Recently, a baby was born in the German Hospital here in Chicago. This child was born paralyzed; it was deformed and hideous in its external appearance. Its head was joined directly to its shoulders and the torso was crooked.

The doctors agreed that if this monstrosity succeeded in remaining alive, it would always be a burden to itself and to society. This child was in need of a small operation which would probably enable it to live a while longer. Unless the operation was performed, the child would die.

In an endeavor to spare the parents and society the burden of this deformed creature, the hospital doctors did not perform the operation, and, as a result, the unfortunate infant died.

The mother of the dead infant did not blame the doctors for allowing her child to die. She felt the child was better off dead, since it would never know 2happiness as long as it were alive. But the church--especially the Catholic church--condemned the action of the doctors as barbarous and unchristian. They attacked the doctors in the papers and issued long condemnations, saying that the doctors had neither the legal nor the moral right to make decisions involving life and death. They asserted that the doctors should always endeavor to save human life to the best of their abilities.

The Catholic church believes that every person born has a right to live, and serves some purpose; and that the action taken in the German Hospital against the life of an innocent baby is unforgivable in the eyes of society and God.

The opposite opinion is held by the doctors and sociologists. These two groups believe that the action taken was the only humane way of sparing a child from a life of torture. Their chief justification is the law of Lycurgus. This law stated that all children born with any serious defects or deformities should be thrown over a high cliff to destruction.

We feel that the doctors acted wisely. Under the circumstances the child would never have enjoyed one moment of its existence; and since in any case it would 3have died after a few years, it is better that it should die after six days of life.

This episode has set the whole country to considering which was the proper course. All the newspapers defend the doctors, but the Catholic press is unsparing in its condemnation. In fact, the other newspapers urge that the law of Lycurgus be adopted in America, in order that the race might become strong and perfect like the Spartans.

This six-day-old child nearly caused a national uproar; and its death has caused a serious social problem to be faced by a society which usually ignores the plight of such unfortunate creatures. The solution will not be easily arrived at, nor will it be quietly solved.

It will be a long time before the clergy and the medical profession will agree on the solution. The Saloniki will always be on the side of the doctors.