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263
This subject of infant life is of vital importance to Finsbury, and
upon it I wish to make two remarks
First, the health and physical condition of infants depends on
the devotion, capacity, and physical fitness of the mother more than
on any other single thing.
Secondly, the most needed requirement for the solution of the
infant life problem in a district like Finsbury is therefore the
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enforcement of maternal responsibility, and the inculcation of
habits of thrift, temperance, and domestic hygiene.
Let me take an instance affecting the high death rate from lung
diseases among infants in Finsbury.
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It appears that mothers allow their young children to be exposed
to cold in many ways. One way which may be mentioned is the
practice of taking infants out late at night. On Saturday, November
26th, 1904, between 9 and 10 p.m. (a raw, cold evening with
dense fog), I counted in walking down Chapel Street 67 infants in
arms, and elsewhere in Finsbury between the same hours 76 other
infants in arms. I visited 20 or 30 public houses and found a
large number of women drinking, in many cases carrying infants
with them. On Saturday, December 24th, Chief-Inspector Green
counted 47 infants in arms in walking through Chapel Street, and
on Saturday, January 7th, 64. On the same dates he visited for
me 47 public houses to count the number of persons.