The Value of Dogs and Babies

Signs Publishing Co. · Melbourne, Victoria · Jun 21, 1920

FromAustraliasian Signs of the Times, Vol. 35, No. 25.

The Value of Dogs and Babies

The Washington Times gives the following quotations on the live stock market: “Dogs, preferred, $10,000. Babies, common, $1,000. These are the figures quoted by two women within a week. One owned a dog which took first prize in a big show. She fixed the price to an enquiring buyer at ten thousand. Another woman, driven to desperation by debt and poverty, offered to sell her little one for a thousand. How much is a dog of this kind really worth?—Nothing. He cannot hunt well enough to provide himself with his own food. He is not big enough to be of any use as a protection. He can be a good home for a few fleas and many disease germs, and there his usefulness ends. The little one, with wrinkled face and wailing eyes, the muscles of which are not yet under control, has all the possibilities of great men who have made its race famous. The dog can never be anything but a dog. The child may be anything that development combined with normal brain power can produce. As far as legislation goes, the quotations on dogs and babies show just about their estimated value—dogs, 10; babies, 1. There ought to be a readjustment that will give the baby at least an equal show.”—American Signs.