Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1880-06-22

Special contracts will be made with yearly sd
| vertisers.
The d cath Rate of the Rich and Poor.
At the thrty-irs1 annual meeting of the
American Medical Association, lately held in
| New York, among the papers read was one by
| DR.. Dfysdale, of London, on the comparative
death rate OF rich and poor. In the statistics
presented the term rich il Guided not only
wealthy persons, but also thoyc of intermediate
conditions 10 the social scale who are enabled to
Joy the sufioeucy OF good food in the midst
OF good sanitary Surroundings From these
statistics We gather, first OF all, that the aver
age annual death rate 10 London has Increased.
10 cons' qucuce of the greater density of popula
fion aud The additional mass OF indigence IN
iected into it, from 22 per 1000 in 1856 to %
per 600 in 1877. The average death rate,
however for ell Eoglaud baS remained identical.
" the same for the past thirty years, namely
% 35, which shows that while the death rate has
been increasing 10 L1ndoo,t has been dimitish
ing 10 CORR spondlag ratio in the proViocss.
But while the statistics of the registrar general
are &C ,urate in putting the average death ratio
for the whole of London at % per ! 000 tho
difference between the death rate 10 some Ice III,
ties and those of others was very great. For
iis'aice: In part of sub district of London.
comprising houses in good condition, the dea
rate did not rx,eed ll3 10 every 1000, wbilc
there wsre other parts of the same sub
dis riot 10 which the death rate has risen to 3S
per 1000; and again in some otter parts of
Loodon, where the population is most Tricky
crowded together, and sqlalOr aud poverty
abound, the death rate has recently been re.
I
deaths of yUuog children the same diff repc, as
regards mortality is observable. Anstill who
is q1oted by DIR. DSsdsle, collected statistics of
IS 04+ children of the opueut classes, iucud-
log professional meu, the nobility aud geniry
His tables showed that, among these classes.
the average death rate was only 80 IS per 900;
while for all other classes. taken together, il
was $50 per 900. 10 Francs. according to
Vlllerne, the distinguished Partisan physician,
persons between the ages of 40 and As. if 10
easy circumstances, die 10 he proportion of 8 3
per | 600. while. if poor they died at the rate
OF 1871 per 600. The same disparity is OBJ
s@rvsbIe 10 Paris as 10 London between the
deaths OF person inhabltog different districts
nndrr dltt rent conditions and circumstances
La the twelfth reimbursement of Paris. psopIed,
10 part, by the very poor, one iphsbitaut 10
every fifteen died; while 10 the second arrou-
dlssep cot, inhsblted by the weather classes,
the deaths tor the same period we're oo'y one
in sixty Eve. All the other statistics cited by
DR.. Drysdale 20 TO show how greatly the str0g
ge for existence IS iotensifed among the poorer
c'ass,s, as compared with the immuuities CO.
Joyed by those that are better off, How much
he absoucc Of the ordiuary comforts of life
ADD by "ordaary cnutorls" We mesu only sim
ole food and sslubrious air-couduce to health
Is s?rklpgIy exempllhed by what DR.. Dry sdsIe
says Of the labotiug classes 10 New z .alaud. OF
late years the wages OF laborers 10 that re-
mote B'iIish colooy have been very high, and
meat beIrg only six cents per pouDd, the
iaoorer is able to secure abundance OF food with
out uodue anxiety The result has been
death rate OF ouly II per l,000 a fec. which
is sscrbed mainly TO the absence of an INDECENT
and badly paid class. The fact thus cited is
made the more impressive by tho remark Of
DR.. Drys 1sie that ''in EoRloDd and Wales, With
the SAME death rate, some 230. 900 lives would
be saved every year" These comparative
statements OF mortality are Of quite as much n-
terest to Us 81 they are 10 sautarians sbroad
1t is true that poverty 10 Europe is hedged
about with restrictions from which it is almost
m possible for it to be reIi we'd; whereas with US
40 able bodied man who is willing to work need
despair 10 ordinary lines Of gcttiog it. Ii he
faiI to obtan it 10 che mist of our great eli g.,
there is wide expsnse Of country open to hlm
where labor is in demasd and where if he is
sober and Industrious, be can soon find employ.
meot at fair wages, and if he is economical,
uay sa1e enough 10 few years in the midst of
cheap land, to establish himself in modest bat
c,mfor'able home, with the chanc %, as io New
aland, of long life before him. 10 our
'atger cities the problem of what to do with the
vicious the indolent and the INDECENT is almost
as difficult to solve as it is in Europe 1t is here
hat those who are learned 10 sanitary matters
fod their appropriate field 10 pointing out what
may be done toward Improving the homes of
the poor, and in rendering the districts they 10
habit more saluorious by drainage aud veutila-
ton aud general cleanliness. Ball. Sun.
In certain quarter there are three churches
in which the dressing of the ladies' ia so SUNNI.