Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 65, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 March 1920 — CENSUS STATISTICS SHOW BIG INCREASE IN BIRTHS [ARTICLE]

CENSUS STATISTICS SHOW BIG INCREASE IN BIRTHS

New York, March 11.—The census bureau in Washington is publishing vital statistics for 1920 as fast as they can be compiled but infonhation gathered by the United Press today indicated the enumerators will never catch up with the population. (Reports from cities throughout the country showed a general increase in births during the first two months of this year compared with the corresponding period of last year. This increase was practically uniform in all sections. Milwaukee and Seattle were the only places to report a decrease. Adoptions wherever figures were available, generally showed even a greater ratio of increase than births. Many cities reported a commensurate decrease in the number of babies abandoned by their parents. The desire of mothers who cannot support their babies to assure them of a good home rather than trust to the comparative uncertainty of an institution has been evinced through several instances of babies being “auctioned off” in some cases even before birth.