Radio and television mirror (July-Dec 1950)

JEW, mfti^m IkJmm ijfr|Wa&l^ As Dick Powell, private citizen, I have adopted a child and know that an adopted youngster can make a home the happiest place on earth, provided the child is brought into the home through proper channels. As Richard Diamond, a private detective who typifies the criminal investigators who fight corruption, I know that a most shocking racket exists today in the blackmarket of babies. Each year it is estimated over 30,000 helpless infants are brought into homes through improper channels. They are sold "under the counter" like smuggled narcotics or disposed of in the secrecy of back rooms. For up to two thousand dollars a baby will be handed over in the waiting room of a railroad station with no questions of the new parents! This shameful practice exists in almost every state and major city in the country. It is unbelievable that a baby should fall into the hands of unscrupulous men and women who are nothing more than wholesalers in humanity, but it happens almost every day. This is how it happened to Bettyjane Corrining: Anyone watching Bettyjane get off the train in Miami saw only a pale, pretty blonde in her early twenties. No casual observer guessed at the anxiety that had brought her fifteen hundred miles from home. And for a moment, Bettyjane forgot as she blinked at the brilliant sunshine filling the clean streets, the gaily dressed vacationers walking under the palm trees. Then a woman walked by with an infant in her arms. Bettyjane was jolted back into reality. She, too, would be a mother soon but without the pride -and blessings that usually come with childbirth. Her baby would be fatherless and that had led her to escape the friends in her hometown, in the hope she would be lost among the thousands of strangers in the resort city. "Miami has become a mecca for unwed mothers from all parts of the country, who feel they can easily lose themselves there," said Assistant District Attorney Ernest Mitler, of New York. And he knows, for Manhattan police learned of at least thirty-five babies shipped into the big city from Miami to be sold to the highest bidder. And it was to Miami that Bettyjane went for she had no family to turn to. Bettyjane had been raised in an orphanage where she missed the love and security of a real home. When she left the orphanage, she became a successful sales clerk but her dream was to have a husband and children in a real home of her own. She found a man and loved well but not too wisely. When Bettyjane became pregnant, her fiance wasn't quite ready for marriage. He suggested an abortion. Bettyjane refused. Panic-stricken, she listened to a friend suggest going to Miami to have the baby and come back with no one knowing the difference. "I can always get a job there," Bettyjane told herself. "Besides I have my life savings." But Bettyjane's three hundred dollars didn't go far in Miami. She had paid thirty dollars a month for her room up north. In the resort city, she found herself lucky to get a room at forty dollars a week. Soon it became impossible to hide her pregnancy. She lost her job in a millinery store. Her boss said abruptly, "You'd better take good care of yourself for that baby's sake." But he didn't tell her what she could do for money. Desperately, she spent the next few days looking for work, feeling critical eyes flick over her body. On the third day, with only a hundred dollars left, she stopped in a sandwich shop to ask for a cashier's job. "I'm sorry but we had someone a bit different in mind," she was told. She felt the strange dizziness come over her again and walked over to the service counter. She didn't even look at the waitress until she found a glass of milk in front of her instead of the coffee she'd ordered. Then Bettyjane looked up into the eyes of the waitress. "Milk is better for you," the woman said. As Bettyjane sipped the milk, the waitress began wiping the counter and asked, "Things pretty tough, kid?" Bettyjane nodded. The waitress pulled a pencil and paper out of her pocket and walked away. When she came back, she slipped a note across the counter to Bettyjane. "Go see this woman," she said. "She's helped a lot of other girls in your fix." Outside Bettyjane looked at the paper. Written on it was the name of a Mrs. Windsor, and an address. Bettyjane took a bus to the (Continued on page 93) By DICK POWELL Dick Powell, private citizen, is well-acquainted with the {sets behind the vicious adoption racket. As Richard Diamond, Private Detective, he's heard Wed., 10:30 P.M. EDT, NBC. Sponsored by Rexall Drug Stores. RADIO MIRROR for BETTER LIVING 45