A Kansas Mother to the Children's Bureau

[DoctorMyEyes]

1928: January 13
A Kansas Mother to the Children's Bureau

For several decades in the early part of the century, the U.S. Department of Labor's Children's Bureau tried to educate women about how to care for themselves and their children. The bureau was well known for distributing two pamphlets - Infant Care (1913) and Prenatal Care (1914) - to millions of women who, like Mrs. E. S., frequently had no other access to basic health information, let alone advice about birth control.

Dear Sirs: -

I have followed your book on Infant Care and found it Wanderful. But I'm comming with my largest problem. I amd a Mother of 2 little boys 1 yr apart & expect to be a mother again this summer. Im only in my twenties. We Rent a farm & find it a hard row to hoe to provide food &close for us all. We can not meet expenses. My health is going downhill from hard Work & Bearing babies. My husband works hard & worries, also has the Asthama so bad in Winter I find My self doing a Man's Work. This is hard to be a Mother, Wife, & especially the outside Work.

Now what I want to know is Why can't We poor people be given Birth Control as well as Dr's. & the Rich people that could provide & Dr. their families. We need help to prevent any more babies. After this next one comes Im going to seek advice if Possible so We can live more happy. Don't you think it better to be Parents of 3 which we are willing to work & do all we can for them, to raise & provide food for us all, then to hafto have 6 or more that would take us down into the grave & leave 6 or more for poverty to take & be Motherless ? I think it unfair Dr's. & Rich seek Birht Control & the poor can't seek nothing, only Poverty & more babies. Any safe advice of where to go or do. I'm willing to undergo anything after our next baby comes to make me steral. Birth Control, I believe in it strong to keep down divorce cases & Poverty, also so many a Criminal Case. Please advice us. Thanking you in advance. Please don't publish this letter with my name signed to it thou I'm sure it would be enjoyed by the Poor class of people.

I am Resp.

Mrs. E. S.

[DoctorMyEyes]

1. Going backwards

This is what the Sarah Palins of the world want to take us back to. And just like then, the rich and connected will be able to find ways to take care of their needs while the poor and most vulnerable will simply be "up shit's creek".

Oh, and this was a real letter, excerpted from "Letters of the Century", edited by Lisa Grunwald and Stephen J. Adler.

[ogneopasno]

2. Kick and rec and

a hug and a prayer for Mrs. E.S. and her family, wherever they are now.

[treestar]

3. Um, quit having sex, lady

:sarcasm: