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before it has time to dry and disseminate in the atmosphere ; and any
attempt at scavenging in dry weather without the aid of water simply
results in the more complete dissemination of dust into the atmosphere.
10. Industrial employment of many of our women in the borough
is probably one of the important influences at work, for it is obvious
that girls and young women who are employed in industrial work for
many hours daily have but little time to make themselves practically
familiar with the very numerous, and often apparently unimportant
matters, which make all the difference between a well-ordered home
and one which lacks the influence of a capable mother.
Nevertheless, to what extent and in what manner the industrial
employment of married women affects the infantile mortality is still a
matter of discussion. Until the present improved social conditions
of the bread winner the harmful effects were partly counteracted by
the greater comfort and increased nourishment which such employment
enabled the mother to secure.
The mortality from prematurity and congenital defects is higher in
the East Ward of Deptford than in the remainder of the Borough and
greater than the average of some other large towns. One reason
why diarrhœal diseases are excessive in the locality mentioned
above may partly be put down to artificial feeding, but the disadvantages
of artificial feeding are further accentuated by the absence of
the mother from the home, and by carelessness and ignorance and
lack of cleanliness in the preparation of the food. It is impossible,
however, under normal conditions to dissociate the effects of married
female labour from those of poverty, and in social questions causes
and effects may occupy positions of mutual dependence and transferability.
Many of the women are occupied, as much from choice, as
necessity, or are widows or the wives of men whose payments to the
upkeep of the home are insufficient to maintain it in comfort.
The excessive mortality from bronchitis and pneumonia and
premature births may also be one of the effects of married female
labour. The mother has to take her baby to be cared for in the mornas
she proceeds to work, and fetch him again in the evening. Under
the best of conditions the child is liable to contract respiratory diseases,
but in former years the mother had no option but to leave the child in
charge of a neighbour. The mother used not to select the house
where the baby was cared for on sanitary grounds, and the standard of
cleanliness which usually obtained in a " baby-minder's house " was