e resolution on the subject, by
the Convention of June 28, 1793, runs thus: "The nation takes charge of
the physical and moral education of abandoned children. From that moment
they will be designated only by the term of orphans. No other
designation shall be allowed." Quite convenient for the men, who,
thereby, shifted the obligation of the individual upon the collectivity,
to the end of escaping exposure before the public and their wives. In
all the provinces of the land, orphan and foundling asylums were set up.
The number of orphans and foundlings ran up, in 1893, to 130,945, of
which it was estimated that each tenth child was legitimate, but not
wanted by its parents. But no particular care was taken of these
children, and the mortality among them was, accordingly, great. In that
year, fully 59 per cent., i. e., more than one-half died during the
first year of their lives; 78 per cent. died twelve years of age and
under. Accordingly, of every 100 only 22 reached the age of twelve years
and over. It is claimed that matters have in the meantime improved in
those establishments.

In Austria and Italy also foundling asylums were established, and their
support assumed by the State. "_Ici on fait mourir les enfants_" (Here
children are killed) is the inscription that a certain King is said to
have recommended as fit for foundling asylums. In Austria, they are
gradually disappearing; there are now only eight of them left; also the
treatment and care of the children has considerably improved to what it
was. In 1888, there were 40,865 children cared for in Austria, including
Galicia; of these 10,466 were placed in public institutions, 30,399
under private care, at a joint cost of 1,817,372 florins. Mortality was
slighter among the children in the public institutions than among those
placed under private care. This was especially the case in Galicia.
There, 31.25 per cent. of the children died during the year 1888 in the
public establishments, by far more than in the public establishments of
other countries; but of those under private care, 84.21 per cent.
died,--a veritable mass-assassination. It almost looks as though the
Polish slaughterhouse system aimed at killing off these poor little
worms as swiftly as possible. It is a generally accepted fact that the
percentage of deaths among children born out of wedlock is far higher
than among those born in wedlock. In Prussia there died, early in the
sixties, during the first y