gnize as economic assets of society the special
sacrifice and service of the housemother in her function of life-giver
for the coming generations and yet not ignore the father but rather
bring him nearer to competent fatherhood as social conditions make it
easier for him to bear his part of the family load. The place for full
discussion of these important considerations is not here, but the need
for the child to have a father who can be the efficient partner of the
competent mother in the task of rearing him must be always insisted
upon, else reform measures that help the mother will only take us
backward instead of forward.

=The Right of a Child to be Officially Counted.=--The next right of
the child we must consider is the right to be listed as a member of
the population. A registry of facts concerning himself and his
condition that will enable the community to see where he is, what he
is doing, and how he, in general, fares, is essential. The fact that
only about one-half of the Commonwealths in our Union have full
registration of births, deaths, health conditions, school attendance,
and other vital matters concerning each individual, and of immense
importance to society as a whole, is a confession of social
incompetency too shameful for a nation that calls itself civilized.
Where there is no adequate registration babies may be easily lost
sight of altogether. Children may escape the call to school and child
labor be unchecked. When an investigation of conditions in almshouses
and remote country districts of a certain southern state was made the
numbers of defective and blind and crippled children brought to light
was appalling. Yet one political leader of that state, at least,
declared when the investigation began that "it was not only
unnecessary but an insult to an enlightened state." The enlightened
state simply did not know how many children were born dead, how many
died the first month or year of life, how many went to school later
on, how many were not able to profit by instruction because of
congenital defectiveness, how many needed special care and training by
reason of some special handicap, and how many ran away from such
public institutions as gave poor harbor to those without family
protection. One of the fundamental rights, surely, of every child is
to be counted, to have the community of which he is a part know
something about him, and have his record kept where those interested
in his protection and