Show GAMBLING ON DEATHS OF BABIES Developments of the past week show that there are in existence in New York city and Philadelphia Philadel phia fourteen companies that insure the li lives lis s of babies Within the same limit of time three mothers mothers moth moth- ers erg in these two cities have baye been arrested and charged with having ing poisoned their children in order or or- der to obtain the life insurance money In Maine and Missouri two other mothers committed suicide wh when n arrested and charged with a a. similar crime Because of the extraordinary increase in sudden deaths among the infant population of Philadelphia Philadel phia the Coroner of that city has been compelled ell to call upon the City Council to furnish a force of detectives to investigate the epidemic of deaths The policies on the dead infants ranged in value from 10 to 40 40 and it has that mothers by the score scot score in New York an ancl I Philadelphia have been guilty of the wholesale murder of babies whose lives were insured for small sums Children n not more than six weeks old ivere were accepted as risks the premiums being only a few cents a week Concerns Concerns Con Con- cerns that seek such risks s as these are placing a apr pr premium on murder S Such ch business can be ba called only one thin thing it is gambling on the lives of babies Every company engaged in this line of insurance is isa isa isn a n fit subject for investigation in It is a most diabolical cal al practice Are not the men who induce parents to gamble gamble on the lives of five week infants as guilty morally as ns the mothers who poison them in order ordeL to obtain the tue money blood certain in in insurance com companies panics hang up in the sImps of premiums premiums' The developments constitute a horrible story of de pla it Any of the companies that are in this kind of business will insure a child a as soon as it is named and there are no questions asked as to the parentage or or orthe the chances that the child will he be heer per permitted per per- ermitt mitt to o live As long as anybody will pay 5 c cents a week the tile insurance companies stand ready tomake to make maIm that childs child's death an au object to O whomsoever ver erl wishes to clear himself of the tile responsibility of rear tug Ing ng it In one case now under investigation a chile five weeks old born out of wedlock edlock was insured J It t died when it was five months old Leaving HH he the Child by b an open window withholding the foo food 1 i it should have baye an any wa way of a dozen will cause cause- th the infants in lu fant's taut's death and where is the tIle doctor who out olit of his suspicion that the death death was as at least connived ll at ut will charge a parent with murder rr One compau com om company com com- pany pau in ji New York is said to have insured OtO children under 10 years earR old in the last year ear This IB IF a subject almost too repulsive for discussion discussion but let the law step in an and enact legi legislation that will wiH prevent there being profit in child murder C Compel the insurance companies to limit their theil poli poli- des cles les to paying pa ing the actual bills biBs of the tile undertaker an and the do doctor tor George III forbade the insurance of the lives lires of children of tender years ems for fot the reason that the making insurances insurances on on lives lh-es or other o r events hi in which the assured shall hall have no interest hath introduced a mi mischievous ch ous c kind of gaming That was good law iii ill England until Only one State in the United States has a law against child child Insurance That is Colorado The reason given for issuing policies on childrens children's lives is that the parents may war have means to to topa pa pay the expenses of oC final illness and of burial The Tile system nourishes wherever wages wage m are e small and Ind families large The o doing th the largest share of this business in iii New York issued policies in 1 1001 DOl in its industrial d department This includes policies on the lin lives s c 9 pf both parents and children It is a fair estil estimate ate that two fifths of these or 01 71 5 O were for young Joung children The face value alne of all tb the 17 1701 l policies was for an nn everage everag of about In defense of the system officials of companies engaged in it sa say that their method disco discourages dis co rages child Children are not insured until the they are in their second y year ar Then rhen a n weekly premium of r. r i cents yields the following grand award according to the tile time th the child dies Ir If f It lives ilves I less s than three months month 5 S Less than six months I ILess 10 Less than nine months month I 12 Le Less s than a n year ear 15 15 Less than t twO years cars v 1 Ii 17 If the child lives till tin it is ten years old and then dies dieM the company pays l O. O It is argued that self interest will ill tend to make a a. murderously inclined in in- dined guardian stay sta his hand while the child is if very young The superintendent of the Gerry Society Society So So- once answered the parents parents' self argument in tins wa way TIle The parents b bet t the child will die lie the thecO cO company bets the child will live If the child were wet in the company's custody its self interest would lead it to care for it The child is in the tile custody of those hose who bet it will not live I e and aud who are arc sometimes some some- times interested in winning the bet Let the crusade crusade cru cru- sade against the s system stem of offering otTering prizes for in infants infants' infants infants' deaths extend all over the country Let the lawmakers eliminate this tills horrible condition of affail's affairs affairs af af- af- af fairs fails that appeals so directly to the cupidity of brutal bru bra brutal tal mothers and fathers Let us stop this awful b which bet their children chil form of gambling by r parents dren li-en will die and some want to win the wager |