View report page

48
It is not merely that a large number of infants succumb to this
evil environment, it is that a large number of weakly children are
produced by these defective domestic habits that makes the position so
serious. They are to be remedied only by persistent education of the
mothers by combatting their prejudices, instructing the ignorant and
encouraging the well-intentioned to persevere in the simple rational
methods of baby culture which are dictated alike by common sense and
the results-of experience.
The fact that certain mothers have to maintain their families
wholly or in part by their own earnings cannot fail to act injuriously
upon the babies who require their personal attention, yet it is
encouraging to find that as a class employed mothers in Willesden do
not compare so very unfavourably with others more fortunate in so far
as their treatment of their babies is concerned.
This will be seen by comparing the following table with those
above.