Form 47. 
Commontoealtf) of Penngplbanta. 
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. 
SUGGESTIONS CONCERNING THE IMPORTANCE OF 
BIRTH REGISTRATION 
The Legislature of Pennsylvania in 1905 enacted a law requiring 
every child born within the State to be registered with the Local 
Registrar of the district in which the birth occurred, also that the 
original certificate should be filed and permanently preserved in the 
Bureau of Vital Statistics of the State Department of Health at the 
State Capitol. 
Certified copies of these birth records may be secured at any time. 
Such copies are not only important but necessary for purposes of 
transmission to foreign countries, for establishing the age of children 
for school entrance, for labor certificates and many other legal 
formalities. 
The responsibility for registering a birth is placed upon the physi- 
cian or midwife in attendance at the time of birth, or if no physician 
or midwife is present then the duty falls upon the father or mother. 
If the birth occurs in an institution, the person in charge is re- 
sponsible. 
This law is designed to protect the civil and legal rights of your 
child in the years to come. It is an inheritance to which every child 
is entitled. It establishes for all time the identity of your child, when 
perhaps it can no longer appeal to its father or mother in its behalf. 
See to it that your baby is properly registered. A baby that is 
worth having is surely worth registering. Give the baby a chance in 
after years to know of your interest in its future welfare. Make it 
possible through registration for your child to be able to show in 
a legal way when and where it was born and who its parents were. 
People nowadays register their cattle, horses, dogs, etc., because they 
are proud of them and because it adds to their value. Put the babies 
in the same class with the domestic animals and they will in the com- 
ing years do more than the animals will do—they will thank you if 
you are living and honor you if you are no longer with them to hear 
their thanks. 
f 'S'? 
July 1, 1912. 
Commissioner of Health.