1111, BRICKLAYER AND INFANT MORTALITY.* ALL books on child hygiene
and child welfare seem agreed that the chief cause of infant mortality and of what to. the present writer seems a worse evil than infant mortality, the de- generation of the healthy infant to a state of low health or even of disease ; is bad housing and bad sanitary conditions. The reader closes such books in despair and wonders if the fathers of families who support the ca' canny of the building trades realize what they are doing. Practically the situation now is that the loyal trade union bricklayer with his carefully-regulated tale of bricks is the infant's worst enemy. In a " slum " district in Birmingham, for example, Dr. Janet Lane-Clayton remarks : "Extensive work for child welfare has been carried out for a number of years, but this work is relatively powerless against the effects of bad housing and insanitary conditions."
Her book, The Child Welfare Movement, is really intended as a manual for Health Visitors, but all those who are interested in social work will find its clear statement of statutory duties and privileges of great use. One thing seems, besides the need for new houses, fairly clear from the book. It is that in many owe rather inadequate use is made of already existing facilities. There seems to be a need at the present moment to teach the parents of young children and others who require advice to use these existing aids. Perhaps the schools might be made a medium for imparting this sort of information.
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