Number of Pregnancies. Infant Mortality Rate. 1 and 2 108.5 per 1,000 3 and 4 126.0 per 1,000 5 and 6 152.8 per 1,000 7 and 8 176.4 per 1,000 9 or more 191.9 per 1,000 Average 149.9 per 1,000 In contemplating these figures we think immediately of wage-earning mothers away from home, ignorant feeding, and lack of care. These are powerful factors in raising the death rate. Of all the 1911 babies who died before they were a year old, 37% died in the first month of life. So much pain and misery and then no baby after all. All the skill in the world could not have saved those babies who lived only long enough to die. The infant mortality rate for the babies whose fathers earn under $521 is almost twice as great as for those born into families in the most prosperous group. These figures strengthen the conclusion reached in the study of the babies born in 1911, namely that the economic factor is of far-reaching importance in determining the baby’s chance of life. One of the tables showing the influence of the economic factor, is calculated on the basis of 1,434 live-born babies with fathers. 187 of these babies succumbed during the first year, giving a general mortality rate of 130.7 per 1,000. In these families a very few of the mothers worked outside the homes. Father’s earnings Live-births Deaths 1st year Infant mortality rate Under $625 384 82 213.5 $625 to $899 385 47 122.1 $900 or more 186 18 96.8 Ample 476 40 84.0 Expressed in words, this table asserts that when the family income is under $625 a year, the children born alive die before the first birthday at the rate of 213.5 to the 1,000. In striking contrast when the income is $900 or more, they die only 96.8 to the 1,000. “Ample” was the expression used when the investigator could not obtain exact information as to the amount, but saw no evidence of actual poverty. The same ratio held good when it was calculated for the native-born mothers alone and when it was calculated for the foreign-born mothers alone. Even where mothers are American-born women, staying at home to look after their children, the amount of money to be spent on the child strongly influences its chance of life and death.