Show BA JW fajna co sll H lyly 11 4 INFANTS js 3 TO 0 7 P PR er desat wj A RIO BIG PP 0 A AV A 6 C I 1 6 Z ff el r 0 71 bryie e CABS 1 4 jr 7 W cyl baby farming has i CHICAGO extended as a profitable bust busl liess in chicago the profits accrue from starved bodies neglected and ill III treat ed children homeless and dependent upon the farmer with whom they are boarded nt at from three to seven dollars per week most moat of 0 the farms faring are situated tn in where tumbling bunilla ar lre decaying InI fIlth and neglect tho the babies are helpless hel pleBs and have no right ot of selections they must suffer tn in al lonce lence and often die from disease ill sease and neglect the first baby farm visited by a reporter for tho the sunday tribune was kept by a middle aged woman trying to care for eight or ten small chi children in cramped quarters and under poor conditions undoubtedly this woman meant well enough dut but she needed the money she simply could not devote enough time to each child to giveins gi veIts little life a fighting chance A baby farm does not mean a place where the grass grams Is green and there are plenty of trees and cows but a dingy flat in the yards or a four room cottage on a corner where live five car lines meet there la Is nothing comfortable about a baby farm iut the income of the woman who often appears corpulent and lux luxurious iVious in contrast to the emaciated infants in i her charge here the babies are all teeth long hair end cud legs they are so BO thin they took look like cadaverous birds opening their mouths continuously for nourishment which they do not get gel inspection fear of keepers Keeper when a tribune reporter went unhidden unbidden to one baby farm in the suburbs aubur liB the woman in charge turned palo pale and her lips trembled she ali I 1 most arev drev ped a bottle of soothing gimp 8 the she wits waa carrying anti gained control of herself only when told i that the reporter had bail a baby to board 0 0 she che said bald taking tailing a long lone breath 1 I thought won vou from the board of t health they are the he babies tn fierce dont allow more aban four children to a house they are gettan so en strict walls from several distressed voices voice monteil floate lon teil 11 down from rom the ottlo attic as she spoke an I 1 there were five children in tho the room it was waa one of 0 tb those problems of 0 two times two are five which ts used to write about abou t in school on composition week mental calculation was waa interrupted by tho the door bell A pale oale mother almost lo a sailor hat bat and tit in a cheap long mat coat stood on the littlon stoop before the door she wished to board her ber terl days daya om old baby as a a she he had bad to go BO to work in a restaurant t the he next day d ay A whispered conference followed in the doorway door wae the trail mollier crossed tie the womans comans palm with three pieces of silver before she bho hurried oft off to fetch her baby infants infanta the choice boarder how flow old la fa your baby babaa ana asked aked A year old I 1 stammered not knowing whether to make any titrous child real young toting or not then I 1 realized my mistake 1 I like ilko infants best infants infanta sleep mot most of i the time and dont lother me she bho said shaking tho the botte of 0 cordial significantly what do you charge V I 1 asked she sh picked up a weak child from a dirty iray gay blanket ou en too the bare floor and said 1 I 1 get five dollars a n week for bo boardly board ardin ln this one shaa gettan her teeth and looks puny pun but ashes strong ill pay you five dollars a week but I 1 must look over the place to see just juat whore where the baby will sleep and what attention houi can give it the woman slanted her shrewd eyes and demurred haggling for a bargain 1 I halat got much room chave I 1 have four children ot of my own and there are my two boarders my husband and myself my father lives with roe me too I 1 cant take no more mora babies in the attic but ill put your baby in inthe the parlor for seven dollars a week I 1 was afraid of the cats in the front room cats th 3 lesser leaser danger I 1 Noth ln Is going to hurt your baby slee sleeping pin down here she insisted a little coldly lifting her voice above the walls at f the infants in the att attic le I 1 ive boarded children coln on six years and nd has ever happened to one of them I 1 insisted upon placing my child in tho the attic then she reluctantly led the way through the kitchen where I 1 discovered more children A two year old boarder in a dirty dress rocked herself wearily pear near the range two other wails waifs stood on chairs hacking at a loat loaf of bread blead lying on the mussy oilcloth on the kitchen table A bare back yard decorated with scraps of old ohl iron and pinny nany tin cans could be seen its whole length to tho the high unpainted board fence through the open doorway this Is where the children play I 1 stumbled lol up the attic stairs behind tho the woman who beenke become wedged in the narrow passageway now and then and stol stolid Pd to catch her breath at last we reached the top it v was as only a half room up there I 1 could stand up straight only when I 1 gained the middle ot of the room on a bed in a lark dark corner lay eight babies halt undressed tand and crying and squirming in empty milk bottles and dirty clothes were scattered scatter d over tho the floor the one window in the at tic lc was ir closed securely by it a nail I 1 hurried down all for fop the greed of ineyl eight babies in tho the attic eight below four our children of her own two boarders rn an aged father lier her husband and herself to care for all living in four rooms and an attic this Is 3 abat the greed for or money had bad led one ona woman to besides she ahe washed and ironed and did all her housework while caring for the boarding babies A bleak wall on an unpaved street was as the exterior of a certain baby w farm in a third floor hat flat down in the yards pushing the button above the speaking tube in the middle of tho the wall 11 1 I listened chos there theme cargo cane down through the mouthpiece 1 I 1 wish to come up take the back stairs camo came the an answer s following the broken board walk I 1 squeezed between two walls and climbed the back stairs tho the surprised german maid announced that her mistress was waa rot not at home when I 1 pushed through the he screen reen door I 1 felt rell relieved eved that I 1 it t want necessary to have the responsibility of a six weeks old fild baby on my hands to board 1 I 1 changed the tha ago age of the child from one year to bit air backa w ito 0 oil athe the way down on the he street reet ear car 41 al I 1 had bad to dolit the be second baby farm was to 1001 lookaround arduna roozel room iri general disarray oti ori the floor in the kitchen lay four babies kicking first brat one pink sock nock to in the air and then a white one I 1 noticed that the stockings of 0 most moat of 0 the babies babler were not mates on the kitchen table stood three clothes baskets bashe tB ant and I 1 in n each ch was an infant walling kiteus ay in the corners corn era on chairs beside the kitchen range banging like alk cocoons everywhere were baskets with babies sleeping on pillows turned brown from there were nine in the kitchen RIO alone n 0 in the next room were more mor fra frail il babies howling from their go carts cribs and baskets and in the front room more babies cried an infant covered by a mosquito bar lay apart she had bad sore eyes milk not even dolled boiled A seventeen year old mother stood leaning over a sleeping baby in the parlor lies iles mine his name Is fred she whispered he be look bad they almost killed him after I 1 left him here six weeks he fie was so GO neglected that he had 1 spasms I 1 had to give up my work in the factory and watch him tor for three weeks lies iles still thin the doctor said he was wag starving by inches one time when I 1 came to visit him I 1 round found him drinking raw milk that had not been boiled another time when I 1 came unexpectedly to see my baby I 1 found a strange baby wearing my babas clothes the superintendent of the baby farm Is cruel to the older children ashes too loo strict allow them to play in the yard and makes them sit in a chair all day when she la Is around she sends them oft off to school without breakfast and they have only bread and molasses tor for lunch one morning I 1 hal had a spare hour before I 1 had to be at the factory I 1 ran down to see am my baby I 1 did not see the older children eating breakfast I 1 asked mary the oldest child if she had had her breaks break fast she answered that none of the caldr children e n had As a punishment the superintendent of the baby farm makes the children stand in a corner tor for hours when they are naughty she has a dark closet tor for the mischievous ones she pours castor oil and other lubricants down the throats of youngsters who tell falsehoods or washes their mouths out with strong soap to keep them from telling stories they must play in n a subdued way in the kitchen if they play at all little incentive to laughter I 1 glanced at the three little girls and the one little boy sitting around the kitchen table stacking a deck of greasy playing cards they looked as it if they never smiled broiled rho maid fished a bottle of milk from the tin boiler bailer full of 0 hot water on the kitchen range she carried it into the second room A loud 0 scream of pain came from the sec second d room tho the seventeen year old mother and I 1 ran tol the tha rescue of the infant in distress the mother reached the child first she cooled the hot lottle bottle of milk under tinder a faucet in the kitchen how they attend to babies giving them boiling milk snapped the mother trying to relieve the tha burned childs pain while the maid mumbled 1 I know how the milk should be its not too hot bot it Is usually one long hard struggle with neglect and continuous discomfort for the children two infants infanta were killed from under underfeeding feeding at one farm fann the records show one child Is whipped with a rawhide by an attendant the mother claimed a baby fingers were burned an in infant rant was wa scalded on tho the side when the mother called for a visit anyhow the sixteen infants in this baby farm in the third floor flat down in the yards looked like plants kept away from the sun atin many reasons for seclusion the children are kept housed for many reasons because the neighbors do not like to have so many children around and give the superintendent of a baby farm trouble in finding a flat because there Is danger from contagious disease when infants aro are taken abr abroad 0 ad or because the tha woman farmer Is too proud to let it bo be known that she boards babies for a living one proprietor of a baby farm hats has four grown daughters who are d devotees bevc to e a of fashion these daughters object to the baby farm and the infants although they have no compunctions ions against spending the lit in come from this source one dan daughter gb attends normal school from money earned by her mother in the baby farm yet daughter will do nothing for the babies when at home she dislikes to have them around cht cago C 0 tribune |