For this reason the establishment of paternity
should be compulsory on the mother or her relations as it now is in
Norway. Every child has a right to a father as well as to a mother.

The ante-natal conditions of these babies are obviously of the very
worst. All those months when a woman most requires special rest, special
quiet, and, in particular, special mental repose, will be spent in
anxiety and fear. In too many cases the girl has to keep herself, and it
is mighty difficult to get a job without a character. And, here, let me
point out to those who believe vaguely that a "love-child" is a finer
type than other children, that this is true only in so far as the
atmosphere in which the mother spends her pregnancy is one of love and
undisturbed calm. Do let us face the facts of the situation.

Often the baby is born wherever the driven mother can find shelter, the
baby's interests in the matter being certainly of no account then or
later. In the eyes of the law the child is without rights and belongs to
no one. In the eyes of our Christian society he is a "branded outcast,"
in the eyes of his mother too often he is but a mark of her shame:
conditions of injustice to the child that must too often result in the
growing up of a poor type of child.

It has been found that illegitimates at birth are quite as hardy as
legitimate children; they would even seem to be born stronger, since
they die, unlike the legitimate, more frequently in the _second_ month
than the _first_; and more frequently in the _third_ than in the
_second_ month. The deferred and insufficient regulation of the child's
diet, the frequent failure on the part of the father to provide the
means of support, the not uncommon indifference on the part of the
mother towards her child's welfare, and the necessity of placing the
child in cheap care, are the chief causes of the high mortality rates
among illegitimate children.

Even in the few fortunate cases where the maximum alimony is claimed and
granted to the mother, there is no certainty that the weekly payments
will be continued and regularly paid throughout the child's growing
years, and though there is improvement in this direction since the
Affiliation Orders Act, 1914, and the appointment of a Collecting
Officer, there is still far too easy opportunity for the escape of a
shirking father. The law takes no cognizance of the fact that in the
majority of cases it is an absolute impossibility for the mot