate dependence on the Church, shared
this view. The sexual enlightenment of children is recom-
mended especially by the advocates of the emancipation
of women. The question is even more important to women
than it is to men, since the right solution of the sexual
problem will entail for women greater advantages than
for men.
The sexual enlightenment of children is absolutely neces-
sary for the following reasons, (a) The sexual life conceals
many dangers for the child, and the latter will better be able
to guard against those dangers if he is aware of their exist-
ence. No one has the right to put a sharp knife in a child's
hand without pointing out the dangers of the weapon. But
the forces of the sexual life, when ill-understood and ill-
controlled, are far more powerful and far more dangerous than
the sharpest knife. He who will learn to walk and to run
must risk stumbling and falling, and no one can learn to
swim without swallowing a little water. (6) That which is
half-concealed is far more stimulating than that which is
revealed. If children are not properly enlightened concern-
ing the sexual life, they become accustomed to regard matters
of sex solely from the standpoint of personal desire and
personal enjoyment, and to regard the sexual life and the
other sex as something hateful and despicable. (c) If the
child receives no enlightenment concerning the sexual life,
its confidence in its teacher and its relatives is necessarily
undermined. How shall a child retain confidence in those
who give it no advice in a matter in which the need of advice
is so urgently felt ? Can the child be expected to follow
their advice in other departments of life, when in this depart-
ment it receives bad advice or none at all ? Can a child give
confidence to its elders in other matters, when in this matter
it is fobbed off with lies and fables ?
The following arguments are adduced against the sexual
' England lags behind the rest of the world in this matter. — Translator.
The Public Elementary School 199
enlightenmeut of children, (a) It is better, supposing that
the sexual impulse has not yet awakened in a child, that
nothinsf should be done to direct its attention to the sexual
life. (5) The enlightenment of children is a very difficult
matter, and is, in fact, hardly practicable.
The former of these arguments is not altogether ground-
less. But in present conditions silence is impossible, and it is
better that the child should obtain its information from a
pure and trustworthy source. With regard to the alleged
difficulty of effecting the sexual enlightenment, recent experi-
ence shows that the requisite instruction can be suitably and
inconspicuously introduced into the natural history lessons,
and adapted to the age and intelligence of the child, without
any excessive detail being attempted. The stress has to be
laid, not upon enlightenment as to the processes of sexual
conjugation, nor upon detailed instruction as to the develop-
ment of the human embryo, but rather upon a mainly
hygienic enlightenment concerning the dangers attendant
upon sexual intercourse.
Should the sexual enlightenment of children be the work
of the school, or should it be, as many insist, the duty either
of the parents or the medical adviser ? The co-operation of
parents and medical adviser is certainly indispensable, but the
principal part in the work of enlightenment belongs to the
school. One of the main difficulties in sexual enlightenment by
the parents depends upon the fact that the majority of parents
lack the requisite ability and the requisite biological knowledge.
Of late the schools have actually begun to undertake this work of
the sexual enlightenment of children. It is unquestionably the
tendency of evolution that the sexual enlightenment of children
up to a certain point should be effected in the school.
Beligious and Moral Instruction. — It remains undecided
whether the public elementary school of to-day was of
ecclesiastical origin. But it is an unquestionable fact that
from the first the Church exercised a great influence upon
the public elementary school, and that the Church continues
to struggle for the spread of its own ideas through the inter-
mediation of the schools. The influence of the Church
secures, not merely that religion shall be taught in the
200 Elements of Child- Protection
schools, but, in addition, that in the teaching of other
matters, the ecclesiastical spirit shall have free play. This
explains the fact that the teaching of natural science has
been neglected in the schools, on the ground that it is
antagonistic to religion. The alleged necessity of religious
teaching is based upon the assertion that by such teaching
children are guided in the paths of morality. But as religious
instruction as at present administered, it is by no means
adapted to produce this effect. To teach children difficult
ethical concepts in an abstract form, and to make them
commit these abstract formulations to memory, is a mode
of ill-usage. We cannot teach a child to be moral by
preaching to it a great deal, and by telling it many moral
and religious stories and drawing for it many moral and
religious conclusions, unless we take pains at the same time
to find associations within the child's own circle of interests
for the ideas we are endeavouring to impart. It is impossible
to induce in a child the habit of moral conduct by purely
intellectual demonstrations, in connection with which the
child's interest in the processes and situations of the relation
is perhaps wilfully mistaken for a desire to imitate the actions
that are described. Moreover, in the religions that are taught
in the modern public elementary schools, we find reflected the
moral conceptions of days long past — conceptions whose
interest is now historical merely. These religions deal only
with the morals of adult persons — their examples relate only
to adults; whereas the sound moral instruction of young
people must pay attention above all to the numerous little
needs and passions of the child. Religion and morality are
two altogether dift'erent things. A knowledge of Bible history
and of religious dogmas cannot make anyone more moral.
There are many countries in which we find that the extent
of immorality is directly proportional to the extent to which,
in the various areas, a religious spirit prevails. Our general
conclusion, therefore, is that the public elementary school
should not be founded upon a religious basis, and that it
should not undertake to give religious instruction. The
standpoint of France, formerly so religious a country, is
thoroughly sound. The principle of religious liberty allows
The Public Elementary School 201
everyone to profess whatever religion he pleases. It is a
logical corollary of this principle that the public elementary
school, which is open to all, should be neither religious nor
anti-religious ; that is to say, that it should be a secular, lay,
neutral school, and that religious instruction should be left to
the parents.
But, in view of these considerations, it is all the more
necessary to provide for special moral instruction in the public
elementary school. It is not a valid objection to say that
ethics are too difficult for children ; in this matter everything
depends upon how they are taught. Evidently moral teaching
will be effective only if the right educational methods are
employed, and it cannot be said that this has hitherto been
the case to any considerable extent. Moral instruction must
not consist in mere repetition of ethical principles, but must
be a lesson of a very practical order ; it must not be a dry
enumeration of duties, but an introduction to the realities of
social life, the aim of moral instruction being to teach the
pupil sound views of life, and to lead him to regulate all his
thoughts and all his activities with reference to their " social
reaction." The introduction of ethical problems and moral
outlooks into the instruction given in other branches of study
is also necessary, and may indeed begin at once, for this offers
no difficulties. But it is also absolutely essential that moral
questions should receive a comprehensive and connected con-
sideration in a special course of lessons. For more than a
quarter of a century moral instruction has been given in the
elementary schools of the United States and of France. In
France this course of lessons is used, not merely as an instru-
ment in the campaign against clericalism and monarchism,
but also, quite wrongly, as a means for the cultivation of
jingoism.
Physical Education. — The modern public elementary school,
in pursuit of mental education, neglects not moral education
only, but physical education also, by condemning the child to
prolonged physical inactivity. As soon as a child is barely
six years of age, it is forced to sit, day by day for many hours,
stiff" and quiet, on the narrow benches in the class-rooms,
although such repression of the childish instinct towards
202 Elements of Child-Protection
incessant activity is injurious to the health. The child is
overburdened mentally, the school curriculum being over-
loaded with subjects, and a bad system of instruction being
employed. The gymnastic lesson of to-day consists mainly of the
comparatively useless exercises of the parade-ground type, and
in the country schools even these are neglected. Well-grounded
complaints about all these defects are incessantly heard. The
results are disastrous. Imbecility and mental hebetude may
ensue ; there even exist special diseases of school life, such
as nervous debility, headache, lateral curvature of the spine,
short-sightedness, jaundice, &c. Bad air, dust in the class-
rooms, interference with free breathing consequent upon long-
continued sitting, and catching cold on the way home from
school, favour the acquisition of tuberculosis.
Of late satisfactory efforts for the reform of school hygiene
have been initiated. On the one hand, the attempt is made
to secure that school life should not entail any dangers to the
child's health ; on the other hand, efforts are made to provide
proper treatment for the various disorders that prevail among
the children, and especially among the younger ones; the
physical energies and adroitness of the children are stimulated
by technical instruction, gymnastics, and free movement in
the open air. It is recognised that the education of children
should take place mainly in the open ; that not natural history
only, but most other subjects, should be taught in connection
with open-air walks and excursions. More and more stress is
laid upon the provision of playgrounds, school gardens, and
the like. School gardens are already to be found in many
towns, where the children can do bodily work in the fresh air
— dig, for instance, tend flowers, &c., occupations which have
an excellent influence upon their health. Quite recently baths
have been provided in many schools, and sometimes even the
use of these baths is compulsory. This is especially valuable
where the school children are very poor, for in the case of the
very poor, as is well known, not much attention is paid to
cleanliness in the children's homes.
In every progressive State, school doctors have now been
appointed. It is a sound principle that the school doctor
should not be engaged in private practice, but that he should
The Public Elementary School 203
also be physician to the poor-law authority. The institution
of the school physician is, however, of value only if a skilled
and detailed examination of the individual children is under-
taken, and if steps are taken to secure that the medical advice
given in individual cases is actually carried out. In many
German schools provision is made that sick children without
means shall be sent by the school authorities directly to the
town physicians for treatment. In some of these schools,
school nurses have been appointed, who supervise the carrying
out of medical instructions, and, when necessary, accompany
the children in their visits to the doctor. The tendency of
evolution is that necessary treatment should be carried out by
the school doctor. For some years past, in many towns in
Germany, dental clinics have been instituted in connection
with the schools. They are necessary in view of the fact that
a very large proportion of children attending the public ele-
mentary schools have diseased teeth ; those whose parents are
poor would otherwise receive no dental treatment, and the
proper treatment of these disorders of the teeth constitutes an
important adjuvant in the campaign against the infectious dis-
eases and in the prevention of tuberculosis. Very recently the
question has been discussed whether tubercular children ought
not to be excluded from the schools.
Among more recent movements tending towards the de-
struction of the hegemony of the towns, we find an attempt to
remove the schools from the towns, and to give them the
form of boarding-schools, with an attempt to provide a sort of
family life, much stress being laid upon the physical education
of the children. Such schools are to be found in England and
in the United States of America and here and there in Ger-
many. They are more costly than the others, and the attempt
to reproduce in them a kind of family life is apt to be a
failure. For children sufifering from physical debility they are
extremely useful, and they offer a valuable field of experiment
for teachers who wish to apply exceptional educational ideas.
Of late, also, the attempt has been made to utilise the school
in the campaign against tuberculosis, alcoholism, and the
venereal diseases. It is declared to be absolutely necessary
that the children should receive far more hygienic instruction
204 Eleme7its of Child-Protection
than has hitherto been customary — of course, merely as an
adjunct to the other branches of education.
Manual Training. — Loud complaints are heard to the effect
that the elementary school fails to secure a general and har-
monious development of the bodily and mental capacities of
the child — that it merely crams the child with certain infor-
mation, without endeavouring to secure that it shall acquire
knowledge by its own experience. It is recognised that that
knowledge only is permanent and possesses serious moral
influence which constitutes an indispensable constituent of
general culture; and it is understood that the recognised
defects of our school children cannot be avoided unless we
include as a part of the school curriculum a sufficiency of
manual training. At first sight it may seem quite impossible
for the educationalist, by training the child to perform certain
suitable bodily movements, constituting the elements of some
particular handicraft, to influence that child's mental or moral
development; it seems impossible, that is to say, that to
teach the child a handicraft can subserve a profoundly im-
portant educational end.
The impulse to physical activity is deep-seated in human
nature, and is irresistible. It is present in every healthy
child. It is an aim of education to cultivate the proper
manifestations of this impulse ; otherwise it is very apt to
take the form of some bad habit, of passionate outbursts, or of
destructiveness. In earliest childhood the impulse to activity
finds complete satisfaction in the games of which young chil-
dren are so fond. The irregular and mutable activity of games
must gradually, and without obvious compulsion, be trans-
formed into a regular and orderly activity. (Many physicians
insist that children should not begin to learn to read and write
until they are nine or ten years old, and that below this age
their only instruction should be manual. The reason they
give for this demand is that it is during the first seven years
of life that the human brain grows most rapidly, that this
organ should receive very gentle treatment during this period
of life, and that all risk of its overstrain by one-sided stimula-
tion of the intelligence must be carefully avoided.)
Manual work invariably represents an attempt to gain
The Public Elementary School 205
some particular end. Every such end is made up of various
components ; we see this composite character most clearly
when the aim of the work is to achieve some definite physical
result, such as the putting together of some complex body
made up of numerous parts. Such work as this, children
usually undertake with pleasure. Since the final aim and
the constituent aims are all obvious, the child sees at once
that it is continually approaching more nearly to the attain-
ment of the ultimate aim, and notes with delight the pro-
gressive steps achieved towards this end. (Self-esteem is
essentially nothing more than the consciousness on the part
of the individual of his capacity for producing some tangible
result.) Manual work is interesting even to the naughtiest
and most impatient of children. It arouses and increases
will power and desire for work; satisfies the impulse to
activity; forces the child to think independently, to use
its perceptive faculties, to be practical. It is for this reason
that manual work plays so great a part in the education of
intellectually backward and neglected children. Manual
training gives the child opportunity for productive work, and
thus prepares it for its subsequent life. Manual training
develops in the child precisely those faculties which it will
most need in later life, namely, conscientiousness, precision,
pleasure in its work, enterprise. It develops the hand and
the eye, the two most important organs of the human body,
to a fuller degree than can be effected by writing, drawing,
or gymnastics ; and in this way it provides the child with
something which will be found valuable whatever trade or
profession may ultimately be adopted. It thus gives the
child the necessary preparatory training for every subsequent
occupation. The idea that the growth of machine industry
has rendered manual training superfluous is utterly erroneous.
Manual training is good for the health and the physical
strength of the child. At the period of the puberal develop-
ment, manual training is of especial importance to children.
It has a quieting influence upon the brain and the senses, and
distracts the child from morbid and sensual impulses. Through
bringing into play the physiological influence of fatigue, it
hinders and delays the awakening of the sexual impulse, and
2o6 Elements of Child- Protection
does nothing to direct the child's attention towards the
sexual life.
To-day much stress is laid upon training the perceptive
faculties by means of object-lessons. Manual training
affords the best training of the perceptive faculties, being
even more valuable in this respect than the actual object-
lesson. We learn to know an object fully not merely by
looking at it, not even, in addition, by handling it, smelling
it, tasting it, and listening to it. If we wish to know an
object through and through, we must work upon it.
The child is always glad to engage in physical work.
Both child and teacher soon learn to recognise for what
the child has inclination and talent. The child will then
choose for its life's occupation that which it has aheady
learned to understand, and which best corresponds to its
own inclinations. In this way the mistakes, which are so
common to-day, in the choice of an occupation will be
avoided, and the almost morbid desire of children for a
clerical or professional career will be mitigated. Opportunity
is given for the recognition and cultivation of any special
artistic faculty the child may possess. The aim of education,
namely, to awaken and cultivate the child's natural capacities
and inclinations, can only be attained when the teacher
recognises their existence, and is able to form a correct
picture of the child's mental life. But the teacher will not
be able to do this unless he sees his pupil engaged in physical
work as well as in mental. If at school young people are
exclusively occupied in mental work, they acquire an antipathy
to physical work. Manual training, on the other hand, teaches
children to esteem physical labour and the proletariat. Any-
one who has received a thorough manual training necessarily
possesses mechanical knowledge and skill. Since such know-
ledge and skill are the first requisites of so many skilled
handicrafts, one who possesses them is unlikely to become
an unskilled labourer.
Whereas in former times various kinds of productive
work formed part of the economy of domestic life, so that
the child had opportunities for seeing and learning such
occupations in its own home, to-day we find that not even
The Public Elementary School 207
children's toys are made at home, but are bought ready-made.
Manual training is also advocated, on the ground that it
is necessary to ensure that there shall be an adequate supply
of skilled manual workers. This, we are told, may contribute
to keep alive the lesser industries which tend to disappear
before the great manufacturing industry. But the replace-
ment of handwork by the work of machines is a tendency
of evolution which no one has the power to arrest. It is
not truly the aim of manual instruction to produce skilled
adult manual workers ; we advocate it simply as a means
of education which has nothing whatever to do with technical
education.
Manual training must be carefully adapted to the child's
age, and in the case of very little children must take the
form rather of a game. Its character may be very various :
the preparation of drawings and models, experimentation
with tools, the construction of tools or other useful objects
out of Avood, clay, dough, iron, &c., garden work, and the
like.
Although the results of manual training are so remarkably
good, it is only quite recently that it has been utilised as
a means of education. The explanation perhaps is that
manual work being all done by slaves, serfs, body-servants,
and wage-labourers, was despised by the upper classes, and
for this reason its great educational value was so long over-
looked. Ethical and educative influences are so completely
lacking to wage-labour, that the child should not be occupied
in wage-labour, but only in manual work of an educative
influence and tendency. Instruction in productive work,
involving an explanation of the fundamental methods of
the production of commodities and habituation to the use
of the simpler tools must form a part of education. The
attempt to extend manual training expresses the general
tendency of evolution. The elementary schools of most
civilised countries show that manual training can be readily
introduced into the elementary school curriculum. Indeed, in
the public elementary schools of many countries, manual
training is now compulsory, especially as regards instruction
in feminine manual occupations. But manual training cannot
2o8 Elements of Child- Protection
be developed to the fullest extent, nor can this method be
expected to furnish the best possible results, until capitalist
production for profit has been replaced by social production
for use.
Preparatory Schools. — What we said about creches applies,
though with some differences, to preparatory schools. Children
go to the modern elementary school at a comparatively early
age, and are subjected to the discipline of school without any
preparatory initiation. Institutions whose aim it is to prepare
children for the life of the public elementary schools are
known as preparatory schools. The idea that before the age
of school-attendance the child should be methodically employed
for some hours daily, that the occupation should be phj^sical,
and that the work should be so arranged as to appear to the
child as a kind of play, is not a new one. Alike on educa-
tional and on social grounds it is certainly desirable that
the period of public education should begin earlier than
the present age of compulsory school-attendance. Such is
indeed the tendency of evolution, and in Hungary we have
already advanced far in this direction.
Supervised Playgrounds for Children {Kinderhorte). — With
the growth of capitalism there have come into existence
(though somewhat later than the preparatory schools) super-
vised playgrounds for children {Kinderhorte) to provide care
and training out of school hours for the school children
whose parents work away from home. These institutions
may be associated with the schools, or may exist independently ;
there may be separate playgrounds for boys and for girls,
or the two sexes may play together. In the United States of
America there exist " Children's Clubs " for school-children,
which differ from preparatory schools, inasmuch as their main
purpose is to provide entertainment.
Increasing Importance of the Puhlic Elementary School. — The
family circle in which the proletarian child lives tends, as a
rule, to counteract the beneficial effects of school life. Nor
are the other elements in the environment of the proletarian
child such as tend to exercise a good educational influence.
For this reason quite recently the question has been mooted
how the school may best counteract the evil influences of the
The Public Elementary School 209
family and tlie environment. As time goes on the public
elementary school becomes ever more important, its circle of
duties becomes more comprehensive, and it undertakes many
elements of education which formerly appertained to the par-
ental home and the environment. The public elementary
school and the associated institutions begin to exercise
functions outside the domain of education in the narrower
sense, and to absorb some of those formerly exercised by
the poor - law authorities, inasmuch as the schools are
coming to satisfy other needs of the proletarian child in
addition to the need for education. Consider, for example,
the association with the public elementary school of prepara-
tory schools, supervised playgrounds, baths, gardens, workshops,
savings-banks, &c.
Feeding of School Children. — The children of the lower
classes are to-day quite unable to pay for their schooling.
If every pupil had to pay school fees, a strict enforcement of
compulsory school attendance would involve gross injustice to
the poorer classes. If the State makes school attendance
compulsory, the State must make it possible for every child
to attend school. Many children fail to attend school because
they lack proper clothing, and especially boots and shoes. Is
it not the duty of the education authorities to provide for
poor children of school age the clothing they need to make it
possible for them to attend school ? This is not as yet
recognised as a public duty, but we see an unmistakable
movement in its direction. In most countries public ele-
mentary education is already free, in some cases for all the
children, in others only for the poorest ; school materials and
books are as yet supplied gratuitously only in France, Switzer-
land, and the United States of America.
Is it a part of the work of the public elementary school
to provide food for the pupils ? (Should it provide a dwell-
ing ? Even those whose demands are most extensive ask
merely that the elementary schools should provide a home
for the child during the day time, on the one hand during
school hours, on the other during the intervals.) The ques-
tion of the feeding of school children was first mooted by the
teachers about thirty years ago. It was evident that a smaller
O
2IO Elonents of Child- Protection
or larger proportion of the children attending urban schools
(in wealthier towns from 3 to 10 per cent., in the suburbs
of large towns even as many as 90 per cent.) were unable
to derive adequate benefit from their teaching because they
were underfed. The proletarian mother lacks sufficient time
to prepare food for her children, especially the midday meal.
Few workmen earn enough to provide a dietary in conformity
with hygienic demands. The school is often far from the home,
and the children have neither time nor desire to return home
to dinner. The need is especially striking during the winter
months, inasmuch as at this time there is more unemployment,
Avhilst it is precisely at this season of the year that hot meals
are most necessary. Moreover, whilst it is simply cruel to
force half-fed children to learn, they hinder the progress of
the others. It is objected that the feeding of school children
conflicts with the principle of parental responsibility, and that
it impairs the intimacy of family life, which demands, as all
will admit, that the members of the family shall meet one
another at least at meals. Our aim, we are told, should
therefore be to do away with the poverty which is the
cause of so many children coming to school underfed. But
school feeding may be so arranged that the parents are
charged for the meals at cost. Moreover, it is proposed to
supply only breakfast and dinner — meals which many prole-
tarian parents are in any case unable to take at home.
School feedinsf can be combined with instruction for the
girls in cooking and domestic economy. The meals may be
given in the school, which is the best plan, or in special
institutions. The feeding of school children must be kept
entirely in the hands of the education authorities ; it has
nothing to do with the poor-law, and it is absolutely neces-
sary that it should be kept completely distinct from poor-law
administration. (Who is to determine the children's need —
the poor-law authorities or the school ? The latter, in my
opinion ; but this cannot always be done ofF-hand — in doubtful
cases a house-to-house visitation will be necessary.)
Quite recently it has been claimed that the feeding of
children in the public elementary schools should be entirely
gratuitous — that is to say, that food should be provided for
The Public Elementmy School 211
well-to-do as well as for necessitous children. This claim is
supported by the following arguments : (a) It is a logical
consequence of universal free education ; (5) if school meals
are provided for necessitous children only, as if in relief of
destitution, then, however tactfully this may be done, parents
and children alike feel ashamed and suffer from a loss of self-
respect. The following objections are made to these views:
(a) Feeding satisfies a natural need, education a need peculiar
to civilised man ; (&) it is possible to provide a suitable diet
in the family circle, but not to provide there a satisfactory
education ; (c) provided the feeding of the children is general,
no one need be ashamed, if those parents able to pay have
to pay, whilst the others are fed gratuitously. But these
objections are not worth further consideration.
There is not as yet any uniform and generally accepted
system for the feeding of school children; we find such
feeding only in isolated schools, and meals are provided for
necessitous children only. The actual results of the institu-
tion have been admirable. In England, a law providing for
the feeding of school children was passed in the year 1906,
But this did not introduce a general national system of
school feeding; the law was permissive merely, empowering
the poor-law authorities and education authorities to organise
private benevolence for this purpose, and, in the event of this
latter proving insufficient, allowing a limited expenditure of
public funds. The tendency of evolution is unquestionably
in the direction of the introduction of gratuitous and general
school feeding. But in the future, when the upbringing
of children will be altogether better than it is to-day, this
institution will be unknown.
Care of Young Persons after they leave School. — The necessity
and importance of supervising young persons after they leave
school are obvious from the fact that the period of the puberal
development, the period immediately after leaving the public
elementary school, and after passing from the family life to a
life of freedom, is the most dangerous of all periods in the life
of children of the poorer classes. The means to bo employed
for this purpose are the following : —
(a) The institution of special homes for young persons,
212 Elements of Child- Protection
where those with no regular homes of their own can board
and lodsre. Connected with these it is well that there should
be employment bureaux and lists of recommended dwellings.
(&) The institution of places for the occupation and amuse-
ment of apprentices and young workpeople of both sexes
during their hours of freedom.
(c) The arrangement of occupation for Sundays, amusing
as well as instructive.
id) The organisation of the young. There are associations
for young people connected with the various religious bodies,
also political associations, and others without either religious
or political tendency ; in addition, there are apprentices' clubs.
Within the ranks of the socialists we find two opposing
tendencies. Some wish to found special socialist organisa-
tions for young people ; others contend that better work can
be done within the limits of existing organisations. The
attempt is made to associate these movements with the
continuation schools; that is, an attempt is made to secure
that every large continuation school should have attached to
it a young persons' home or institute.'
(e) Advice as to the choice of a profession, in newspapers,
pamphlets, and books.
(/) The conduct of a campaign against harmful books
and pictures. This campaign has of late years aroused
interest and obtained support in wide circles. Of especial
importance is the campaign against filthy and obscene litera-
ture, for such literature has of late years gained an extra-
ordinarily wide diffusion, and effects the deliberate corruption
of children. It stimulates their imagination unnaturally and
leads it into false paths ; it destroys their sense of truth and
reality. The children's taste is perverted; they no longer
find pleasure in good literature, become inattentive in class,
and out of school hours rough and brutal. In so far as
children buy obscene books and pictures they waste their
money. The most important measures in the conduct of
this campaign are: 1. Criminal prosecutions; 2. The diffusion
of really good books for young people; 3. The enlightenment
of children and their parents concerning the worthless and
injurious character of the bad Uterature; 4. The reasonable
The Public Elementary School 213
regulation of the pupils' activity out of schools hours, whereby
the youthful impulse to adventure may be directed in the
right channels.
{(j) The most important of all means of caring for young
persons after they leave school, and one which supports and
reinforces all the others we have enumerated, is the con-
tinuation school. 1. OAving to the defective character of
public elementary education, it is necessary that it should be
supplemented by continuing the child's education when it has
passed the age of obligatory school attendance. 2. Before
the child enters a free life, what it has learned at school,
much of which will already have been forgotten, requires to
be retaught ; and this is all the more necessary in view of
the fact that at the elementary school, where the child was
still very young and lacked the faculty of full comprehension
of many ideas, it could not receive true instruction and
enlightenment. 3. The period of the passage from the family
life and from the elementary school into a life of freedom
must not come too early, and requires to be a period of transi-
tion, or the child is very apt to fall into poverty or crime.
4. Since apprenticeship is tending to pass away, it is necessary
that children should be taught the elements of a handicraft
at school. Wage-earning women have, as a rule, had neither
apprenticeship nor technical training, so that they become un-
skilled workers, and receive even smaller wages than unskilled
male labourers. 5. The training of working-class girls in
domestic economy is extremely defective. Since these girls
have to work for wages while still very young, they have
neither time nor desire, nor even opportunity, to study cooking
and housekeeping ; in a working-class family possibilities for
the study of domestic economy are of necessity extremely
limited, because so much of what is bought is already pre-
pared, and what is done at home is of an extremely simple
character. The working-class mother, engaged throughout
the day in arduous wage-labour, has neither time nor capacity
for the instruction of her daughter, so that the girl becomes
habituated to idleness. A special training both for wage-
labour and for domestic economy is requisite for girls, and
especially for those of the proletariat.
2 14 Elements of Child- Pj^otection
All these arguments combine to reinforce the need for the
institution of continuation schools. It is not the aim of these
schools to prepare their pupils for work in special branches
of industry, but their spirit is a much more practical one than
that of the elementary schools. Almost without exception,
they are purely secular, and give no religious instruction.
They must lay great emphasis upon the need that the children
should be habituated to care regularly for their bodies and
their health. In addition to the general continuation schools,
there exist industrial continuation schools or schools of ap-
prenticeship. The former are mostly in the hands of the
education authorities, whilst the latter are controlled by the
boards supervising commerce and industry {Geiverbebehorden).
In agricultural districts, schools of this latter order take the
form of schools of agriculture.
The advocates of the emancipation of women demand the
institution of continuation schools for girls in especial. Such
schools must naturally give the first place to the teaching of
domestic economy ; but many consider that they should also
give instruction in the main principles of education, and
especially regarding the care of infants. (Special schools of
domestic economy and of cooking already, of course, exist.)
Many demand that these subjects should receive special
attention in the public elementary schools; but it should
suffice here if in the teaching of other subjects the bearing
of these upon domestic economy and the conduct of life
is explained, in so far as this comports with the main
object of the course of instruction. Objections have been
raised by many to the effect that the girls are too young
to be taught domestic economy to any good purpose. But
experience teaches the contrary. The results of teaching
domestic economy have been so satisfactory that it is proposed
to make it an essential part of the curriculum.
Continuation schools are not regarded with universal
favour. In fact, their existence offers a certain hindrance
to the exploitation of the working powers of the young, and
this is disagreeable, not only to factory owners and manual
workers, but for the time being is distasteful to many prole-
tarian parents. These schools turn out workers who can
The Public Elementary School 215
compete successfully witli the older generation of unskilled
labourers. In spite of these objections, continuation schools
become ever more important and more widely diffused, tending
more and more to become an invariable supplement to the
public elementary school. Of late years, in many countries,
attendance at continuation schools has been made compulsory,
especially attendance at schools of apprenticeship in the case
of children who fail to attend the middle schools. To make
attendance at a continuation school obligatory is an unmis-
takable tendency of evolution.
The Tendency of Evolution. — The public elementary school
becomes continually more uniform in character ; it tends, that
is to say, to become the common school for all children of
a certain age, irrespective of the wealth or position of their
parents, and to lay the foundation upon which will build all
middle and higher educational institutions. Schools of this
character are already to be found in Denmark and in the
United States of America. The public elementary school
need not necessarily give religious instruction. Since the
schools administered by the religious organisations are of
comparatively little value, it is necessary that the public
elementary school should be open to all children, irrespective
of their creed. A further step in development is for the
public elementary school to abandon its inappropriate efforts
to give religious instruction.
Private schools are only for the children of the well-
to-do. In the majority of Gemeindeschulen a conservative and
narrowly orthodox religious spirit prevails. A proportion
of the local authorities are unwilling or unable to make the
material sacrifices requisite for the proper carrying on of the
elementary schools, and for this reason these schools vary
greatly in efficiency. To prove this, it suffices, in various
countries, to compare the State schools with the GemeindcscJmlcn,
and the town schools with the villasfe schools.
It is absolutely essential that it should be established on
principle that every child, not excepting the children of the
well-to-do, must attend a public elementary school, and that
neither attendance at a private school nor private domestic
instruction can be accepted in lieu of such attendance — if
2i6 Elements of Child- Protection
only for the reason that not until this obligation is universally
enforced will the richer classes acquire a genuine interest in
the public elementary schools. To this it is objected that the
elementary schools are already overcrowded, that their hygienic
conditions are unsatisfactory, and that the society of the poorer
children would not be good for the richer ones. But if all
this is true, the only reasonable conclusion we can draw is, that
it is time that these defects in the public elementary school
were abolished. If, for the reasons given, the elementary
school is unsuitable for the children of the well-to-do, it is no
less unsuitable for the children of the poor. For the rest,
each child is influenced by all the others. The rich child
may learn much that is beautiful and good from the poor one,
the latter often learns much that is evil and hateful from the
former. The children of the well-to-do must learn in their
earliest youth to know the people, for it is their mission to
lead and they must accustom themselves to intercourse with
the people.
The national system for elementary education must be
extended so as to become as comprehensive and as actual as
possible. The tendency of evolution is towards the institution
of a public elementary school truly general, truly national,
secular, and uniform in character. Such a school is the school
of the future.
C— DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL LAW
CHAPTER I
CRIMINALITY IN YOUTH
Introductory. — The foundations of the classical criminal
law have been shattered. New ideas begin to prevail, new
institutions appear and develop. The old criminal law will
soon altogether disappear. In harmony with the general
tendency of evolution, whereby our whole legal system tends
to become an affair of local administration, criminal law tends
to be transformed even more rapidly than other branches of
law into a department of local administrative activity. We
are to-day in the period of transition, in which this trans-
formation is being effected. The aim of medical science is
not merely to cure individual cases of disease, but to prevent
the origination, recurrence, and diffusion of disease. Criminal
law has similar aims, its highest aim of all being, not to
punish, but to prevent crime. It regards as of primary
importance, not individual liberty, but the interest of society,
and it considers, not the crime, but the criminal. The trans-
formation that is going on is further advanced in some portions
of criminal law than it is in others. The most advanced
portion of all is the one which concerns youthful criminals.
The Causes of Criminality in Youth. — The three causes of
criminal offences are: (a) inherited predisposition; {h) bad
educational influences ; (c) poverty. (The climatic and physio-
logical causes of criminality are of little importance, and are,
essentially, social causes.)
(a) According to the theory of the " born criminal," ^ most
youthful criminals are born criminals. The view is correct
1 This theory of the " born criminal " is associated chiefly with the name of
Lombroso. See my translation of Kurella's memoir, " Lombroso, his Life and
Work," London, 1911. liebman.— Teanslator's Note.
2i8 Elements of Child- Protection
to this extent only, in so far as a certain proportion —
by no means a large one — of youthful criminals are born
criminals ; but many youthful criminals, although they have
come into the world physically, mentally and morally
degenerate, are not for this reason necessarily to be regarded
as born criminals. To-day more degenerate individuals are
born than formerly. It is more probable that the children
of persons suffering from syphilis, tuberculosis, and alcoholism,
and the children of prostitutes and criminals, will become
criminals, than the children of sound individuals. We find,
in fact, that a notably large proportion of all criminals are the
offspring of persons of the former classes.
Q) and c) The children of the proletariat tend to be much
rougher, and are much more inclined to become criminals
than the children of the well-to-do. Among young prole-
tarians, we find more criminals than among adults. The
towns are the true breeding-grounds of youthful criminals.
To-day vagrant children in the streets are as constant a
feature of town life as the street-lamps. The conditions
of proletarian Hfe make the proper upbringing of children
impossible at the best of times. All the more is it impossible
when the conditions are bad, as when crime, prostitution, and
alcoholism prevail in the family circle. The principal cause
of youthful criminality is to be found in the very character
of proletarian family life, which makes education impossible,
and often forces the child into a career of crime. It is well
known that a considerable proportion of proletarian children
receive no schooling at all — that is, they grow up unable to read
and write, and a large number of criminals and prostitutes are
made up of such illiterates. A notable proportion of youthful
criminals are recruited from the class of wage-earning children,
and these latter are almost all proletarians, and most of them
have been forced to adopt wage-labour in very early youth.
A foul dwelling-place contaminates the mind as well as the
body ; an enormous preponderance of proletarian children live
in such contaminating surroundings. A principal cause of
youthful criminality is to be found in the direct influence of
poverty, i.e. poverty operating otherwise than through the
education and environment. However well educated a child
Criminality in Youth 219
may have been, it must steal when starving and freezing.
Poverty forces children to adopt a course of action which may
enable them to satisfy their immediate and most pressing needs.
About half of the girls who go wrong become prostitutes;
about half of the boys in similar case become thieves.
The study of the child-psyche throws light upon the age
at which children are especially liable to commit punishable
offences, and upon the character of these. The character of
the punishable offences committed by children is a natural
consequence of the child-nature, whose especial characteristics
are impulsiveness and acquisitiveness. It is chiefly on this
account that among the punishable offences committed by
children, theft is the most frequent, and next to this comes
bodily injury. Punishable offences requiring strength, adroit-
ness, or deliberation can hardly be undertaken by children.
Sexual offences are committed by those children only in
whom the sexual life is already awakening. Grievous bodily
harm is effected only by those whose bodily strength is fully
developed. Complicated criminal offences can be undertaken
by children only when they possess special experience and
training. Younger children commit fewer punishable offences
than older ones, and different offences, their capacity being
less, and their opportunities more limited. The suggestive
influence of the adult criminal is very great ; he exploits the
youthful criminal, and by threats and chastisement forces him
into criminal courses. During the nineteenth century, the
number of criminals, of recidivists, of punishable offences, and
the gravity of these latter, has increased to a greater extent
than the population. The number of offences against public
order, and of crimes against the person, has indeed diminished,
but the number of crimes against property, and of offences
against morality, has disproportionately increased. The number
of the most serious crimes is smaller, but the number of
relapses into crime has greatly increased.
During the nineteenth century, the number of juvenile
criminals has also increased. The glitter of the industrial
development of the nineteenth century has to be paid for in
large part by the gigantic increase in juvenile criminality.
In all the civilised countries of Europe, with the exception of
220 Elements of Child- Protection
England, there has been an extraordinary increase in the
number of youthful criminals, and in the number of punish-
able offences committed by them, this increase being greater
than the increase in the number of criminals and of criminal
offences in general. In the case of juvenile criminals, there
has also been an increase in the number of habitual offenders,
as well as in the gravity of the punishable offences. Perhaps
the most important difference between the older criminality
and the newer, is that to-day the juvenile criminal and the
habitual offender are more in evidence. Unquestionably these
two phenomena are closely associated, for the great majority
of professional criminals are persons whose first criminal
offence was committed during childhood or youth. At the
present day, in all the civilised countries of Europe, about
25 per cent, of all punishable offences are committed by
young persons.
The following are some of the causes of the increase in
juvenile criminality. The character of many of the offences
customary in former days — for instance, robbery in the streets
and highways by footpads and highwaymen — was such as to
render it impossible for children to undertake them. Great
towns, in whose streets and suburbs children could wander
about, and in which it is comparatively easy for them to
commit punishable offences, did not exist. Moreover, children
begin to work for a living at an earlier age than in former
times. The application of draconian laws, under which even
little children suffered corporal and capital punishment, exer-
cised a deterrent influence. Since the end of the eighteenth
century punishments have become much milder. A large
proportion of criminal offences are to-day more lucrative,
easier to carry out, and less risky than in former times.
Youthful criminality is probably far more extensive than the
official records show, for these latter take no account of petty
offences. Many punishable offences never become known
outside the limits of the family. In view of the offenders'
youth, reports are often suppressed.
The Classical Criminal Law. — It is characteristic of the
classical criminal law that criminal offences committed by chil-
dren were either left unpunished, or, if punished, were punished
Criminality m Youth 221
less severely than the offences of adults. In the classical
crimmal law several age-classes were distinguished among
juvenile criminals, (a) Children too young to understand
that an ojfence is punishable, and for this reason liable neither
to prosecution nor to punishment. In existing legislative
systems, the age at which criminal responsibility is supposed
to begin varies greatly; it may be as low as seven, and as
high as fifteen years. (&) The second class consists of those
children of an age at which criminal responsibility is supposed
to have begun. If such a child commits a punishable offence,
it is examined as to whether it possesses the necessary under-
standing of the punishable nature of the offence. If it is
considered not to possess this understanding, no punishment
is inflicted. The punishment is, in any case, less severe than
that which would be inflicted upon an adult. To this class
belong children at ages from seven to eighteen years, (c)
The third age-class consists of offenders over eighteen years
of age, who are regarded as necessarily possessed of an under-
standing of the punishable character of their offence, but in
whom also the punishment is less severe than it would be if
they were of full age.
Gradual Transformation of the Classical Criminal Laic — In
the nineteenth century the provisions of the classical criminal
law no longer meet the case of juvenile criminality. Their
inefficiency is demonstrated by the enormous proportion of
recidivists among juvenile offenders. The number of recidivists
continually increases, and criminality tends more and more to
be the work of habitual offenders. Indeed, the criminal, in
most cases, continues to repeat the very offence for which he
was first punished. This is especially true of offences against
property. The oftener anyone has been punished, the greater
is the probability that he will commit another offence, and the
sooner is this likely to take place. In reality the frequency
of recidivism is even greater than appears from the official
statistics. These relate to those persons only who are regarded
as recidivists by the existing laws. They take no account of
how many individuals leave the country after their first con-
vicion for a criminal offence.
An examination of these facts, and the study of the child-
22 2 Elements of Child-Protection
mind, have led to the conchision that criminaHty in youth is
the main som-ce of the general stream of criminality, and that
we cannot depend upon our present methods of dealing with
crime and criminals to dry up this source. Hence even the
dogmatists are coming more and more to admit the failures of
the classical criminal law, and to recommend that mere puni-
tive methods should give place to the educative treatment of
criminal offenders, punishment being used, if at all, only as an
educative influence. Even in those countries which lag behind
the rest in development, this conception begins to influence
legislation. This conviction that youthful offenders require not
punishment, but education, was acquired by mankind many
decades before it was generally realised that it is equally
true of adult criminals — that they should not be punished,
but improved, or, if unimprovable, rendered harmless. It is
understood that those punishments only can be justified which
exercise a lasting educative influence, by removing the child
from its former environment into a better and healthier one.
It is recognised that the difference between punishment and
education is not absolute, but relative merely, inasmuch as
education cannot dispense entirely with punitive methods, and
punishment, properly utilised, exercises an educative influence.
It is also now understood that by the proper legal treatment
of youthful criminal offenders, many thousands of children can
be saved every year from the permanent adoption of a career
of crime, and their working powers thus preserved for the com-
munity. This was seen first of all, where it more especially
applies, in the case of manufacturing towns. For the reforma-
tion of criminal and neglected youth by educational methods,
the first steps were taken, and taken most effectively, by the
country in which the modern manufacturing system first made
its appearance — England, to wit. At the present day it is the
great manufacturing countries, England, Belgium, France, and
the United States of America, in which most is done in this
regard.
Special Legislation Dealing with Youthful Criminals. — It is
to that portion of the newer criminal law which concerns
youthful criminals that the dogmatists object most strongly.
They complain that it endangers very seriously personal liberty
Criminality in Youth 223
and parental authority. There are many who argue to-day
against coercive reformatory education, on the ground that
personal freedom and parental authority should be inviolable.
We even find some who attack modern ideas from the stand-
point of various legal theories. Such persons tell us that
coercive reformatory education interferes more than punish-
ment with the child's individual liberty, and that it absolutely
ignores parental authority. The criminal authorities have
absolutely no right, in their view, to supervise a child's
education, but merely to punish it or to set it at liberty.
But this portion of modern criminal jurisprudence does not
aim merely at the suppression of juvenile criminality. It
is likewise an experimental laboratory, as it were, for the
testing of new institutions, the success or failure of which
is eagerly awaited by criminal jurists. If any institution
thus tested proves successful, its application is immediately
extended to other portions of the criminal law. In the United
States of America, for example, the method which has been
found successful in the case of juvenile offenders is now being
applied in the case also of young adult criminals.
Proposals Bearing on the Question of Criminal Responsibility
at Different Ages. — («) A radical proposal for reform is that the
distinction between juvenile and adult criminals should be
abolished, and that, instead, criminals should be classified
simply as educable or non-educable. This proposal is imprac-
ticable. In consequence of the application of the principles of
individualisation and classification, the distinctions between the
various age-classes of criminals become, indeed, of less and less
importance. There may even be a little truth in the assertion
that in a large country, owing to racial and climatic differences,
no uniform classification of offenders according to ages can be
adopted. And yet the definition of age-limits in the case of
criminal offenders is indispensable. In a few cases such dis-
tinction may render the appropriate treatment of offenders
more difficult, but in the great majority of instances they
facilitate the work of judges and magistrates, and afford a
means of individualisation.
(J)) Liability to punishment is almost universally regarded
as beginning, at the earliest, at the age of fourteen. This is
224 Elements of Child- Protection
the period of the commencement of the puberal development,
of the cessation of school attendance, when the child passes
from the life of the family and the school to a life in the open,
and becomes competent to work for a living.
(c) Many writers demand that the period of nonage, as far
as criminal responsibility is concerned, should be extended.
They do so on these grounds. The physical development of
the individual is not completed till the age of twenty-three or
thereabouts. It is inconsistent that one who is still a minor
from the point of view of civil law should be regarded as of
full age from the point of view of criminal law. Civil law
is an affair merely for the owning and well-to-do classes;
criminal law arises mainly in consequence of poverty. Hence
we may say that in general civil law is created for the former
class, and criminal law for the latter. There is certainly at
any rate an appearance of class-justice in the assertion that
those belonging to the poorer classes at eighteen are mature
enough to be sent to jail, whilst those belonging to the well-
to-do classes are incompetent to make a binding legal engage-
ment to pay half-a-sovereign until they are twenty-one or
twenty-four years of age. But the proposal is impracticable.
Its adoption would undoubtedly involve grave dangers to
public order, since the age-class of persons from eighteen to
twenty-one is characterised by a high and a serious criminality-
rate. The result of educative measures in the case of young
criminals of such an age is not a very great one, for the
formation of the character is by this time far advanced. To
extend the age for a coercive reformatory education to include
the last years of civil minority would be devoid of any justifi-
cation upon accepted legal principles. There is no reason why
the period of criminal nonage should coincide with the civil.
In the first place, a much higher degree of intellectual capacity
is requisite to the understanding of a transaction in civil law
than to the understanding of the punishable character of an
offence. In the second place, a punishable offence is also an
offence against public order, but matters of civil law usually
concern individuals only. In the third place, as regards the capa-
city also for infringements of the civil law, narrower limits are
imposed than in the case of the capacity to enter into a bargain.
Criminality in Youth 225
The Defects of our Present Penal Methods. — The pimisliments
imposed by our present penal system are quite unmeaning.
Not only do they exercise no educative influence, but they
even hinder education. In the case of children they are not
deterrent, first, because children act on impulse, and, secondly,
because they have no accurate conception of the nature of
these punishments. To many children imprisonment seems
the same sort of thing as being " kept in " at school, and they
quite fail to recognise its seriousness. Punishment by fine is
supposed to make the offender suffer in proportion to the
suffering he has mflicted by his offence. But how can the
judge or magistrate, above all where children are concerned,
accurately estimate the fine necessary to achieve this result ?
The difficulties of rightly apportioning the punishment are
equally formidable in the matter of imprisonment as in the
matter of fine.
(a) In the punishment of juvenile offenders, in modern
times, the fine is really altogether inapplicable. Ninety per
cent, of juvenile offenders are altogether without means.
What does a fine matter to one for whom it is paid by
another ? Young people, as a rule, do not yet understand
the value of money. If the offender is a person of property,
then he has no occasion to dread a fine ; or even if the fine
were proportionate to his means, the juvenile offender would
not understand its significance until after he had attamed
his majority. But we cannot depend upon the efficacy of
a punishment which does not become effective as punish-
ment until after the lapse of years. If the juvenile offender
has to pay the fine out of his wages, he loses all desire for
work. The majority of youthful offenders belong to the
poorer classes, and are not in a position to pay the fine them-
selves. The parents will give their child a lecture if they
have to pay the fine, but this will by no means attain the
object of the punishment. Moreover, if the relatives pay the
fine, they arc unjustly punished, and may revenge themselves
on the child.
{h) Punishment by imprisonment costs the State millions
of money every year, and yet does no good. It is not pos-
sible, everywhere and always, to separate the young prisoners
p
2 26 Elements of Child-Protection
from the adults, although it is absolutely essential that
this should be done, A society, such as that of the
prison, in which the worst are the most respected, and in
which the innocent are despised and corrupted, is not suit-
able for young persons. If the juvenile offender is kept
in isolation, his mental health will suffer; moreover, his
loneliness impels him to seek the society of the other
prisoners, and the greatest possible care will not succeed
in preventing such association. It is maintained by some
that imprisonment exercises a deterrent influence upon
children, and that a coercive reformatory education does
not. But the reverse of this is true. Not even the longest
term of imprisonment which ^can be inflicted for juvenile
crime will be found to exercise a deterrent influence ; and it
is the custom of the courts, in the case of juvenile offenders,
to inflict, not the maximum, but the minimum sentence per-
missible by the law. The child is not afraid of the prison,
because it is better treated there than outside ; in prison it
receives shelter, food, clothing, and warmth without having
to pay anything, without having to work hard, and without
being ill-treated. But the child is afraid of a coercive re-
formatory education : in prison the child is apathetic, its life
being meaningless and without aim ; but the working dis-
cipline associated with a coercive reformatory education is
regarded by the child as a much more serious matter, being
new and strange, needing continuous attention, constant dili-
gence, and hard work. For many proletarian parents, to
commit their child to prison is an alleviation ; the parents
then have one trouble the less, and the family income goes
a little farther. Imprisonment brands a child. When it
has served its time, employment is often extremely hard to
obtain, for most employers very naturally dread that such
a child will commit another criminal oflence while in their
employ. The child, finding it impossible to earn an honest
living, is forced into the paths of habitual crime. Young people,
much more readily than adults, accustom themselves to new
conditions of life. In view of this fact, there is great danger
that the youthful offender will become altogether indifterent
to imprisonm.ent ; that the punishment will induce a con-
Criminality in Youth 227
dition of immunity to its effects. A child which has been
once in prison is hkely to become a recidivist, if only
for the reason that it will now have lost the dread of
prison which it had in the days before its first offence was
committed. We learn from statistics that the majority
of youthful offenders are sentenced to short terms of im-
prisonment. They regard these with the greatest indiffer-
ence, and are not in the least afraid of them. Such short
terms of imprisonment do not protect society; and the
possibility of their exercising any educative influence is ex-
cluded by the fact that since the term of imprisonment is
short, and the cost of transport considerable, the child will
be confined in the nearest prison, instead of being sent to
some special and suitable place of confinement. Many chil-
dren are even pleased at being sent to prison, regarding their
sentence as a desirable interlude in school work. This diffi-
culty is not met by postponing the term of imprisonment to
the holiday season. The child leaves prison to return to
school. If it is despised by its schoolmates, it sinks lower ;
if it is regarded as a hero, the effect is no less corrupting.
Imprisonment for a child must take no other form than
that of education under strict discipline. If a short term of
imprisonment is ordered, solitary confinement is essential. If
a child must be sent to prison, the use of the common prison
is inadmissible, and a children's wing in a general prison is
hardly better ; a special prison for children is essential, if only
for the reason that, unless we have a comparatively large
number of young persons assembled together, it is more
difficult to arrange for the proper distribution of occupations
(manual work of various kinds).
From these considerations we may draw the following
conclusions; Society stands quietly by, waiting until juvenile
criminals grow up and begin to commit serious offences. Our
prisons are the true high schools of criminality. The present
prison system is the most effective factor in the production of
crime ; to such an extent is this true, that if we discharge
a juvenile offender with a caution, there is less likelihood that
he will coinmit another criminal offence than if we had sent
him to prison. The accuracy of these views is now more and
228 Elements of Child-Protection
more widely recognised ; and in the case of juvenile offenders,
imprisonment, formerly the rule, is now quite exceptional.
The Question of the Capacity for Understanding the Punishable
Character of Criminal Offences. — The notion of the capacity for
understanding the punishable character of criminal offences is
unworkable in practice. It considers the intellectual element
only, whereas in children we have to distinguish between
intellectual maturity and moral. Intellectual maturity is
commonly attained earlier than moral, and intellectual
maturity alone should not render the child liable to punish-
ment. Often a child is mature enough to distinguish what is
allowed from what is forbidden, but is not yet strong enough
to refrain from the latter course. The most striking example
of this is to be found in the case of young proletarians, in
whom, in consequence of their premature contact with the
manifold factors of life, the mental development is often
premature to an astonishing degree, but this intellectual
precocity stands constrasted with conspicuous moral im-
maturity. It is hard to determine what factors have to
be taken into consideration in deciding whether a child has
attained intellectual and moral maturity. It is essential
to examine — {a) whether the child has an accurate conception
of the nature of punishment; {I) whether it understands
what legal principle is infringed or threatened by its act;
(c) whether it possesses such a degree of moral maturity that,
through possession of the conception alluded to in section (a),
and of the understanding alluded to in section (&), it was
competent to refrain from the criminal offence.
In the case of almost all punishable offences another
solution of this |)roblem is possible. The more serious the
punishable offence, the earlier the age at which a child is
competent to understand its character. But, in many cases,
it is an obvious inference that a child which from absurd
motives has committed so serious an offence cannot possibly
possess the requisite moral maturity. Moreover, the three
factors we have mentioned cannot be accurately defined. In
maturity there are many degrees and stages, passing im-
perceptibly one into another, and exceedingly difficult to
differentiate. The decision of this question will therefore be
Criminality in Youth 229
the work of experts, who will have to keep the child under
observation for months. It follows that a decision as to
criminal responsibility based upon an understanding of the
punishable nature of an offence is, of necessity, and in every
case, uncertain and unequal.
To-day, in legal proceedings where juvenile offenders are
concerned, remarkable incidents occur. For example, the
judge or magistrate asks the child to repeat the ten command-
ments and the catechism. If the child can do this, it is
supposed to possess the requisite understanding. It is left
quite out of consideration that the child has probably learned
the commandments by rote, without understanding them in
the least. Or, again, the judge makes the child describe the
act it has committed, and then asks, " Do you know that such
acts are punishable ? " But in the proceedings in court the
child has been made well aware of the fact that it has com-
mitted a punishable offence, and yet it may not have known
this at the time the offence was committed. In the case
of the offences with which the enormous majority of juvenile
offenders are charged, namely, theft, fraud, and bodily injury,
a knowledge of the punishable character of these offences is
apt habitually to be assumed by the courts. This assumption
is justified, but it suffices to show the impracticabihty of the
conception.
The School. — The proposal has been made that when petty
offences are committed by children of school age, the school
should deal with the matter; and that only when a
more serious offence has been committed should the case
go before the law-courts. In proportion to the seriousness
of the case, the punishment should be apportioned by the
class-master, by the head-master and class-master together,
or by the united teaching faculty. The suggested punish-
ments arc — a reprimand, task-work,* sitting on the punishment
form, being kept in after school hours, corporal punishment,
&c. Investigation by other authorities is not to be regarded as
superfluous, but in minor cases it will suffice to leave the
whole matter in the hands of the school authorities. The
following reasons are given for this proposal. In the case
of petty offences, the tedious and laborious intervention of
230 Elements of Child- Protection
the criminal authority is quite uncalled for. It may even
be said that we misuse and make light of the criminal
authority, when we invoke the aid of this gigantic apparatus,
and as a result of this the child is discharged with a hardly
perceptible punishment. If the State undertakes to deal
with all petty offences, it is left no time for the proper con-
sideration of the graver and more important ones. The aim
in view can be attained by less expensive and less elaborate
means.
These considerations notwithstanding, this proposal can
be approved only to this extent, that in the case of
juvenile offences which do not render necessary a coercive
reformatory education, it will suffice that the child should
be punished by its parents or by the school authorities.
The, Reprimand. — Some contend that it is in many cases
sufficient for the court to administer a suitable reprimand.
But, owing to the peculiarities of the child-psyche, the
influence of the reprimand is extremely fugitive. A child
so readily forgets. It has not as yet any accurate conception
of honour, and completely fails to understand that it is dis-
honoured by the reprimand. As in the case of any other punish-
ment, the reprimand can as a rule only be administered after
the offence has been proved, and the offender sentenced ;
hence, there is so long an interval between the act and its
punishment, that the reprimand becomes quite ineffective,
and is in fact no more than an empty formality. Moreover,
there are objections on principle against utilising the repri-
mand as a method of punishment, so that its use is possible
only in exceptional cases.
Flogging. — Many persons consider that in the case of
certain offences, especially such as betray the existence of a
rough disposition, a flogging is the best punishment. But
the fact that England, which holds the leadership in the
movement for child-protection, continues to employ flogging
as a punishment, and the fact that Denmark introduced
flogging as a punishment only a few years ago (since then,
however, abolished), prove nothing. For the reasons given
in an earlier chapter, flogging must be regarded as an exces-
sively noxious method of punishment, and must not even
Criminality in Youth 231
be employed as a disciplinary measure in reformatory schools
and prisons.
The Conditioixal Sentence. — The nature of the conditional
sentence, is that, conviction having been eiBfected, the sentence
is passed, but does not take effect, unless the offender commits
another punishable offence ; should he fail to do this, he is,
by many legal codes, still classed as a non-punished person.
The conditional sentence is distinguished from a conditional
pardon by the fact that in the case of the latter the punish-
ment is disallowed, not by the court, but in virtue of the right
of pardon vested in the higher authority of the government.
The conditional sentence is of dubious value in the case of
juvenile offenders, because young persons very readily forget ;
and in the event of their committing a second offence, they
now incur a double punishment. Considerations of jurispru-
dence compel us to regard the conditional pardon also as
a measure of dubious value.
In the United States of America probation is employed.
This is a postponement of the sentence — that is to say, not
a conditional sentence, nor a conditional release from punish-
ment, nor even a postponement of punishment. In this way
it is hoped that condemnation and punishment of the child
will be altogether avoided. The court, at its free discretion,
can commit the child to a reformatory without having
first passed sentence. If the child does not mend its ways,
it is brought up for judgment, and sentence is passed. The
system is an unmistakable improvement upon the unconditional
sentence. But the conditional sentence can be imposed upon
such terms that it is associated with a protective supervision,
and that the conditionally-remitted punishment will be re-
imposed, not only in the event of the commission of a fresh
criminal offence, but also in the event of creneral misconduct.
The European system of conditional remission of punish-
ment consists in a conditional release of the prisoner after
he has served a portion of his sentence. If he makes a good
use of his freedom, the remainder of his punishment is entirely
remitted, but if he misconducts himself he must return to
prison and serve out his term. Kelease on parole in the
United States of America is distinguished from this system
232 Elements of Child- Protection
by the fact that in the former case, after its release, the child
remains subject to educative supervision; and it is distinguished
from probation by the fact that in the case of probation a por-
tion of the punishment, or of the reformatory education, as the
case may be, has already been undergone.
Probation and release on parole are preferable to the
European system ; for from this last, since it is not associated
with any serious attempt at educative supervision, no particular
good can be expected. It is eminently desirable that the
criminal legislation of every civilised State should adopt these
systems of probation and parole, with whatever modifications
may be found necessary in individual countries; and the
tendency of evolution is unmistakably in this direction. In
the majority of the States of the American Union, the pro-
bationary system is in force, and in many of these States it
is applicable even in the case of adults. In most of those
States in which it is in force, it is associated with the system
of Children's Courts ; but in a few these Courts are as yet
unknown.
The Indeterminate Sentence. — In Europe, in view of the
sacred character of individual liberty, it is the general opinion
that the law courts should have no power to sentence an
offender to imprisonment for anything but a definitely fixed
term. But this system is in direct contradiction with the
object of the punishment. The criminal is to be regarded
as an abnormal, diseased individual, whose punishment must
last until he is cured. He must for the most part be treated
as we treat one suffering from mental disorder, who is com-
mitted to an asylum for an indeterminate period. The work
undertaken by the State in respect of the majority of criminals
is to effect their physical and moral cure. It is therefore
absurd on the face of the matter to specify beforehand a
precise period within which the cure must be completed. It is
quite impossible for the judge, when passing sentence, to deter-
mine how long it will take to attain the desired end. When
and if that end is attained can be determined only by those
to whom is entrusted the administration of the punishment —
persons continuously, and for a long period, associated with
the prisoner. The duration of the punishment must depend.
Criminality in Youth 233
not upon the offender's conduct at the time the offence was
committed, but upon his conduct after he has been sentenced.
When an offender is serving out a fixed sentence, the only
thing that interests him is how much of the period he has got
through, and how much still remains before him. But when
the sentence is indeterminate, it will be his whole-hearted
endeavour to conduct himself in such a way, to effect such an
improvement, as to obtain his release.
At the present day, there is no country in which sentences
are altogether indeterminate. Even in the United States of
America, where the indeterminate sentence prevails, a maximum
term is specified for the prisoner's detention. The greater
this maximum, the more powerful will be the effect of the
indeterminate sentence. The younger the prisoner, the more
powerful also will be the effect of the indeterminate sentence,
for the younger the prisoner, the more has he to expect from
life. In America the experience of the working of the in-
determinate sentence has been so satisfactory, that there is
a general desire that the specified maximum sentence should
be completely abolished. But as yet the efforts in this direc-
tion have been unsuccessful.
In the case of juvenile offenders, the arguments in favour
of the indeterminate sentence are even more powerful than in
the case of adults. The aim of imprisonment is to exercise
an educative influence upon the child, and it is impossible
to determine beforehand how long a time will be required to
complete the necessary education. The indispensable founda-
tion of every sound penal system for juvenile criminals is the
institution of the indeterminate sentence. We find, in fact,
that in the United States of America the reformatory system
is inseparably associated with the indeterminate sentence ; and
in many European countries, when a child is sent to a
reformatory, no definite term is specified beforehand.
Should Punishment he Rendered more Severe. — The classical
legal system is defective. But to many it appears that its
present failures depend upon the excessive mitigation of punish-
ment ; such persons contend that we can expect a diminution
of crime only if Ave render punishments more severe. Many
even demand the reintroduction of corporal punishment.
234 Elements of Child-Protection
More severe sentences are indispensable in the case of the
habitual criminal; but in the case of occasional criminals and
j uvenile criminals, no good results are to be expected from any
such measure.
The Coercive, Reforviatory Education of Youthful Criminals. —
The coercive reformatory education of youthful criminals has
in essentials the same character as the compulsory education
enforced by the ordinary processes of the civil law. Its central
idea is the following. The child which for one reason or
another stands in need of a coercive reformatory education,
whether that need is manifested by the commission of some
punishable offence or in any other way, and whether the need
arises in consequence of neglect on the part of the child's
parents or in consequence of that of some other person or
persons, must receive the education it needs. The child that
requires a coercive reformatory education because it has com-
mitted a punishable offence does not differ in any important
respects from a child which has not committed any such
offence, but is in a state of neglect. The latter child also
should be subjected to a coercive reformatory education; on
no account should we wait until it has committed a punishable
offence, and has in this way manifested its neglected state in
a manner that cannot be overlooked. Besides, neglected
children and juvenile criminals belong to the same class of
society, and in the case of both the need for a coercive
reformatory education arises out of like conditions. Thus,
the question of the coercive reformatory education of juvenile
criminals is not one appertaining merely to the province of
criminal law, but, in conjunction with the question of the
coercive reformatory education of neglected children, it is also
a matter of civil law and local administrative activity. The
care of youthful criminals is, in the first place, a matter for
the local authorities that are responsible for the care of
neglected children — that is to say, for the Boards of Guardian-
ship [see note to page 74], and for the Poor Law Boards.
The education of juvenile criminals differs but little from
the education of the children cared for by the Poor Law
authorities ; and thus the question arises whether the care
of juvenile criminals necessitates the existence of ad hoc
Crimmality in Youth 235
boards to administer this special department of tlae criminal
law.
Since the middle of the seventeenth century, it has been
the tendency to send troublesome juveniles to institutions ;
and at the outset they were sent to poorhouses and work-
houses to mingle with adult vagabonds and prostitutes. Not
until towards the end of the eighteenth century did people begin
to recognise that it was essential to separate heterogeneous
elements. But even at the present day, in many countries,
reformatories are so far from being worthy of their name that,
like prisons, they are schools of corruption. Many reformatories
have still the aspect and the organisation of barracks. In such
places the children are subjected to a rigid discipline. They
are managed very strictly, and yet the children are in some
respects better off than free workers of the same age; they
are compelled to be diligent, clean, and healthy. But their
life is not truly living. The children receive instruction, but
no real education. They work, but acquire no love for work.
When they are discharged from the reformatory they are even
less inclined to work than they were when they entered the
institution; they are further corrupted, they renew outside
the unwholesome friendships they have contracted within the
walls, and commonly carry out, after they leave, the crimes
they have learned and planned during their stay at the
" reformatory."
In real advances in reformatory methods, England and
the United States of America have led the way. But in the
case of the former country, true progress in this respect dates
only from the latter half of the nineteenth century ; and in the
case of the latter country, only from the year 1870. In other
countries, even to-day, sound ideas have found in this matter
but little application. This slow progress probably depends
upon the difficulty of getting rid of the influence of the older
legal theories, and upon the difficulty of assimilating the idea
that a reformatory must be something totally different from a
prison.
Institutional Education versus Family Education. — Which is
preferable, institutional education or family education ? There
is much to be said on both sides of this question. Unques-
236 Elements of Chi/d- Protection
tionably, in the case of juvenile criminals and neglected chil-
dren the advantages of family care are less conspicuous than
they are in the case of abandoned children. The accumu-
lation, under one roof, of children of the former categories in-
volves the close approximation of numerous injurious germs,
which would less readily develop if they were dispersed.
Moreover, for such children it is even harder to find suit-
able foster-parents than it is for those who are simply aban-
doned. Few are willing to undertake the difficult task of
bringing up such children, and fewer foster-parents still are
in a position to give them a suitable upbringing. The strict
handling they require is much easier to enforce in an insti-
tution or a colony than in an ordinary family. There is
often good reason to be afraid that the juvenile criminal
or neglected child, if boarded with a family, will corrupt the
younger members of that family.
The problem must therefore be solved on the following
lines : In every case there should be a thorough medical
examination of the child, and a careful study of its educa-
tional acquirements and capacities, and upon the results of
this examination should be based the decision whether this
particular child can best be dealt with in an institution or
in a family. In making our decision we should never lose
sight of the principle that, except in the case of the really bad
children, the advantages of a family education should as
far as possible be given. Only in the case of children with
obstinate and unconquerable criminal tendencies is continuous
institutional care essential; for abnormal children, prolonged
curative educational treatment is requisite, as far as possible,
in institutions or colonies founded especially for this purpose.
The educational institution should be a place in which the
pupils undergo a thorough bodily and mental cleansing pro-
cess. When this has been efi^ected, as soon as we have a
right to assume that the child could be received as an inmate
by an ordinary family without endangering the other children,
then the sooner the child is removed from the unnatural life
of the institution to the natural life of the family, the better
will be its chances for the future. A reformatory institution
which is to attain its ends must have characteristics resembling
Criminality in Youth 237
those of a modern foundling hospital. It must be a place
at which those children who, for one reason or another, have
to leave their foster-parents, can be received and cared for
while another suitable home is being found for them ; it must
be the centre of supervision of the children placed in family
care. It is true that at a reformatory a child is deprived
of personal liberty and remains in the institution under com-
pulsion, but the aim of the reformatory is very different from
that of the prison. The reformatory should resemble, not a
barrack, but a family — that is to say, the barrack system
(collective system) must find no place in the reformatory.
The institutional life must be as free as possible, and the
child must be treated as a member of a family.
Individual treatment and classification of the children
are of great importance. Special institutions are requisite
for older children and younger children, for those who are
more and those who are less corrupt, for those who need mild
and for those who need strict treatment. In accordance with
this classification, the children must be distributed in the
various separate institutions. Unimprovable children should
not be received at all, for not only can we do them no good,
but their presence is harmful to the other children. It is
also necessary that there should be special institutions for
observation purposes, to enable us to decide which of the
other institutions is best adapted for the treatment of indi-
vidual cases. When they first enter the observational institu-
tion, children should be isolated for a while, until they can be
sent to an appropriate section. In former times, grave mis-
takes were made in this matter of individualisation. Routine
treatment and equality of punishment for all similar offences
were justified with reference to the principle of equality before
the law. Even to-day, children still at times are thrust into
contact with the most dangerous elements, and even with the
refuse of human society, although this happens much less
often in reformatory institutions than in police cells, local
prisons, or workhouses. But in general, and especially in
England, France, and the United States of America, great
stress is now laid upon proper individualisation. In Eng-
land, above all, do we find the attempt made to secure that
238 Elements of Child- Protection
all the younger children should be sent to industrial schools,
and all the older children to reformatory institutions.
The aim of the reformatory is to improve the child. This
is equivalent to an endeavour to produce in the child an
independent spirit, and a capacity to provide for itself in a
free life. This can be done only by leaving the child a cer-
tain amount of freedom, by cultivating its self-respect, and
by doing all in our power to put it upon its mettle. He
only will be able to make his living who possesses some
definite capacity and is willing to work. For this reason,
the institution must take every care, not merely to accus-
tom the child to work in general, but also to render it com-
petent in some particular handicraft. Hence the child's
occupation in the institution must not be either useless or
depressing in character, nor must it be of such a kind as
only an adult can do properly ; it must be one suited to the
powers and capacities of the child. In the older institutions,
which were badly conducted, the pupils were engaged in use-
less and mind-destroying occupations. Owing to the fact
that these institutions were inadequately supplied with funds,
the work done was chosen, not because it was of any value
to the inmates, but simply because it could provide a con-
tribution to the expenses of maintenance. Unfortunately,
even at the present day, on the ground that it is withm the
rights of the State that a part of the expenditure upon the
inmates should be provided by the utilisation of their labour-
power, far too much stress is laid upon attempts to make such
institutions " self-supporting."
The school instruction in reformatories should, in general,
resemble that which is given by the State to normal children
outside. The main points are, to provide a suitable elemen-
tary education, and to devote a great deal of attention to the
care of the body. The most difficult class to deal with m
reformatories is that of the habitual vagrants.
Testing Reform. — How can the improvement we hope to
effect in the reformatory best be tested, and how can we best
prepare for the transition into a free life ? In view of the
fact that these problems have been most completely solved in
the United States of America, it will suffice here to describe
Criminality in Youth 239
the systems in vogue in that country. The indispensable
preliminary to a successful reformatory education is the
indeterminate sentence. The child will not leave the re-
formatory (presuming that the stipulated maximum term
has not been attained) to assume the full responsibilities of
freedom, until it has satisfactorily responded to the test of a
probationary freedom. When it first enters the reformatory
the child is apathetic. But before long it becomes aware of
the significance of the indeterminate sentence; it perceives
that it will not obtain its discharge until it has improved ;
and this induces a condition of nervous, yet salutary, tension
and disquiet. The indeterminate sentence thus exercises
upon the child a powerful influence, laying its fate to some
extent in its own hands, making hope in place of fear the
most effective element of its thought, and awakening the
desire to effect improvement by means of its own efforts.
We must not overlook the possibility that those who may
secure their discharge before they have served the maximum
term of their sentence may not necessarily be those who have
truly and completely reformed, but those who possess the
greatest power of adaptation to the conditions necessary to
secure their release.
A system which in various forms constitutes an almost
universal feature in the conduct of American reformatories is
known as the " mark system," or " merit system." The
nature of this system is that every inmate is able, by
earning a certain number of good marks, allotted on account
of general good behaviour, and of progress in the school and
the workshop respectively, to earn his release upon probation.
The numerical formalism of this system is counteracted by an
individual consideration and treatment of the pupils.
In the reformatory, we may endeavour to effect an improve-
ment, and may hope that we have done so ; but it is impossible
to be certain that this end has been attained. While the
child remains in the institution, no one can tell if it has
acquired the power of overcoming the difficulties of the life
of freedom. It is the period immediately following the dis-
charge from the reformatory which is the most dangerous to
the child. It is upon this period, above all, that it doj)ends
240 Elements of Child- Protection
whether the child will be successful in gaining a proper place
in society. For this reason, it is of fundamental importance
to find work for all those who are discharged from a reforma-
tory ; indeed, they should only leave the reformatory to enter
an assured position. Every care must be taken, in seeking
employment for those about to be discharged, that we are not
increasing the general difficulty in obtaining work by over-
stocking the labour market. In the reformatories of the
United States, the difficulties of the transition period are met
by releasing the inmates on probation only, for a time during
which they are not only supported, but carefully supervised.
In the criminal law of European countries, the period of
punishment is at an end when the specified term of sentence
has expired. No such determinate sentence exists in the
case of American reformatories, for the maximum term of
sentence usually extends far beyond the end of the period
of probationary release. What is requisite is, that the
definitive discharge from supervision and control should only
take place when the conduct during the term of probationary
release has been satisfactory, and when the duties imposed have
been faithfully performed. The child released on probation
must behave well, work diligently, and punctually and at
regular intervals report itself at the reformatory. Until the
end of the probationary period, it remains under the super-
vision and care of the institution ; the conditional release may
at any time be revoked ; and the final discharge is not effected
until the child has given satisfactory proof of its fitness for a
free life. The child released on probation generally behaves
very well, for it fully understands that any misconduct would
entail serious consequences, that it would lose in a moment all
that it has hitherto gained, that it would have to return to
the institution, and begin once more at the beginning the
struggle to secure its freedom.
Some of the reformatory schools of America are governed
as child republics, known as "Junior Kepublics." In these
the children exercise self-government after the example of the
Great Republic itself, and the executive of the institution
merely exercises a kind of supervision. The greatest possible
weight is thus given to the educative influence of personal
Criminality in Youth 241
responsibility. Above all, the trial and punishment of offences
against the discipline of the reformatory, by courts constituted
by the inmates, works exceedingly well, because the comrades
know one another better than anyone else can. The reforma-
tory system of the United States of America meets with very
general approval. In Europe, indeed, it is said that the
system is too expensive, and that the inmates are treated
too well. The view we shall take upon this matter will
depend upon our general opinion as to how a reformatory
should be organised and carried on. In the United States of
America, intercourse between man and man is free and unre-
strained, and the standard of life is higher than in Europe.
Only the improvable children are so well treated ; the habitual
offenders, on the contrary, are subjected to a draconian
regime. It is true that in Europe the cost per child is
less, but in view of the meagre results obtained on this side of
the Atlantic, the saving is apparent merely.
The defects of the American system are the following.
As soon as a new political party gains a majority, and a new
government therefore comes into power, much of the official
staff, including that of the reformatories, is changed. Hence,
the greater part of the staff does not consist of persons who
have devoted their life to the improvement of children,
but is composed mainly of persons without proper profes-
sional training. But it is well known that the staff of our
European reformatories also lacks proper professional training
in respect of the hygiene and psychology of child life.
Tht Radical Solution of the Froblem. — We cannot protest
with too much energy against the idea that we can deal
effectively with juvenile criminality by means of a few new
paragraphs in our criminal codes, and of a few new societies
with patronage to distribute. We must not regard neglected
childhood and juvenile criminality as isolated phenomena, but
must consider them in association with the economic, moral,
and intellectual neglect of the proletariat, from which juvenile
criminality springs. These proletarian conditions form the
starting-point for our knowledge of neglect in childhood and
of juvenile crime, and hence for our knowledge of the means
we should adopt in dealing with these. The evils have to be
Q
242 Elements of Child- Protection
averted, not from youth only, but also from the proletariat.
Political care, which is directed towards the saving, in the
narrower sense, of neglected and criminal youth, is inadequate ;
what is required is a general scheme of social and political
reconstruction whereby the true sources of juvenile criminality
will be dried up.
The best policy of criminal reform is the social policy
which will provide a sufficiency of the necessaries of life for
every one willing to work for them, and which will put an end
to the flagrant class contrasts of our time. Such a policy
would involve the destruction of capitalism. I repeat that
this does not involve any changes in our policy of child-
protection in the narrower sense, but simply indicates the
general lines on which alone advance can be obtained. The
best means for the prevention of crime is not punishment,
but removal of the causes of crime. Juvenile criminality will
not completely disappear until its causes have been completely
removed — that is to say, it will not disappear until capitalism
no longer exists, and until there is no longer a proletariat.
CHAPTER II
PENAL METHODS
Conditions of To-day. — In all departments of modern legal
systems the principle gains general acceptance that persons
under age require to be treated differently from adults. The
actual legal regulations respecting young people are different
from those which apply to adults. In civil law, the minor
cannot appear independently either as plaintiff or as defendant.
But criminal law, on the other hand, notwithstanding the fact
that it is far more complex than civil law, and notwithstanding
the fact that the interests of minors affected by criminal law
are far more important than those affected by civil law, places
minors on the same footing, or on a similar footing, with adults.
This is extremely disadvantageous to those under age.
In the case of juvenile offenders, imprisonment while
awaiting trial involves the greatest dangers, for its effects may
be as disastrous as those of imprisonment after sentence. The
trial also involves very serious dangers. In the corridors and
waiting-rooms of the law-court, the juvenile offender is kept
awaiting the hearing of his case. He sees there many things
new to him. He hears the conversation of the witnesses and
of the other accused. He receives advice as to his bearing in
the dock. A public trial is not in the least adapted to induce
in the juvenile offender a sense of shame, or to awaken in
him the consciousness that he has taken a wrong path. As
far as he understands the matter, an imposing apparatus is at
work in a fine big room ; the officials of the court do their
work in a cool and businesslike manner, and with an air of
importance. In the court there are a number of persons
drawn to the place by curiosity simply, and among these are
the old associates of the accused, who watch his behaviour
with an eager interest, and regard his youthful misdemeanours
244 Elements of Child- Protection
with indifference, or even with admiration. He feels himself to
be the hero and the central figure of a drama, and this makes
it even more impossible for him to follow the legal proceedings
attentively, and to defend himself in a proper manner. When
the trial is over, the newspapers are full of his case. If he
is set at liberty he immediately becomes the centre of an
admiring circle of his former associates, who listen to his
words with eager attention, and encourage him to relate
again and again, and with many exaggerations, the incidents
of his case.
Proposed Reforms. — Gradually the idea gains ground that
in the case of juvenile offenders the procedure should be
totally different from what it is in the case of adults. The
principal reforms that are proposed are the following.
{a) In the case of juvenile criminals it is indispensable to
do away with personal freedom. The leading principle of
our penal procedure, namely, to safeguard individual liberty,
is out of place in the case of juvenile offenders.
(J) To-day, owing to defective understanding of the
psychology of children, the authorities regard juvenile offences
as extremely serious. It is held that every child that is
brought before the courts is of necessity corrupt. But it is
not by any rigid legal code, but rather by the principles of
expediency, that we should be guided in the case of juvenile
offenders ; that is to say, in the case of petty offences, com-
mitted by young persons, the latter should never be brought
before the law courts at all. The objection that on general
legal principles an even-handed justice is absolutely essential,
is so far sound, that there is undoubtedly a danger lest the
authorities should refrain from initiating proceedings against
the children of persons of influence, whilst letting the law
take its course when the offenders' parents are people of no
importance. But this objection can also be overcome. The
principle of expediency can, in addition, be applied in the
following manner : the prosecuting authority allows a period
of probation to elapse before proceedings are initiated, and if
the youthful offender continues to behave well, the prosecu-
tion is altogether dropped. In the case of juvenile offenders,
legal prosecution is not of much importance. The judge or.
Penal Methods 245
magistrate would need the powers and capabilities of an in-
quisitor, for if he is to decide rightly, he must be acquainted
with every detail regarding the life and the environment of
the juvenile offender.
(c) In the preliminary proceedings it is necessary to study
very thoroughly the family life and social conditions in which
the child has grown up. The most satisfactory way is to
seek the necessary information from the parents or other
persons in authority, or from other adult associates of the
child, as from the guardian, the teacher, the clergyman, or
from servants.
{d) A child awaiting trial should on no account be sent to
prison. If safe custody of the person is essential, some grown
person in whom the court has confidence must be made
responsible for the care of the child.
(e) The prosecuting authority should have the right to
make any proposal which may further the child's interests,
including a proposal to send the accused to a reformatory.
(/) The trial should on no account be a public one. (It
is essential, when criminal proceedings are taken against a
minor, that no other minors should be admitted to court as
idle spectators.) We are concerned, not with the punishment,
but with the education of a child, and the matter is not one
suitable for the fullest publicity. But for the protection of
the child's interests, it is, of course, necessary that the legal
representatives of the accused, and the officials of organisations
for child-protection, should attend the proceedings.
{(j) Juveniles should never be tried by a jury. This pro-
ceeding is too solemn and too elaborate. Moreover, it is not
within the competence of a jury to determine whether the
child possesses the understanding so frequently mentioned as
to the punishable character of the offence. The only reason
for which trial by jury might be advantageous, is that a jury
is more apt than a judge to take a mild view.
(/i) In the first instance, even in the case of graver offences,
the matter should come before an individual judge. When-
ever possible, he should be one experienced in matters of
education and psychology, and one whose specialty it is to
deal with juvenile offenders. The majority of criminal judges
246 Elements of Child- Protection
do not possess to-day the experience and training requisite
to the competent handling of juvenile offenders, inasmuch as
the majority of criminals brought before them are adults. In
every law court there should be one judge whose specialty it is
to deal with juvenile offenders ; in countries in which the law
court is also the Board of Guardianship (see note on p. 74),
juvenile offenders should be brought before the Children's
Judge [Pupilarrichter), who knows the children better than
his professional colleagues. Criminal proceedings against
children tend more and more to assume the form simply of
the choice of the necessary educational measures. Inasmuch
as a coercive reformatory education, when not the outcome
of a criminal prosecution, has, in most cases, been prescribed
by the Board of Guardianship, it would seem as well that the
power to order a coercive reformatory education in the case
also of juvenile criminal offenders should be transferred to
the law court which works under the authority of the Board
of Guardianship.
{i) The prosecuting authority and the law court must keep
in close touch with all the associations devoted to the work of
child -protection, and with the institutions subserving this pur-
pose, and must avail themselves of the counsel and support of
these associations and institutions.
(h) In criminal proceedings against juvenile offenders, de-
fence plays a different part from that which it plays in the
criminal prosecution of adults. It should not be the principal
aim of the defending counsel to secure an acquittal or a diminu-
tion of punishment, but rather to make sure that the juvenile
offender shall receive the treatment best adapted to effect his
reform.
Penal Methods in the United States of America. — It is in the
United States of America that penal methods applicable in the
case of juvenile offenders have obtained their highest develop-
ment. Children's Courts now exist in about thirty of the
States ; the first of these Courts came into existence in the
year 1899. The Children's Court is either a special depart-
ment of an ordinary law court, or else a Children's Court ad
hoc; in either case it deals with all the punishable offences
committed by children, with the exception of very serious
Penal Methods 247
crime. In many of the States of the American Union the
Children's Courts deal not only with neglected children and
truants from school, but also, and very logically, with certain
offences committed by adults; for example, the infliction of
excessive punishment upon children, the ill-treatment of
children, breaches of the laws regulating child-labour, and the
like. In this we see a clear manifestation of the tendency to
make the Children's Court responsible for all legal matters
wherein juveniles are concerned. The Children's Court lays
the greatest possible stress upon giving the accused an oppor-
tunity, after he has received appropriate instruction, to effect
his own amendment without the further intervention of the
Court. But should the o£fence be repeated, a sentence will have
to be passed, and the matter of recidivity will have to be taken
into consideration. The powers of the Court are the widest
possible. It can reprimand the child, punish it, postpone
sentence, send it to a reformatory, determining where and how
the coercive reformatory education shall be effected, can summon
the child before the Court at any time, &c. In many of the
States, individualisation and classification have been carried so
far that the Courts hold special sittings to deal with truancy
from school, the case of neglected children, criminal offences, &c.
The judge of the Children's Court cannot expect to attain
any very valuable results in the absence of a staff of assistants
possessing the necessary training. But these assistants are not
educationalists, nor doctors, nor child-protectors. The right
hand of the Children's Court is the " Probation Officer," who
is appointed by the Court — a thoroughly cultivated person,
generally one trained originally as a teacher, who has re-
ceived theoretical and practical training in a " philanthropical
school." They have no connection with the police, and yet
have some of the powers of police officials. It is their duty to
make all the investigations needed by the Court ; they compile
a record of the personal data of all the children who pass
through their hands ; they furnish reports to the Courts ; help
the children and their parents by word and deed, both during
and after the legal proceedings, in the manner prescribed by the
Courts ; if necessary, they find suitable foster-parents, and keep
under supervision all the children who are placed on probation.
248 Elements of Child- Protection
The introduction into Europe of this American system is, in
the first place, a problem of the organisation of the law courts,
inasmuch as the Children's Court combines the functions of
an ordinary law court with those of a Board of Guardianship.
In the second place, the problem is one of the reform of
criminal law, since the Children's Courts would be of no value
without the power to place children on probation. In such
countries as Hungary, in which the authority exercising
guardianship is not a law court, but a specialised administrative
body, the judge who has to try a child charged with a criminal
offence is not empowered to exercise any of the functions of
a Board of Guardianship. In those countries in Europe in
which it is possible to effect the necessary changes in the
organisation of the law courts, and to secure the necessary
reforms in criminal law, and where suitable judges for the
Children's Courts are available (the personality of these judges
is, of course, a matter of fundamental importance), the intro-
duction of Children's Courts is possible. In Europe the
American example is more and more appreciated and imitated ;
of recent years advances in this direction have been made in
almost every civilised country, not even excepting England,
whose legal development is essentially conservative. In the
application of these ideas we find numerous differences ; in
Germany, for instance, several systems are in vogue. The
general introduction of the Children's Courts into Europe is
certain to ensue, inasmuch as the conditions which have led to
their introduction in America obtain equally in Europe.
CHAPTER III
PROSTITUTION
The Causes of Prostitution. — As in every commercial trans-
action, so also in the women-market, two factors are decisive —
supply and demand. The demand arises from the fact that
to men of the upper classes marriage has become difficult or
impossible. Whereas in the case of the lower classes of the
population, concubinage offers a substitute for marriage, so
that for the men of the lower classes prostitution may be
regarded as superfluous, in the case of men of the upper
classes prostitution is practically the only available substitute
for marriage, so that these men are led to purchase casual
and temporary wives from among the women of the lower
classes. The supply depends upon poverty, which is the
principal cause of prostitution. By this it is not meant to
imply that actual destitution is usually the direct and
immediate cause of the adoption of a life of prostitution. It
is rather that a number of factors, the outcome or the accom-
paniments of poverty, combine to place girls in a position
very favourable to their becoming prostitutes. The environ-
ment in which proletarian children live is an unfavourable
one in the matter of sexual relationships. It is one which
prepares girls for prostitution, and makes them very liable
to adopt this mode of life. They are forced to live in a
single room with the other members of a large family, with
strangers, and even casual night-lodgers — a room in which
they all cook, eat, sleep, and practise sexual intercourse.
The girls even have to share a common bed. Thus there
is no place in their experience for the sentiment of shame.
In addition, proletarian children often form evil associations
at a very early age, and become acquainted in very early
childhood and in the dirtiest possible manner with all the
250 Elements of Child-Protection
circumstances of the sexual life — with the most offensive and
unclean, the most abnormal and morbid excrescences of the
disordered sexual life. Many women would never have sunk
into the slough of prostitution had their upbringing been
a different one. Often enough the pressure of poverty even
leads parents to make money out of the procurement of their
own children.
The great majority of prostitutes are recruited from the
class of young maid -servants. Maid-servants pass their
childhood in country villages. Even to-day, in some countries,
most of them can neither read nor write. They are not only
unintelligent, but thoroughly simple ; naturally they are
easily seduced. In the country circles from which the great
majority of them come, premarital sexual intercourse is hardly
regarded as immoral, and is an almost universal custom.
The girls bring these ideas with them to the town, with
results that are necessarily disastrous. In most cases they
are completely cut off from their parental homes, and lack
the firm support given by a well-ordered family life, are
sent from the country into a strange and incomprehensible
world, and live under one roof with persons belonging to
a social class by whose members they are regarded as being of
inferior birth. They pass their new lives in a circle in which
the demands are far higher than they have been accustomed
to ; imitatively, they soon come to share these demands, but
can satisfy them only by the supplementary earnings of shame.
By the men of the household, most often by their employer
or his sons, they are seduced, and then left to fend for them-
selves. They seldom stay long in one situation; and when
out of employment, especially if they have formed bad
associations, they are exposed to the gravest moral dangers.
Their hours of work are unlimited, and for this reason they
wish to live as intensely as possible during the few and scanty
hours of liberty. Their legal position is a very unfavourable
one, and it is practically impossible for them to organise
themselves in a trade union. They form a servile class.
Their personal desires are continually repressed, and even
this is but a preparation for their subsequent profession, in
which servility and repression will be their fate.
Prostitution 251
Prostitution and Child- Protection. — Prostitution explains and
favours the development of numerous factors which make
the work of child-protection an ever-existing need. These
factors are : (a) criminal offences against persons under age ;
(h) venereal diseases ; (c) a fall in women's wages, and a
consequent fall in men's wages also ; {d) corruption of the
sexual morals of juveniles; (e) the fact that prostitutes,
though somewhat exceptionally, bear children.
{a) The definite purpose of certain criminal offences
committed against women under age is simply to supply
fresh and new wares for the market of prostitution. For
it is not only or mainly women who, in respect of physical
beauty, age, or of some other circumstance, are of com-
paratively little value, that become prostitutes. Among the
men who have recourse to prostitutes are some who can pay
high fees, and therefore demand an article of high quality.
Among these latter, there are, of course, some who actually
prefer experienced prostitutes. But most of them demand
especially physical beauty, and this is more likely to be
possessed by younger women than by older ones. A con-
siderable proportion of prostitutes are under legal age ; a
large majority of them have entered the career of professional
prostitution before coming of age. An adult woman is much
less Hkely than one under age to become a prostitute. Statistical
data bearing on this question are, however, lacking. The
white-slave traffic has to-day attained gigantic proportions;
the sources of this traffic are supplied by professional pro-
curement, a branch of industry in Avhich many thousands
are engaged. It is obvious that the young girls who will
attract the attention of the professional procurer or procuress
will, for the most part, belong to the proletariat.
(&) Prostitution is an unceasing source of the venereal
diseases, the character of these in any district being inti-
mately associated with the characteristics of prostitution in
that district. The principal seats of prostitution are the
true foci of the venereal diseases.
(c) The matter of women's wages has already been
discussed.^
1 Consult the chapter on '* Women's Labour and Child Labour."
252 Elements of Child- Protection
(d) Prostitution leads to the corruption of children's
morals and drags them into vicious courses. Prostitutes
usually live in those quarters of the town,, in those streets,
in those houses, in which the population belongs mainly
to the proletariat. It is utterly improper that prostitutes
should live in the same house with persons who have young
children. Indeed, the question arises whether prostitutes
should not be absolutely forbidden to live in any house in
which there are persons under age.
(e) No official statistics exist to show how many children
are born to prostitutes. According to certain private statistical
data, collected in large towns, two children are born each
year to every hundred prostitutes. Many regard it as in-
explicable that prostitutes, who have sexual intercourse so
often, should so rarely become pregnant. But it is precisely
on account of over-use that the female reproductive organs,
in these cases, lose their functional reproductive power.
Where everyone walks, the grass never grows. Moreover, there
is no necessary association between coitus and conception.
In most cases, alike in the prostitute and in the man who
has intercourse with her, the idea and the desire of procreation
are non-existent. Many make excuses for prostitution on
the ground that, since prostitutes seldom have children, we
have here a counterpoise to illegitimate births. But it is
statistically proved that where prostitution is general — as, for
example, in great towns — illegitimate births are commoner
than in the country, where prostitution is practically unknown.
We need not stop to consider here whether the wider diffusion
of prostitution would be more desirable than the occurrence of
a greater number of illegitimate births. It is obviously
necessary that the children of prostitutes should be removed
from the care of their mother and brought up elsewhere.
Those who regard every prostitute as a degenerate being
will reject a iniori any attempt to rescue them. It is a
fact of experience that attempts to reform prostitutes are
rarely very successful. Experience shows also that the
reformatory education of boys is more effectual than the
reformatory education of girls, and that such an education
gives better results in the case of girls who are merely
Prostitution 253
neglected than of those who are morally fallen. But this
difference is not due to the fact that prostitutes are con-
genitally degenerate, but simply to the fact that they have
become degenerate owing to the conditions of their life. For
in women a life of prostitution develops all those qualities —
laziness, love of adornment, hypertension of the sexual impulse,
&c. — which make it impossible for people to earn their bread
by regular work. As soon as the girl is subjected to the
supervision of the -police, des mceurs, she is for ever lost. The
supervision breaks down completely her power of resistance,
exposes her to contempt, and permanently excludes her from
what is called respectable society. For these reasons, girls
under age should on no account be subjected to the super-
vision of the police des mceurs. Precisely because it is almost
impossible to induce a prostitute to adopt any other mode
of life, we must, in our campaign against prostitution, devote
ourselves above all to those prophylactic measures by which
girls may be withheld from the first steps which will lead
ultimately to the marketing of their bodies.
CHAPTER IV
PUNISHABLE OFFENCES AGAINST CHILDREN
The Two Groups. — Previously we have spoken of punishable
offences committed by children ; we pass now to consider those
committed against children. These latter may be classified in
two sub-groups. To the former group belong the punishable
offences in which the primary aim is to injure or destroy a
child. To the latter group belong offences against children in
which the injury to the child is incidental. The precise line
of demarcation between these two groups differs in the legal
systems of different countries. The most important offences in
the former group are : infanticide, the exposing of children,
abortion (these three crimes occur chiefly in connection with
the birth of illegitimate children), criminal offences against the
chastity of women (for example, rape, seduction, procurement).
It is only with regard to offences in this first group that statis-
tical data are available. In association with the development
of capitalism, there has been a great increase in their number.
But, according to oflScial statistics, there is not one of the
offences above specified which occurs to the extent of 1 per
cent, of all criminal offences ; most of those named are con-
siderably less than 1 per cent. In the case of the other
criminal offences, only private statistical data are available.
In respect of the offences comprising the second group, the
important questions arise, whether there exist any mitigating
or aggravating circumstances, such as that the offence was
committed against a child, and not against an adult, or that it
was committed, not against a stranger, but against one for
whose instruction or upbringing the offender was responsible.
Is it not desirable that the circumstance that the criminal
offence was committed against a child should be stated in the
law expressly as a reason for an increase in the severity of the
254
Punishable Offe^ices against Children 255
punishment, or else that the law should give children, pre-
cisely because they are children, a higher degree of protection
against certain offences ? Owing to the fact that young people,
in consequence of their physical weakness, are much less able
than adults to resist aggression, there is every reason for the
preferential legal protection of children. The protection should,
indeed, be more effective the younger the child. For example,
a child of ten can call for help, and can run away, but an infant
is utterly defenceless. Punishable offences against children
need to be severely punished, because they betray the existence
of a coarse and rough disposition in the offender. It must be
regarded as an aggravating circumstance when the offender is
the person responsible for the child's upbringing. And yet
the criminal offences of parents, guardians, foster-parents, and
teachers, against the children under their care, are often
nothing more than a misuse in all good faith of the authority
entrusted to them. Simply in the interests of the child,
severe punishment is often undesirable, because of the rancour
against the child it would tend to arouse. (These questions
are of importance only so long as the practice continues of
passing determinate sentences. The introduction of the in-
determinate sentence, which is in line with the tendency of
evolution, would render these questions unimportant.)
If any offender whose conduct against a child has proved
him to be incapable of exercising with propriety parental
authority, the powers of a guardian, the powers of a foster-
parent, the duties of a teacher, it is essential to deprive him
of these powers without delay ; and this should be done, not
only in the interests of the particular child, but in the interests
of all children. Anyone who has committed a serious punish-
able offence against a child is, as a rule, altogether unfitted to
exercise authority of any kind over any children. If the
offender is punished, and thereafter the child is left in his
power, the child will usually become the object upon which
he will work off the rancour inspired by the punishment. It
is essential that this change in the guardianship of the child
should not be postponed until the case is decided and judg-
ment is passed, but that it should be effected immediately it
is thought necessary to institute proceedings. The objection
256 Elements of Child-Protection
that the right to remove a child from the care of an offender
properly belongs, not to the criminal court, but to the Board
of Guardianship, is invalid. The procedures rendered necessary
in consequence of the initiation of the criminal proceedings
cannot, in these cases, be distributed among various different
authorities. In most instances it is essential to act at once.
Authority over a child, in a modern State, is not essentially
different from an official position. Since our criminal courts
are empowered to decree any one's unfitness to hold an official
position, and to deprive any citizen of his civil rights, why
should they not also be empowered to decide that certain
persons are unfitted to exercise authority over children ? The
courts have the power to declare that through the loss of civil
rights a man has become unfitted for the position of an official
guardian; a teacher in a State school loses his position vpso
facto if convicted of a criminal offence ; why should not the
criminal courts have the power to deprive parents, foster-
parents, and private teachers of their " office," and to declare
them to be unfitted to hold it ?
The great majority of punishable offences against children
are committed against children of the lower classes.
Infanticide. — By infanticide we understand the deliberate
killing of an illegitimate child by its mother during or imme-
diately after birth. For the following reasons, it is necessary
that this offence should not be punished with extreme severity :
(a) in the act of parturition the mother's physical and mental
equilibrium is disturbed, so that her condition must be regarded
as one of diminished responsibility ; {h) in the act of parturition
the unmarried mother is influenced by the dread of disgrace,
and by fears as to the child's future, in ways from which the
married mother is free ; (c) neither the secret and indiscriminate
reception of illegitimate children into foundling hospitals, nor
the most severe punishments, suffice to prevent the commission
of this crime. (In France, for example, infanticide is punished
with the greatest possible severity, but this does not prevent
the commission of the offence. For, in the first place, since in
France inquiry into paternity is forbidden, during parturition
the fears of the unmarried mother as to the future of the child
are exceptionally distressing. In the second place, since the
Punishable Offences against Children 257
jury know that the offence will be punished with draconian
severity, they prefer to return a verdict of Not Guilty.) We
do not find, in every modern State, such an attitude towards
infanticide. There are certain countries in which infanticide
is even more severely punished than the murder of an adult.
In the country, infanticide is comparatively commoner than in
towns, this difference being connected with the fact that in the
country districts there are no foundling hospitals, and with the
fact that in the country criminal abortion is less frequently
practised than in the towns.
There are certain children with respect to whom medical
science indicates, beyond the possibility of a doubt, that it is
impossible for them ever to become useful members of society ;
indeed, in the case of many of them, it is obvious that their
existence is directly harmful to the species — for example,
cripples, high-grade cretins, idiots, and children with gross
deformities. But at the present day such children are
preserved to lead a life of martyrdom. The greatest possible
pains and the highest refinements of medical skill are employed
to keep them alive. Huge institutions are erected for their
care, and there is great rejoicing if, after years of laborious
efforts, some of these small unfortunates have been taught to
speak or wi'ite a few words. This procedure is a grave in-
fringement of the law of parsimony (see the first paragraph of
Chapter V. in the General Part), if only for the reason that in
other departments of social life, with the same expenditure of
effort, far greater and more valuable results could be obtained.
When such children, for one reason or another, find their way
into the world, they should be quickly and painlessly destroyed.
What method should be adopted to attain this end is a minor
consideration. The most suitable plan would appear to be that,
after a thorough expert medical examination, such children
should be killed by a swift and painless narcotic. For the
present, we may leave the question open whether the consent
of the parents should first be obtained. According to the moral
conceptions of to-day, not only do people shrink back when
such energetic measures are proposed, but every act by which
individuals, however worthless, are sacrificed in the interests
of the species, is regarded as immoral, and even as a punish-
R
258 Elements of Child-Protection
able offence. But just as to-day we treat certain individuals
whose conduct endangers the present generation in such a way
as to deprive them of opportunities for doing further harm, so
also should we deal as seems best from the social point of view
with those individuals who are useless to society, or may be
harmful to future generations. As soon as it is generally un-
derstood that the interest of future generations is at least as im-
portant as that of the present generation, that the interest of the
species is more important than that of a few individuals useless
to society, and as soon as the number of cases in which such
destruction of children is desirable has been greatly diminished
owing to the adoption of appropriate preventive measures, it
will be regarded as a necessary and moral act to put an end to
these defectives.
Abortion. — Abortion is common in every age. In ancient
times, amongst the majority of peoples, it was not considered a
punishable offence. Even in Christian Europe, down to the
eighteenth century, it was not punished when the act was per-
formed within ten weeks of the occurrence of conception. The
explanation of this is that during the earlier stages of develop-
ment the embryo was not supposed to possess a soul. To-day,
abortion is a punishable offence, but is none the less extra-
ordinarily common. Official statistics make no approach to
completeness, for the great majority of abortions remain secret.
An expert to-day, owing to the gigantic advances in surgical
technique, can procure abortion without either difficulty or
danger. In every large town there are numerous doctors who
specialise as abortionists. Even the midwives do not hesitate
to undertake such manipulations. In every populous resort
will be found large institutions where women are given an
opportunity for concealing the consequences of illicit inter-
course by the practice of abortion.
Where conception has occurred in a married woman, it
may be fear for the future of the child, of a lowering of the
standard of life of the family, or of the act of parturition,
which leads to the practice of abortion; where the pregnant
woman is unmarried, fears as to the future of mother and
child may also be operative, but the principal motives are
the dread of disgrace and the desire to conceal the fact that
Punishable Offences against Childi'en 259
pregnancy has occurred. Among women of the proletariat it
will readily be understood that abortion is carried out less
skilfully than in the case of women belonging to the well-to-do
class, for proletarian women are unable to pay for such highly-
skilled assistance. It is for this reason that a much larger
proportion of criminal abortions are discovered in the case of
proletarian women than in the case of the well-to-do. The
number of abortions is comparatively greater in the towns than
in the country, and the technique of abortion is a more skilful
one in the former districts than in the latter.
It has recently been advocated that abortion should no
longer be regarded as a punishable offence. Others are satisfied
with the proposal that the mother should be left unpunished.
These proposals are supported by the following arguments.
The existing law is altogether inefiicient, for it attacks not the
act in itself, but merely the poverty of the doer and the
clumsiness of the act. The punishment of abortion is espe-
cially unjust : («) when the act of intercourse has been effected
against the will of the woman who has been impregnated — for
example, in case of rape; (&) when abortion is indicated on
special grounds of health — for example, when the health or life
of the mother is seriously threatened by pregnancy or parturi-
tion, and there is no doubt that the life of the mother is more
valuable than that of the child ; (c) when there is no doubt
that the child, if born at full term, would be weakly, diseased,
useless, or even injurious to society — for example, when a
person suffering from severe insanity or chronic alcoholism im-
pregnates a woman, or when an insane, epileptic, or imbecile
woman becomes pregnant. (As to certain other argumentt^
which are put forward, such as that everyone has a perfect
right to the disposal of his own body, and that for this reason
the prospective mother can deal with the fruit of her womb
precisely as she pleases ; or that, according to the biogenetic
law, the embryo is not a human being, but a lower animal — no
importance need be attached to them. They are altogether
superfluous.)
As yet there is no country in which these views have been
incorporated in legislation, but the time cannot be far distant
in which this will take place. Of course, when this happens.
2 6o Elements of CJiild- Protection
abortion, if effected by a married woman, without sufficient
cause, and without the consent of her husband, would have to
be regarded as an adequate ground for divorce.
The Protection of Feminine Chastity. — The criminal laws of
to-day recognise only the more serious offences against the
chastity of women, such as rape, seduction, gross instances of
procurement, and so on. The aims at reform in this connec-
tion are as follows. Feminine chastity, above all as far as
young girls are concerned, demands much more effective
protection than it receives to-day. The age of consent — that
is, the age below which intercourse with a woman is in any
case a punishable offence — should be raised at least to
eighteen, since protection is needed, not merely for the age
of bodily immaturity, but also for the period of the puberal
development, the dangerous time during which the sexual
impulse is awakening. Not only those should be punished
who have effected intercourse with a woman by force or under
stress of threats, but also those who have effected intercourse
by fraudulent means, by promise of marriage, or by taking-
advantage of the woman's dependent position (as in the case of
employer and female employee or master and maid-servant).
Procurement, in the legislation of most countries, receives a
ridiculously mild punishment ; and in order to restrict the
growth of the white-slave traffic, which, as previously pointed
out, has now attained colossal dimensions, it is essential that
any one who procures a child for sexual purposes should be
punished very severely. Those also should be punished who
perform improper acts in the presence of an immature person,
or who show such a person obscene pictures, or tell obscene
stories, or the like. Boys, on account of their sexual inex-
perience, need the protection of the criminal law no less than
girls.
Maltreatment of Children. — Maltreatment of children belongs
to the second group of punishable offences against children.
It is rare for the offender to maltreat the child of a stranger;
the offence is usually committed against a child for whose
care the offender is responsible. The principal kinds of mal-
treatment of children are — (a) corporal chastisement ; (&)
improper behaviour towards children (in this connection the
Pimishable Offences against Children 261
question arises whetlier parents can commit an offence against
the honour of their own children); (c) working children to
excess, either in the form of overwork at school, excessive
domestic work, overwork at wage-earning, forcing children to
beg, and the like.
Begging is more lucrative in proportion to the degree to
which the child's appearance is calculated to arouse compas-
sion— the poorer, the more miserable, the more delicate it
looks. In actual fact, a child is often ill-used simply in
order to give it an aspect which Avill arouse more sympathy.
Frequently a minimum amount of money is fixed, which,
under fear of punishment — usually gross physical ill-treat-
ment— the child has to bring home as a result of its day's
begging. In large towns children are hired out to professional
beggars ; in such towns as Paris and London there is actually
a regular market for such children. The child employed for
purposes of begging suffers many moral disadvantages; it
becomes crafty and obstinate, acquires a dislike for work and
a love of enjoyment, &c. The general pubHc, which squanders
money freely in almsgiving to child beggars, gives without
thought of the consequences. It is less trouble to drop a few
coppers into the outstretched hand of a mendicant than to
undertake a thorough investigation of the case, and, if neces-
sary, to remove the child from the corrupting influences of its
present environment, and to see that it will be properly cared
for in future. Mendicancy frequently leads to criminal courses,
more especially to offences against property, and in the case of
girls to offences against sexual morality.
The immediate causes of the maltreatment of children are
the following : (a) Illness or delicacy of the child ; (5) illness
or nervousness in the parents ; (c) interested motives ; {cX) a
rough disposition and incapacity for education on the part of
the child; (c) improper views concerning education; (/) alco-
holism; {(]) exaggerated religious ideas; ili) sexual causes;
{%) unhappy conditions of conjugal life.
(rt) Parents are much more likely to ill-treat sickly or
weakly children than healthy ones, for the former much more
readily prove a burden than the latter. Feeble-mind edness,
moreover, is difficult to recognise, and is often regarded by
262 Elements of Child- Protection
the parents as obstinacy or naughtiness. It is a painful fact
tliat in many cases the parents are themselves responsible for
the defective intellectual equipment of their child, and yet it
is on account of this very defect that they ill-use the child.
(?)) Delicate and nervous parents are much more likely
than healthy ones to ill-treat their children. In the case of
parents who are mentally unsound, the lust of cruelty may be
a direct outcome of their mental state.
(c) In many cases children's lives are insured for a con-
siderable sum, and in this case the death of the child may be
desired by the parents for the sake of the insurance money.
This happened very often in the manufacturing towns of
England, until the matter became the subject of special
legislation. Sometimes parents ill-treat children in the hope
of inheriting money belonging to these latter.
(e) The view is very general that the corporal punishment
of children plays an essential part in the process of education.
The child becomes to some extent accustomed to such punish-
ment, whereby the punishment ceases to be effective ; as a
result of this, yet more severe punishment is inflicted.
(/) Alcoholism is a cause, both direct and indirect, of
the maltreatment of children. The father of a family who,
in a state of intoxication, will maltreat his family, and who,
when sober again, is bitterly ashamed of himself, is a familiar
figure.
{rj) Maltreatment of children ('especially by clergymen,
monks, and nuns) often depends on the belief that it is neces-
sary to mortify the flesh in order to save the soul. There is
also some connection between exaggerated piety and sexual
perversion.
ill) A quite considerable proportion of cases in which
children are maltreated are dependent upon sexual motives.
But the maltreatment of a child may give rise to sexual
excitement, not only in the active agent, but also in the
passive. Cases of this nature occur chiefly in the upper
classes.
{%) In an unhappy marriage, one of the parents will often
maltreat the child simply because the latter loves the other
parent.
Punishable Offences against Children 263
Ill-usage of children may be the act either of relatives or
of strangers. Among the relatives, we have first of all the
unmarried mother; secondly, the natural father; thirdly, the
stepmother; fourthly, the lawful parents. Among strangers,
we have chiefly to consider teachers and foster-parents.
(«) Among children suffering from gross ill-treatment, we
find a preponderance, in view of their respective numbers, of
illegitimate as compared with legitimate children.
QS) We are always told that an illegitimate child will be
horribly ill-treated if its mother marries, not the child's
father, but another man, It will be ill-treated by the man
because it is a stepchild, and by the woman because it
interferes with her relations to her husband, and awakens
unpleasant memories. But these views are exaggerated.
(c) The role of the stepmother is also commonly exag-
gerated. It is easier to excuse a stepmother for ill-treating a
child than it is to excuse the child's own parents. When all
is said and done, it is impossible to expect a stepmother to
have the same love for the stepchild as for the children of
her own body, and it is only natural that the stepchild which
stands between her and her husband should be diflferently
treated from her own children. A stepchild is certainly
more likely to be ill-used when the stepmother has children
of her own.
id) A mother is more likely to ill-treat children than a
father. The father cannot love children so well as a mother,
nor can he hate them to the same extent.
(c) Many teachers maltreat their pupils. They are seldom
prosecuted on this account, for many children are unfortunately
accustomed to the same sort of ill-treatment at home ; more-
over, the parents may regard the teacher's treatment as
perfectly natural, or may be afraid to institute proceedings
against him.
(/) Ill-treatment of children by foster-parents is com-
paratively common, owing to the fact that in this case the
inhibiting influence of the natural love for the offspring is
lacking.
The consequences of maltreatment are extremely serious
to the health of the child, alike physically, mentally, and morally.
264 Elements of Child-Protection
The child becomes naughty, lazy, and untruthful, and this results
in yet more maltreatment. The child's affection and con-
fidence are destroyed, not only towards the person who
ill-treats it, but towards others as well ; feelings of hatred
towards the whole of society and desire for revenge may
even be aroused. Such a child will in turn maltreat other
children ; its will-power is defective and its ambition is
destroyed. Actual disease, physical or mental, often ensues.
Many children run away from home as a result of ill-treatment,
become vagabonds, and even commit suicide. The increase
recently noted in the number of suicides is probably, in part,
dependent upon the more frequent ill-treatment of children
during the same period. The usual motive for suicide where
children are concerned is seldom anything else than the fear
of ill-treatment. (Dread of parents, of school, of punishment
at school, of examination, &c.)
Most of the cases of the maltreatment of children take
place among the lower classes of the population. This is
clearly proved by statistical data, which show that more than
90 per cent, of those convicted of maltreating children belong
to the lowest strata of the population.
(a) Among the lower classes, the role of the child is a
very different one from what it is among the upper classes.
It often makes its appearance, not as the greatly-desired heir,
the inheritor of an honoured name, or of considerable property,
but merely as an additional mouth, whose presence forces the
parents to lower yet further their already low standard of life,
and entails upon them numerous other inconveniences.
(6) The lower classes are less cultivated, rougher, more
passionate, less gentle, than the upper. They work all day,
and we need not be surprised if they become rough and
disagreeable. The proletarian parent has not received a
proper education.
(c) Far more commonly they are slaves to alcohol.
id) They are subordinated to everyone. The only persons
to whom they can display power and superiority are their own
immediate dependants.
(e) They come into far more intimate contact with their
children, and are not in a position to hand over the upbring-
Ptmishable Offences against Children 265
ing of their children to salaried persons. In this conneton
we have to remember that the presence of strangers in the
house tends to put a check upon maltreatment.
(/) They find it essential that their children should begin
to earn money very early in life.
The circumstances in consequence of which the part played
in the maltreatment of children by the lower classes appears
to be even greater than it is in actual fact, are as follows,
(a) In the case of the lower classes, maltreatment of children
takes the form exclusively or almost exclusively of gross
physical misusage. In this form the maltreatment of
children is more obviously apparent, and is legally punish-
able ; whereas more subtle but in fact worse modes of ill-
usage are less easy to discover, and many of them are not
legally punishable. (5) Owing to the housing conditions of
the lower classes, the maltreatment of children is in their case
far less likely to remain secret. (c) People are readier to
lodge an information and to institute criminal proceedings when
the offender is poor than when he or she is Avell-to-do.
Where the effects of capitalism have been most marked —
that is to say, in the large towns — the maltreatment of children
is commoner, and takes worse forms. The maltreatment of
children occurred in very early times, but no particular import-
ance was then attached to the matter, owing to the sacred
character in those times of the institution of the family.
Far from being an indispensable part of the education of
children, their maltreatment is a direct hindrance to a good
education. In the discovery and the prevention of the mal-
treatment of children, teachers, medical practitioners, and
private associations play a very important part. A teacher
is able to observe whether a child is ill-used, and is also in a
position to obtain information from the brothers and sisters of
the child. The useful work the teacher can do in this
regard can be powerfully supported by the school physician.
Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children are both
influential and important, especially in England and the
United States of America. To the latter country we owe
the institution of Children's Courts. In England, it may be,
that so great importance is attached to efforts for preventing
266 Elements of Child- Protection
the maltreatment of cMldren, owing to the fact that in that
country the position of the illegitimate child is an exception-
ally bad one.
The following measures are recommended for the preven-
tion of the maltreatment of children, ia) Cruelty to children
on the part of those legally responsible for the care of such
children must be the subject of official prosecution. (&)
Parents who maltreat their own children must at once be
deprived of their parental authority, for unless this is done,
after they have been punished, the parents will be likely to
maltreat the child more than ever, merely taking more care
to avoid discovery, (c) It should be made the legal duty of
anyone who becomes aware of a case of cruelty to a child to
lodge official information without delay.
Children are not in a position to protect themselves
against adults, nor are they able on their own account to
initiate proceedings against anyone who has misused them.
This difficulty is especially great when the offender is one
upon whom the child is legally dependent.
Suggested Reforms. — Recently the necessity has been recog-
nised that many off'ences against children should be punished
much more severely than they now are, and that many acts
not otherwise punishable should be made punishable if
committed asrainst a child.
{a) It is suggested that a new criminal offence should be
defined in the following terms: — "A parent, 1, who, although
possessed of the requisite means, fails, wilfully or neglectfully,
to provide for the child's proper maintenance ; 2, who, in
consequence of a disorderly life, is rendered unable to provide
for the proper support of his child ; 3, who neglects his child —
shall be punished in the following manner. ... A guardian
or a foster-parent shall have the same liabilities to punishment
under this clause as the real parents of a child."
(b) It is suggested that, in the case of off'ences against the
laws regulating child-labour, the criminal legal authorities, and
not the local authorities, should have the right of intervention,
that in the case of the graver breaches of these laws, the
offence should be regarded, not as a petty offence, but as a
misdemeanour, or as a crime, and that, for this reason, the
Punishable Offences against Childi'en 267
description of these offences should be incorporated in the
criminal code.
(c) It is suggested that the employment of children in
mendicancy, vagabondage, &c., which is at present treated as
a petty offence merely, should be constituted a misdemeanour.
(r/) It is proposed to make it a punishable offence to supply,
or cause to be supplied, in a public place, to any juvenile,
alcoholic drinks whereby that juvenile becomes intoxicated.
ie) As regards the sale of tobacco, similar legal provisions
are considered desirable.
(/) It is suggested that parents should be severely punished,
when in the case of one of their children being ill they fail to
summon medical advice, or when they send the child to school
suffering from one of the acute infectious disorders, or from
a house in which any such disorder prevails.
With regard to the first recommendation (a), people begin
to recognise that a misuse of the rights and powers involved
in parental authority must be visited, not by private condem-
nation only, but by that of the criminal law. It is seen that
the standpoint of the existing law, by which only the gravest
offences, such as the abduction of a child, or the infliction
upon a child of grievous bodily harm, are specified as punish-
able, is inadequate. Ever more general becomes the demand
that parental neglect of the proper maintenance or education
of a child should be constituted an offence ipcr sc, and dealt
with as such. It is only in the case specified in {a) 1 that
deliberate or gross neglect constitutes the essential quality of
the offence. (If all cases of neglect were punishable, the
provision {a) 1 would operate chiefly against offenders of the
lower classes, since it is in their case that such neglect most
commonly occurs.) In {a) 2 deliberate or gross neglect is no
essential part of the offence, because the idler, the man led
astray by his passions, &c., should not escape punishment. In
(«) 3 simple neglect is made punishable, because in such cases
the community becomes responsible for the maintenance of
the child. Nothing must be done to encourage what is really
quite common — that parents should neglect their child, simply
in order that it should be taken away from their care, and
that in this way they may be freed from the burden of its
268 Elements of Child- Protection
maintenance. It is essential that no complaint by the injured
party or his representatives should be requisite to the initiation
of a prosecution, for in most cases the child is itself unable
to complain, and the legal representative is often the prime
offender. Moreover, it is not the child alone that is injured,
but also the State, which has entrusted the offender with the
care of the child.
The objection has been raised that such legal provisions
as have been suggested would be directed principally against
the lower classes, that they would often lead to the unjust
infliction of punishment, that no one can be compelled to love
another, and that it would be difficult to determine the precise
point at which the proper limits of parental authority had
been exceeded. But all these objections are invalid, if only
the gross cases that have been mentioned are made punishable,
and provided that wherever necessary the child is removed
from the care of the offender.
With regard to (&), it is altogether disproportionate that
the most trifling bodily injury to a child should be legally
punishable through the instrumentality of the criminal courts,
whilst one who inflicts a far more severe injury upon a child
by forcing it to perform excessive and unsuitable work is liable
to nothing more effectual than a reprimand on the part of the
local authority. The local authority is seldom in an inde-
pendent position, but is commonly subject to the influence
of large employers of labour. The maximum punishment
which can be inflicted for a breach of the laws regulating
child-labour is so trifling, that the risk of this punishment
is far more than counterbalanced by the profits the employer
can make by the illegal exploitation of child-labour — especially
when the fact is borne in mind that not one instance in ten
of a breach of these laws is ever the subject of a prosecution.
The gross injustices and miseries which occur daily and every-
where from the improper exploitation of child-labour will not
disappear until the punishments inflicted are such as the
employers will seriously fear to incur, and which they will be
unable to avoid. The employer laughs at a fine, for he pays
it out of his surplus profits ; but he will think twice before
incurring the risk of imprisonment.
Punishable Offences against Children 269
With regard to id), since alcohol affects children more
powerfully than it aifects adults, it is necessary that it should
be a legally punishable offence to expose children to the
dangerous influences of this intoxicant.
With regard to (e), for the young, the use of tobacco is
hardly less harmful than the use of alcohol.
With regard to (/), it sometimes happens that the parents
fail to take the steps absolutely essential to the preservation
of the child's health, and in this way the public health may
be seriously endangered.
The proposals mentioned under these last three headings,
(c?), (e), and (/), are as yet hardly realised anywhere ; but there
are good grounds for hoping that they will soon be adopted in
more countries than one.
INDEX
Abortion, 93, 118
Accidents to children, IStJ
Acquired immunity, 86. See also
Regeneration
Adoption, 90, 117
Advice to mothers, 65, 134
Age of parents, 80, 81
— productive and unproductive, 12
— pyramid, 12, 13
Agricultural colonies, 146
— schools, 214
Agriculture, 1^6, 157, 158
Aims of child-protection, 4
Alcoholism, 79, 80, 129, 262, 267, 269
Apprenticeship, 162, 168, 169, 170, 171
Artificial selection, 25-41. Sec also
Eugenics, Euthanasia, and Marriage
and Heredity
Atavism, 78
Atrophy, infantile, 50, 127
Austria, 157, 158
Authority for child-protection, centra-
lised, 64, 65
Authority, parental, 71-76
Baby-paeming, 132, 146-152
— murderous, 95, 96, 150
Bastardy actions, loose conduct as
defence in, 90
Baths for school children, 202
Beauty, 192
Begging, 164, 168, 261
Belgium, 222
Betrothed, children of, 99
Blindness, 179, 180, 181
Blind schools, 181
Boarding-out, 132, 141, 144, 145, 147
Breastfeeding, 126-128
Capacity for understanding the
punishable character of an offence,
221, 228
— inborn, 28
Capitalism (private), its destruction
essential to true child-protection, 56,
57
Care after leaving school, 211-215
— of foundlings, 44, 45, 46, 49, 52,
53, 58, 59, 61-64, 66, 67, 101, 102,
121, 122, 131, 132, 135, 184
Care of foundlings, Latin system and
Germanic system, 144-146
— institutional. See Institutional
Celibacy, 84
Centralised authority for child-pro-
tection, 64, 65
Certificates, medical. See Doctors
Character, inborn, 29
— of the child, 29
Charitv Organisation Society, 61
Childbirth, 94, 120, 121
Child-labour, 155-179
— mortality, 17-24
— protection after birth, 121, 122
before birth, 118, 119
during birth, 120, 121
for the illegitimate, 90-105
of the future, 56, 57
and the population question,
3-5
Children, wet-nursing of. Sec Wet-
nursing
Children's clinics, 180
— clubs, 208
— hosi^itals, 180
Civil law and individual rights, depart-
ment of, 71-117
Class diilerences in upbringing, 36, 37
Classical criminal law, 220-222
Clinics, children's 180
Co-education, 197, 198
Coercive reformatory education, 75,
152, 154, 223, 236-241
Colonies, agricultural. See Agricul-
tural Colonies
— semi-urban, 183
Community at large, 60. 61
Compulsory military service, 84
— school attendance, 168, 188, 189
Conception, prevention of, 8
Conditional release, 231, 232
— remission of punishment, 231, 232
— sentence, 231, 232
Confidential assistants to the official
guardian, 115, 116
Congenital syphilis, 132
Consultations de nourrissons, 134
Continuation schools, 213
Contracts of service for minors, 108
Convalescent homes, 121
271
272
Elements of Child-Protection
Cooking, instruction in, 210, 213,
214
Corporal punishment, 33, 34
Country holiday funds and open-air
schools, 182, 183
Cow's milk, 125, 126, 132-134. See
also Artificial Feeding
Creche, 43, 135-138
Criminal law, 217-269
classical, 220-222
— responsibility, 221-225, 228 et seq.
Criminality, juvenile, 97, 98, 217-242
— in the illegitimate, 97, 98
Cripples, 180
Cripples' schools, 181
Culture, general. See General Culture
Curriculum for child-protection, 66
Darwinism, 45, 46, 47
Deaf-mute schools, 181
Deaf-mutism, 180, 181, 182
Debility, congenital, 50, 94
Defectives, euthanasia of, 257, 258
Denmark, 215, 230
Diarrhoea. See Intestinal
Digestive disorders, 127
Disabilities of the illegitimate, 90-93
Disciplinary classes, 196
Diseases, infective. See Diseases
— of occupation, 163
— of school life, 202
Divorce, 83
Doctors, 46, 66, 88, 89, 120, 121, 138,
151, 172, 184
Domestic assistants, 121
— care clubs, 121
— economy, instruction in, 210, 213,
214
— instructors, 186, 187
— servants, 37, 169, 250
— work, 155
Domicile, 63, 112
Ecclesiastical benevolence, 61, 62
— marriage prohibitions, 83, 84
Education, 76, 185-216
— and heredity, 25-41
— by parents, 34-36
— coercive reformatory, 75, 152, 154,
223, 236-241
— factors of, 37, 38
— institutional. See Institutional
— physical, 201-204
— sexual, 197-199
— under care, 75. See also Coercive
Reformatory Education
Educational science, 39
Elementary school, public, 185-216
unified, 216
Enfants assises, 117
England, 53, 59, 61, 82, 112, 133, 141,
145, 152, 155, 168, 172, 174, 183, 198,
203, 211, 220, 222, 230, 235, 237, 248,
262, 265
Enlightenment of children, sexual, 197-
199
Environment, 37, 38
Epidemic diseases, 135
Ethical instruction, 199-201
Eugenics, 25-41, 257, 258
Euthanasia, 257, 258
Example, good, 32, 33
Exceptio plurium concumbentium, 90
Excess of women, 13-15
Exclusion of certain school children,
195, 196
Executive instruments of child-pro-
tection, 58-68
Exposure of infants, 95, 142
Factors of child-protection, 58-68
— of education, 37, 38
— of poor relief, 58-59
Factory creche, 137-138
— inspection, 172, 173
Family creche, 137-138
— education, 53, 148-152, 235, 286
— schools, 185
Feeble-mindedness, congenital, 30
Feeding of school children, 209-211
— rooms for the infants of women
working in factories, 137, 138
Feminine chastity, protection of, 260
Fertility of the lower classes, 5-9
Fines, 225
Flogging, 230. See also Corporal
Punishment
Foundlings, care of, 44, 45, 46, 47, 52,
53, 58, 59, 61-64, 66, 67, 101, 102,
121, 122, 130-132, 135, 141-154, 184
France, 5, 58. 101, 102, 116, 117, 123,
128, 132, 133, 147, 153, 172, 200, 201,
209, 222, 237, 256
Free-love, 105
Future, child-protection of, 56, 57
General culture, 32, 191, 192
Germany, 60, 100, 114, 116, 123, 133,
138, 141, 152, 157, 158, 160, 172, 203,
248
Gonorrhoea, 80
Gonorrhoea! ophthalmia. See Ophthal-
mia of the New-born
Good example, 32, 33
Gouttes de Lait, 133
Governesses and tutors, 186, 187
Government, central, 61-63
— local, 59, 60
Great number of children, 20-22, 26
Guardian.ship, 107-117
Index
27,
Guardianship, official and institutional,
112-116
Guilds, 155
Gymnastic lessons, 202
Gynecology, 94, 120, 121
Half-timees, 169
Health of proletarian children, 178
— resorts for children, 183
Heredity, 77-89
— and education, 25-41
— and marriage, 77-89
Holiday playgrounds, 183
Home education, difficulties of, 39, 40
— industry, 160, 162
— work for school children, 194, 195
Homes of technical instruction for
girls, 170
Hospitalism, 135
" Hospital-marasmus," 135
Hospitals, lying-in, 121, 134
Household right, 63
Housekeeping, instruction in, 213, 214
Housing conditions and child mortality,
23
Human milk, 125, 126. See also Breast
Feeding
Hungarian Child-Protection League,
61
Hungary, 54, 56, 61, 62, 137, 143, 146,
152, 153, 208, 248
Illegitimacy and occupation, 99
— and prostitution, 98, 99
Illegitimate children, 47, 64, 71, 90-105
— sesual relations, 15, 16
Illiteracy, 32
Ill-treatment of children, 196, 260-269
Imbecility. See Feeble-mindedness
Immunity, acquired, 86. See also Re-
generation
Imprisonment, 225-228
Incubators, 122
Indeterminate sentence, 232, 233, 239-
241
Individual guardianship, 108-117
Individualisation, 31, 192, 237
Individuality, 31, 192
Industrial reserve army, 31
— schools, 238
Ineducability, 30
Infant-feeding, natural, artificial, and
by wet-nurses, 125-140
Infanticide, 95, 96, 142, 256, 257
Infantile atrophy. See Atrophy
Infant life protection, 125-140
— mortality, 17-24, 96
attainable minimum of, 18
Infants' hospitals, 134, 180
— milk depots, 65, 133
Infective diseases, 51, 129. See also
under Special Diseases, as Syphilis,
Tuberculosis, &c.
Inheritance, 28, 77-89
— of disease, 78-80
Inquiry into paternity, 58
Institutional and official guardianship,
112-117
— care, 148-150
of infants, 135-138
— education, 235-238
Instruction, religious and moral, 199-
201
Instructions for pregnant women, 118
Instruments of child-protection, ex-
ecutive, 58-68
Insurance of children, 262
— of motherhood, 122-124
Intra-uterine influences, 96
Intestinal catarrh, 135
— disorders, 50
Italy, 58, 101, 102, 123, 147
Juvenile criminality, 97, 98, 217-242
Kinderhorte, 208
Kinderschutzliga, 61
Kin, marriage of near, 81, 82
Knowledge, 192, 193
KranJcenkassen, 120
Laboue, premature, 11, 93, 94, 166
Lactation, constitutional incapacity
for, 128, 129
La Recherche de la Paternite, 58
Law, classical criminal, 220, 222
— of parsimony, 42
Laws for child - protection, unified
system, 63, 64
Leaflets on infant care, 138
Legal protection of children against
consequences of their own actions,
106, 107
Legitimatio j^er rcseriptum jmncipis, 90
subscqucns matrimonium, 90
Legitimisation, 90, 117
Lex minivii, 42
Limited powers of minors, 106-107
Local governing bodies, 59, 60
Loose conduct as a defence in bastardy
actions, 90
Lying-in hospitals, 121, 134
Maintenance allowances, 104
Malthus, 5
Maltreatment of children, 196, 260-269
Manual training, 204-208
Marasmus. See Atrophy
Margate, 183
Mark system, 239
S
Elements of Child- Protection
274
Marriage, 15, 71-89
— and disease. See Marriage and
Heredity
— early, 15
— and heredity, 77-89
— and parental authority, 71-76
— history, 72
— of near kin, 81, 82
— prohibitions, 83-89
Maternal authority, 73
Matriarchy, 72
Medical profession, medical science,
&c. See Doctors
Mendicancy, 164, 168, 261
Mental disorders, 30, 79-80, 163-164
Mercantile system, 5
— theory of political economy, 5
Merit system, 239
Meteorological conditions, 24
Midwives and monthly nurses, 120,
121, 138
— schools for, 65, 134
Military service, compulsory, 84
Milk. See Cow's Milk and Human
Milk
— depots, 133
— stations, 183
Minors, limited powers of, 106-107
Miscarriage, 11
Monogamy, 105
Monthly nurses and midwives, 120, 121,
138
Moral instruction, 199-201
Morphinism, 80, 129
Mortality, 11-12
— of illegitimate, 94-97
Mother as guardian, 94
Motherhood, insurance of, 122-124
— protection, 118-124
Mothers, advice to, 134
— schools for. See Schools
Mutter schaftshassen, 124
Napoleon I, 153
Natural selection, 25-41, 45-47
Newborn, ophthalmia of. See
Ophthalmia
Night work, 156
Norway, 127
Notification of pregnancy. See Preg-
nancy
Number of children, great, 20-22,
26
Object lessons, 206
Objections to child-protection, 43-45
Obstetrics. See Gynecology
Occupation, diseases of, 163
Offences against children, punishable,
238-269
Official and institutional guardianship,
112-117
— and private activities, 65-66
Open-air schools, 182, 183
and country holiday funds, 182,
183
Ophthalmia, contagious, 135
— of the newborn, 80, 179
Organisation of juvenile labour, 170,
171
Orphan asylum, 145
" Over-parent," State as, 74-76
Parental authority, 71-76
Parents, age of. See Age of Parents
Parents' evenings at school, 197
Parents, school, environment, 37, 38
Parole, release on, 231, 232
Paternal authority, 73
Paternity, inquiry into, 58
Patriarchy, 72
Physical education, 201-204
Physicians. See Doctors
Playgrounds for children, supervised,
208
Pneumonia, 135
Poor-relief, factors of, 58, 59
Population question, quantity, 3-16
quality, 25-41
— classified according to age, 12, 13
Poverty, 51, 52
Powers of minors, limited, 106-107
Pregnancy, notification of, 119
Pregnant women, instructions for, 118
Premature labour, 11, 93, 94, 166
Preparatory schools, 208
Prevention, 42
Preventive methods. See Conception,
prevention of
Primiparse, 96
Private and official activities, 65-66
Probation, 231, 232
— officer, 247
Procurement, 251, 260
Proletarian children, health of, 178
Property of wards, 108, 116
Pros and cons of child-protection, 42-
58
Prostitution, 98, 99, 118, 249-253
Protection of feminine chastity, 260
Prussia, 140
Public advocacy of breast-feeding, 133,
144
— elementary school, 185-216
— performances by children, 168
Punishable character of an offence,
capacity for understanding the, 221,
228
— offences against children, 254-
269
Index
275
Punishment, conditional remission of,
231-232
— corporal, 83, 34. See also Flogging
Punishments and rewards, 196
Quality of population, 20-41
Quantity of population, 3-10
Rachitis, 127, 162
Rape, 259, 260
Recognition, 90
Reformatory education, coercive, 75,
152, 154, 223, 236-241
— schools, 236-241
— system, 236-241
Regeneration, 86, 88
Relative as guardian, 110
Release, conditional, 231-232
— on parole, 231, 232
Religious and moral instruction, 199-
201
Religious motives for ill-treating chil-
dren, 26:;
Repressive measures, 42, 55
Reprimand, 230
Rescue hoiiies, 146
Reserve army of labour, 51
Resident wet-nurses, 131
Responsibility, criminal, 221-225, 228
et seq.
Rewards and punishments, 196
Rickets, 127, 162
Sanatoria, 183
Scattered homes, 146
School and juvenile criminality, 229,
230
— attendance, compulsory, 168, 188,
189
— baths, 202
— care after leaving, 211-215
— diseases, 202
— feeding, 209-211
• — gardens, 202
— hygiene, 202
— kitchens, 210
— nurses, 203
— physicians, 67, 202, 203
— public elementary, 185-216
— savings banks, 209
— teachers, 172, 265
— unified elementary, 216
Schools, agricultural, 214
— for mothers, 138, 139
— for the blind, 181
— industrial, 238
— of child-protection, 66
— of public welfare, 66
— preparatory, 208
— reformatory, 236-241
Science, 193, 194
Scrofula, 50
Seasonal variations in birth-rate, 24
Seduction, 260
Selection, artificial, 25-41
— natural, 25-41, 45-47
Semi-urban colonies, 188
Sentence, conditional, 231-282
Servants, domestic, 37, 169, 250
Sexual education, 197-199
— enlightenment of children, 197-199
— motives for ill-treating children,
262
— relations, illegitimate, 15, 16
Sicily, 163
Siege of Paris, infant mortality during,
127
Social developments of the near future,
39-41, 56, 57
— hygiene, 179, 180
Socialism, 51-57
— and palliatives, 56, 57
Societies for prevention of cruelty to
children, 265
Special schools for defective children,
181, 182
State as " over-parent," 74-76
Still-birth, 11, 98, 166, 167
Stomach disorders, 50
Summer and child mortality, 24
Supervised playgrounds for children,
208
Supervision of family care, 150-152
Sweden, 127
Switzerland, 117, 157, 182, 209
Syphilis, 80, 98, 94, 96, 118, 129
— congenital, 132
Tobacco, 267, 269
Towns, child mortality in, 22, 23
Training ships, 146
Transmission of venereal diseases, 84,
85
Truants 195
Tuberculosis, 42, 80, 127, 129, 182, 202
Turn-table, 44, 45, 142, 143
Tutors and governesses, 186, 187
Underfeeding of proletarian chil-
dren, 178, 179
Understanding the punishable char-
acter of an offence, the capacity for,
221, 228
Unified school for all classes, 216
Unified system of laws for child-pro-
tection, 68, 64
United States of America, 53, 61, 89,
108, 172, 173, 196, 197, 201, 203, 208,
209, 215, 222, 223, 281, 232, 238, 235,
237, 238, 240, 246, 247, 265
276
Elements of Child- Protection
Venereal diseases, 85, 251
Voluntary benevolent activities, 60, 61
— workers, 65, 66
Wages, 158, 159. 160, 161, 166, 176,
213
Wards, property of, 108, 116
Warm chambers, 122
Welfare, schools of public, 66
Wet-nurses, resident and non-resident,
131
Wet-nursing of children, 126, 127, 130-
132, 146-148
White slave traffic, 251, 260
Withdrawal of parental authority, 75, 76
Women, excess of, 13-15
Women's labour and child -labour, 155-
177
Workers, voluntary, 65, 66
Workhouse system, 145
Youth, criminality in, 217-242
THE END
Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson 6^ Co.
Edinburgh b" London
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