“It is a striking fact which clearly shows the connection between prostitution and the unfortunate condition of servant girls and menials employed in the country, that of 94,779 illegitimate children born in 1906, 21,164 were the children of servant girls and 18,869 were the children of girls otherwise employed in the country. Together this made 40,033 or 42 per cent. If servants employed in the country and female farm hands are taken together, they constitute 30 per cent., while girls industrially employed constitute 14 per cent (13,460).”[119]
The difference in the rate of mortality between legitimate and illegitimate children is especially marked during the first month, when the mortality of illegitimate children is on an average three times as great as that of legitimate children. Lack of care during pregnancy and during the confinement and improper care of the child after birth are the simple causes of this great mortality of illegitimate children. Ill treatment and neglect help to increase the number of the victims. The number of still-born children is greater among the illegitimate than among the legitimate also. This is probably chiefly due to attempts on the part of the mother to bring about the death of the child during pregnancy.
To this must be added the cases of infanticide that are not found out because the murdered child is counted among the still-born. Bertillon claims, that to the 205 cases of infanticide recorded in the legal documents of France, should be added at least 1,500 alleged still-births and 1,400 cases of intentional killing by starvation.[120]
The following table shows the number of legitimate and illegitimate children in various European countries for every 100 still-births.
| During the years | Legitimate | Illegitimate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | 1891–1900 | 3.15 | 4.25 |
| Prussia | 1900–1902 | 3.02 | 4.41 |
| Saxony | 1891–1900 | 3.31 | 4.24 |
| Bavaria | 1891–1900 | 2.98 | 3.61 |
| Wurtemberg | 1891–1900 | 3.30 | 3.48 |
| Baden | 1891–1900 | 2.62 | 3.35 |
| Austria | 1895–1900 | 2.64 | 3.86 |
| Switzerland | 1897–1903 | 3.40 | 6.14 |
| France | 1891–1895 | 4.40 | 7.54 |
| Netherlands | 1891–1900 | 4.38 | 8.13 |
| Denmark | 1893–1894 | 2.40 | 3.20 |
| Sweden | 1891–1895 | 2.46 | 3.30 |
| Norway | 1891–1900 | 2.47 | 4.06 |
| Finland | 1891–1900 | 2.54 | 4.43 |
| Italy | 1891–1896 | 3.89 | 5.16[121] |
The survivors revenge themselves on society for the ill-treatment accorded them by furnishing an unusually high percentage of the criminals of all grades.
[106] Dr. Licard de Planzoles—La Fonction Sexuelle. Paris, 1908.
[107] Kamillo Karl Schneider—The Prostitute and Society—a Sociological and Ethical Study, Leipsic, 1908.
[108] Karl Marx, Capital.