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.