Sir:

I have the honour to report as follows concerning the treatment of children by the various races and sects in Aleppo Consular District, viz.:

In many ways the treatment of children by the various races and sects inhabiting Northern Syria differs vastly from that practised in other countries. Strangely similar in one particular to the custom of the American Indian, immediately after birth the child is wrapped in cloths until it resembles the form of a mummy of ancient Egyptian times, in which state it is kept and carried about by nurses and small children until it is considered old enough to learn to walk, when it is given the freedom of its limbs. Very young babies must suffer considerably by this treatment, evidenced by their constant restlessness and crying, no doubt preventing the baby from attaining to its natural strength and activity until after it has been free for some months. During cold weather a ball of a certain kind of clay about the capacity of a quart is heated and kept wrapped at the feet of the infant to prevent it catching cold. Among certain of the lower classes the illness of a girl baby does not cause the anxiety that it does in the case of a boy, consequently causing a much higher rate of mortality among the female than the male children.

Among the Arabs, as soon as the children of the tribesmen are six or seven years old they are put to herding sheep and goats, which vocation they generally follow during their lives, never going to school or having any kind of instruction. The sons of the sheiks (chiefs) of the tribes are either sent to school in the cities, or a private tutor, usually a “hodja” (Mohammedan teacher or priest), is engaged, while the girls are given no education whatever.

The position of a girl varies greatly as between the different races and sects of the country. For instance, among the Arab and Kurdish tribes, and the Fellaheen (non-Christian farmers), a girl is a source of revenue to the father who, when she is of marriageable age, trades or sells her to her prospective husband, obtaining live stock or money to the equivalent of eight to twenty “chees,” or $176 to $440 (a “chees” equals $22.00), the selling price depending upon the beauty of the girl and the prominence of her family from the standpoint of wealth and influence. Among these races the really fat girl commands the highest admiration. The heavier she is the more she is desired and the better price she brings.

Formerly the Christian and Hebrew families gave their girls little schooling, but instead taught them to do embroidery and crochet work. Among even relatively poor families there exists a certain pride that causes housework to be regarded as degrading, and only those will become servants who are forced to do so by straitened circumstances. In late years there is a tendency to give the girls some education, which the Christians and Jews receive at the mission establishments of the Americans, French, English, Italians, Germans, Swiss, etc., while a very limited number of Mohammedan girls attend local public schools conducted exclusively for them.

Contrary to the custom prevailing among the Arabs, Kurds, and Fellaheen, the Christians and Jews greatly prefer to have boy babies, and it is considered a great misfortune if most or all of the children of a family are girls. The boys are sent to the respective community and foreign mission schools, and some of the more enlightened and progressive families afterwards send their boys to the colleges at Beyrouth, Syria, to complete their education.

It is the main object of every such family to marry off the girls as soon as possible, for it is considered a great shame to the girl if she is left unmarried until after twenty or twenty-two years of age. Marriage is the most important event, and the only one in which she is in any way prominent in all her life. Her great object in life is to become a wife and be the mother of a boy, the latter event always raising her in the estimation of her acquaintances and friends, and giving her considerable importance for the time being, whereas it is the contrary if the baby is a girl. In many families the young wife is not permitted to speak aloud in the presence of strangers or of the father-in-law until a boy is born to her.

Parents generally engage their children at very early ages, in which little attention is paid to the wishes or dislikes of the prospective bride and groom. In fact, unborn children are sometimes provisionally engaged to each other by their parents, either for sentimental or financial reasons. Perhaps three-fourths of the girls of the country are married before they reach the age of sixteen, and many are married between twelve and fourteen.

The consideration paid on the occasion of the marriage of non-Mohammedan, or Christian and Jewish girls, goes the other way from that paid at the marriage of an Arab girl, it being the desire of the groom to have as large a dowry as possible for his wife, and which goes to help make up the family exchequer. It consequently results that if a family that is not well to do has many girls it is very difficult to marry them well.

A certain brutality of parents towards their children exists among the lower classes, a condition that is probably due more to inferior intelligence caused by lack of education than to anything else. As but a very small minority of the population of this part of the country, say twenty per cent., and a much smaller proportion of the tribes of the interior read and write, this attitude is readily understood.

The prevalence of crippled begging children in the cities leads to the supposition that they are not all deformed by accident or disease, but that in many instances they have been purposely so rendered in order to more profitably ply their trade by creating sympathy in the minds of the persons addressed in their appeals for succour. During the summer months a considerable number of such pitiable creatures between four and eight years old may be seen in the streets of Aleppo, some with deformed legs, some with spinal afflictions, and others blind or otherwise maimed, many unable to walk and hutching from place to place, collecting coppers from those whom their condition touches. As the hour grows late in the night these unfortunates gradually disappear one by one, and if a person is interested in their destination they may be seen to be gathered up in some obscure corner by an apparent relative or guardian, lifted to the shoulder and carried away into the maze of various Oriental residential quarters, where their scanty collection is spent in support of a family, or for the poisonous rakee, a strong alcoholic drink much relished by the lower element. It was suspected that a sort of society existed whereby such children were produced and let out to certain parties to be exploited for their personal benefit, but no serious investigation has ever been made, and the nefarious traffic continues.

I have the honour to be, Sir,

Your obedient servant,

(Signed) Jesse B. Jackson,

American Consul.

American Consulate,

Aleppo, Syria, December 15, 1913.

(Consul, Jesse B. Jackson, Aleppo, Syria.)

The Honourable,
The Secretary of State,
Washington.
Sir:

I have the honour to transmit herewith a report in triplicate,461 of today’s date, subject, “Treatment of Children,” which is in reply to an inquiry addressed to this Consulate by Mr. George Henry Payne, New York City, to whom the triplicate copy is hereby requested to be forwarded.

Copies thereof are being sent to the Embassy and Consulate-General, respectively, Constantinople.

I have the honour to be, Sir,

Your obedient servant,

Jesse B. Jackson,

American Consul.

Enclosure:
Copy of the triplicate report, as above indicated.

American Consular Service,
Sierra Leone, Africa, April 7, 1914.

George Henry Payne, Esq.,

New York.

Sir:

Yours dated November 1, 1913, has been in my hands some time. The information you request is rather broad, and would require much investigation to be of any real service to you. Certainly I have some information, in a general way, but to write it would take much more space than a letter could contain. But in short, the attitude of the natives of Sierra Leon at present toward children is all of that of a primitive people emerging into European civilization. Children are regarded very much as a financial asset, especially by the mothers, and are kept much under the influence and control of the mothers so long as they live. Those emerging out of tribal customs into European customs have pretty much the same relations as exist between parents and children in Europe or America. However, there is little love between the child and father, generally speaking, but much between mother and child. Boys usually remain in the care of the mothers until they reach the age of puberty, at which time they leave the association of their mothers and sisters and have that of their older brothers and fathers, almost exclusively. Upon leaving their mothers’ care and training they are usually, among those who cling to tribal customs, turned over to the “medicine man,” or doctor, who claims to know much. They are taken into the “Poro Society” where they are circumcised, and taught the duties of a man, the use of certain native medicines, etc. The girls remain in the care of the mothers, but at the age of puberty, or a little while before, are placed into the care of one or more old women who conduct a female school, the “bundoo” society, where the girls have an operation performed upon them similar to circumcision, and are taught the duties of a mother and wife, how to care for themselves, and the use of certain native medicines. The rule is that the girls are not eligible for marriage until they have been through the “bundoo,” and boys or young men not until they have been circumcised; but in addition boys must earn their wives by the payment of dowries—presents to the girls’ mothers and fathers. Children are usually required to perform such work or labor as they are physically able to perform, strict obedience to their parents and great respect for their seniors, even for older brothers and sisters, though they be not grown. Children are expected to care for and to provide for their parents in their old age. Etc.

I regret that I am unable to give you fuller information.

Very sincerely,

W. J. Yerby,

American Consul at Sierra Leone.

Dear Sir:

In reply to your inquiry regarding the attitude of the people of Japan toward children and the practice of infanticide, I have the following, which is the result of interviews with representative Japanese and of my own observations.

As a rule, Japanese are very kind to children and very fond of them; usually they are allowed their own way a good deal when small and spoiled so that very severe discipline is administered later in an effort to correct this. Among the lower classes children are very often looked upon as a sort of insurance or investment against old age; also the system of ancestor worship makes it a highly desirable thing to have children, particularly sons. For these reasons children are looked upon with great favour and large families are the rule.

Infanticide is now a crime and is so strictly and severely punished that it cannot be said to be common, although it does exist to some extent. However, up to about fifty years ago this was not the case; it was not a crime and was very common. The father of a family had supreme power over the family, even including the power of life and death, and was free to do with his children almost as he chose. In regions where the people were poor, infanticide was the regularly recognized means of preventing large families. The following incident illustrates this very well: In a certain section in northern Japan was a district where so little could be produced that the people were very poor and no family had more than one or two children, infanticide being regularly practised. The feudal lord of the district, being a wise man, decided to remedy this condition, which he proceeded to do by a system of irrigation which made the district quite fertile; immediately the size of the families rose to eight and ten and infanticide disappeared.

With regret for my long delay in answering, which has been due to an effort to find some books on this subject, and trusting that this may be of some slight use to you,

I am,

Yours very truly,

J. K. Caldwell,

Assistant Japanese Secretary.

Sir:

In reply to yours of November 1, 1913, I have not been able to find any material of interest in regard to the attitude of the natives before the landing of Columbus. The ruthless attitude of the Spaniards toward the natives is well known, and apparently neither women nor children were spared. The treatment of the natives resulted in their rapid decrease in number, and as early as 1510 the traffic in African slaves was begun and long continued.

Statistics as to the present condition of the child are few. During a typical quarterly period there were registered 8288 births (4269 males and 4019 females) but this probably represents only a portion of the actual births; of this number 3290 were legitimate and 4998 illegitimate. This does not, however, represent the extreme state of immorality that it might indicate, as mating lasting through years and clung to with fidelity and accompanied by a tender care for the offspring is frequently not preceded by a marriage ceremony, which is regarded as more or less of a useless expense. The population of the Republic is not known but is estimated as approximating 600,000.

As among the Spanish races in general, great affection is shown to children. Fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters lavish caresses upon them continually and in public.

There being few factories in the Dominican Republic, child labour, as we know it, does not exist. Children early begin to earn their living, but the work is mostly in the open air or open shops and labour conditions are far from strenuous. The clothing worn by children is scant, and youngsters of the lower classes up to the age of five or six years usually run nude, decorated only by a necklace or a pair of earrings.

School facilities, though provided by the State, are inadequate. The reported annual attendance at all schools in the country is only 20,000.

Health conditions in the island are good. The total deaths registered in one quarter (again short of the real figures) is 1770, of which 318 deaths were of children less than a year old, and 336 of children between one and five years. The number of persons reported guilty of crimes or disorders in one quarter totaled 1910, of which 301 were between fourteen and twenty-one years of age.

I am, Sir,

Very respectfully yours,

Charles H. Allrecht,

Vice and Deputy Consul-General.

Sir:

Your letter requesting information for your book on the history of the attitude of states and tribes toward children received. Such information as has been obtained would indicate that the South African natives in this section are universally kind to children.

The only “natives” in this district, using the words in a strict sense, are the “Bantus” otherwise the Kaffirs. These people are specially fond of children and use them well.

If a child is left an orphan, any relative, no matter how distant, is willing to adopt the child. Indeed the services of the magistrate are frequently required in deciding disputes between claimants.

Love of, and kindness to, children are undoubted characteristics of the Kaffir.

South Africa has a considerable population of mixed races, but, so far as known, the colored people are kind to their children.

Trusting this may meet requirements.

I am, Sir,

Very respectfully yours,

E. A. Wakefield,

American Consul.