nt. The Research Committee of the
Christian Social Union (London Branch) undertook, in 1905, an
inquiry into the employment of women after childbirth. Women in
factories and workshops were excluded from the inquiry which only
had reference to women engaged in household duties, in home
industries, and in casual work. It was found that the majority
carry on their employment right up to the time of confinement and
resume it from ten to fourteen days later. The infantile death
rate for the children of women engaged only in household duties
was greatly lower than that for the children of the other women,
while, as ever, the hand-fed infants had a vastly higher death
rate than the breast-fed infants (_British Medical Journal_, Oct.
24, 1908, p. 1297).

In the great French gun and armour-plate works at Creuzot (Saone
et Loire) the salaries of expectant mothers among the employees
are raised; arrangements are made for giving them proper advice
and medical attendance; they are not allowed to work after the
middle of pregnancy or to return to work after confinement
without a medical certificate of fitness. The results are said to
be excellent, not only on the health of the mothers, but in the
diminution of premature births, the decrease of infantile deaths,
and the general prevalence of breast-feeding. It would probably
be hopeless to expect many employers in Anglo-Saxon lands to
adopt this policy. They are too "practical," they know how small
is the money-value of human lives. With us it is necessary for
the State to intervene.

There can be no doubt that, on the whole, modern civilized
communities are beginning to realize that under the social and
economic conditions now tending more and more to prevail, they
must in their own interests insure that the mother's best energy
and vitality are devoted to the child, both before and after its
birth. They are also realizing that they cannot carry out their
duty in this respect unless they make adequate provision for the
mothers who are thus compelled to renounce their employment in
order to devote themselves to their children. We here reach a
point at which Individualism is at one with Socialism. The
individualist cannot fail to see that it is at all cost necessary
to remove social conditions which crush out all individuality;
the S