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months, if alive, and if not the cause of death. When
the results of these investigations are reduced to figures
the Government will be in a position to decide
whether or no it will be advisable to initiate legislation
with a view to prohibit the employment of
pregnant women in certain trades, and to still further
restrict employment after childbirth. Should Parliament
enact such restriction it will be impossible to
enforce the law unless provision be made at the same
time to compensate expectant and recent mothers for
loss of employment; a system which provides for this
already obtains in Denmark and some other countries.
At the Home Office conference, Dr. Reid, the
Medical Officer of Health for Staffordshire stated as
his opinion that :—
The restriction now imposed by law of one month's
abstention from work after her confinement is advantageous to
the mother, but it does not materially benefit the child. If
however, the restriction extended to three months, the probability
is that the mother would suckle her child during that
time, and thus the most precarious period of the infant's life
would be tided over, and the chances of subsequent survival
would be considerably enhanced.
(b) Ignorance and want of care.
This is a fruitful source of fatality ; a good-looking
factory girl usually marries young, most probably she
has received no household training, has never been
out to service, but has started work on leaving school,
what can such a girl know of the cares and
responsibilities of motherhood?