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BABU

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 98 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BABU , a native See also:

Indian clerk. The word is really a See also:term of respect attached to a proper name, like " See also:master " or " Mr," and Babu ji is still used in many parts of See also:India, meaning " See also:sir "; but without the suffix the word itself is now generally used contemptuously as signifying a semi-literate native, with a See also:mere See also:veneer of See also:modern See also:education. BABY-FARMING,' a term meaning generally the taking in of infants to See also:nurse for See also:payment, but usually with an implication of improper treatment. Previous to the See also:year 1871 the abuse of the practice of baby-farming in See also:England had grown to an alarming extent, while the trials of See also:Margaret See also:Waters and See also:Mary See also:Hall called See also:attention to the infamous relations between the lying-in houses and the baby-farming houses of See also:London. The evil was, no doubt, largely connected with the question of See also:illegitimacy, for there was a wide-spread existence of baby-farms where See also:children were received without question on payment of a lump sum. Such children were nearly all illegitimate, and in these cases it was to the pecuniary See also:advantage of the baby-See also:farmer to hasten the See also:death of the See also:child. It had become also the practice for factory operatives and See also:mill-hands to See also:place out ' Baby is a diminutive or pet See also:form of " babe," now chiefly used in See also:poetry or scriptural See also:language. " Babe " is probably a form of the earlier baban, a reduplicated form of the See also:infant See also:sound ba. See also:Ili. 4their children by the See also:day, and since in many cases the children were looked upon as a See also:burden and a drain on their parents' resources, too particular inquiry was not always made as to the mode in which the children were cared for. The form was gone through too of paying a ridiculously insufficient sum for the See also:maintenance of the child. In 1871 the See also:House of See also:Commons found it necessary to appoint a select See also:committee " to inquire as. to the best means of preventing the destruction of the lives of infants put out to nurse for hire by their parents." "Improper and insufficient See also:food," said the committee, " opiates, drugs, crowded rooms, See also:bad See also:air, want of cleanliness, and wilful neglect are sure to be followed in a few months by See also:diarrhoea, See also:convulsions and wasting away." These unfortunate children were nearly all illegitimate, and the mere fact of their being See also:hand-nursed, and not See also:breast-nursed, goes some way (according to the experie ence of the Foundling See also:hospital and the Magdalene See also:home) to, explain the See also:great mortality among them.

Such children, when nursed by their mothers in the workhouse, generally live. The See also:

practical result of the committee of 187r was the See also:act of 1872; which provided for the compulsory See also:registration of all houses in which more than one child under the See also:age of one year were received for a longer See also:period than twenty-four See also:hours. N9 See also:licence was granted by the justices of the See also:peace, unless the house was suitable for the purpose, and its owner a See also:person of See also:good See also:character and able to maintain the children. Offences against the act, including wilful neglect of the children even in a suitable housb, were punishable by a See also:fine of 5 or six months' imprisonment with or without hard labour. In 1896 a select committee of the House of Lords sat and reported on the working of this act. In consequence of this See also:report the act of 1872 was repealed and superseded by the Infant See also:Life See also:Protection Act 1897, which did away with the See also:system of registration and substituted for it one of See also:notice to a supervening authority. By the act all persons retaining or receiving for hire more than one infant under the age of five had to give written notice of the fact to the See also:local authority. The local authorities were empowered to appoint inspectors, and required to arrange for the periodical inspection of infants so taken in, while they could also See also:fix the number of infants which might be retained. By a See also:special clause any person, receiving an infant under the age of two years for a sum of See also:money not exceeding twenty pounds had to give notice of the fact to the local authority. If any infants were improperly kept, the inspector might obtain an See also:order for their removal to a See also:work-house orplace of safety until restored to their parents or guardians, or otherwise legally disposed of. The act of 1897 was repealed and amended by the Children Act 1908, which codified the See also:lacy See also:relating to children, and added many new provisions. This act is dealt with in the See also:article CHILDREN, See also:LAW RELATING TO.

In the See also:

United States the law is noticeably strict in most states. In See also:Massachusetts, a law of 1891 directs that "every person who receives for See also:board, or for the purpose of procuring See also:adoption, an infant under the age of three years shall use See also:diligence to ascertain whether or not such infant is illegitimate, and if he knows or has See also:reason to believe it to be illegitimate shall forthwith notify the See also:State Board of Charity of the fact of such reception; and said board and its See also:officers or agents may enter and inspect any See also:building where they may have reason to believe that any such illegitimate infant is boarded, and remove such infant when, in their See also:judgment, such removal is necessary by reason of neglect, abuse or other causes, in order to preserve the infant's life, and such infant so removed shall be in the custody of said Board of Charity, which shall make See also:provision therefor according to law." The penal See also:code of the state of New See also:York requires a licence for baby-farming to be, issued by the board of See also:health of the See also:city or See also:town where such children are boarded or kept, and " every person so licensed must keep a See also:register wherein he shall enter the names and ages of all such children, and of all children See also:born on such premises, and the names and residences of their parents, as far as known, the See also:time of reception and the See also:discharge of such children, and the reasons therefor, and also a correct register of every child under five years of age who is given out, adopted, taken away, or indentured from such place II to or by any one, together with the name and See also:residence of the person so adopting " (See also:Pen. Code, § 288, subsec. 4). Persons neglecting children may be prosecuted under § 289 of the N.Y. penal code, which provides that any person who " wilfully causes or permits the life or See also:limb of any child, actually or apparently under the age of sixteen years, to be endangered, or its health to be injured, or its morals to become depraved ... is guilty of a See also:misdemeanour." In See also:Australia particular care has been taken by most of the states to prevent the evils of baby-farming. In See also:South Australia there is a State Children's See also:Council, which, under the State Children Act of 1895, has large See also:powers with respect to the oversight of infants under two years boarded out by their See also:mother. " See also:Foster-mothers," as the See also:women who take in infants as boarders are called, must be licensed, while the number of children authorized to be kept by the foster-mother is fixed by licence; every licensed foster-mother must keep a register containing the name, age and place of See also:birth of every child received by her, the names, addresses and description of the parents, or of any person other than the parents from or to whom the child was received or delivered over, the date of See also:receipt or delivery over, particulars of any See also:accident to or illness of the child, and the name of the medical practitioner (if any) by whom attended. In New South See also:Wales the Children's Protection Act of 2892, with the amendments of 1902, requires the same state supervision over the homes in which children are boarded out, with licensing of foster-mothers.

End of Article: BABU

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