Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-05-19
CITY AND DISTRICT
THE HEALTH OF WASHINGTON.
Health officer TOwnshend Refutes a
Slander on the City.

| THE DEATH RATE OF THIS CITY AS COMPARED
WITH OTHER CITIES-UNFAIR COMPARISONS
| MADE FROM INSUFFICIENT DATA-How WASH.
| INGToS's REPUTATION SUFFERS THROUGH
| THE COMPLETENESS OF ITS VITAL STATISTICS
| Health Officer Townsheud has sent the follow.
! ing letter to the Commissioners:
Gentiemen:-The following article, credited 10
| The New York Commercial .adtertiser, is going
the rounds OF the newspaper press:
KEEP OUT OF WASHINGTON.
FROM the New York Commercial Advertiser.
"Inere Is nothing like good statistical table
| TO overthrow preconceived notions. Ask any.
| BODY what state, territory or other division Of
| tne country is the most unhealthy, as indicated
of is or
| lumbia as more pestilential in it's climate and
| surroundings than South Carolina and Missis
levers, and yet census tables just published
| show that the death rate is greater in the Dis
trlct OF Columbia than in any state or territory
In the Union.'
This statement is so grossly unjust to our com
| mnnlty, coming as it does from one of the most
respectable journals in the country, that de
sire to present through you to the public q few
| facts In relation thereto.
| The census tables referred to by the writer Of
| the above article appear on page of vol. xi.
| OF the Report OF the Tenth Census, being part
one Of that portion OF the report relating to
| mortality and vital statistics.
This table does show that according to returns
| the District Of Columbia has larger death rate
per 200 of population than any state or terri
| tory, taking returns from states and territories
| as a whole, but the compiler has taken care in
his introduction thereto to caution the reader
| as 10 the lnaccuracy of the figures in general,
ana especially regards the accuracy OF the
District of Columbia.
1t would be manifestly unjust to compare the
such thing as the issuance of burial permits
and the recording OF deaths is not thought of,
with the six miles square of this District (ur-
ban, suburban and rural), whore the record is
absolutely accurate.
The compiler, ia commenting. on this table.
deaths per 1000 Of I Population for the several
states in Table II be considered as indicating
Inc relative healthfulness of the several states.
nlent summary of the population and the num-
Der OF deaths recorded in each state, being a
continuation OF similar tables in preceding re-
ports"
1t Is acknowledged that the enumerators' re-
turns from thiniy settled sections of the coun-
Jersey alone the deficiency in the enumerators'
returns were found TO be $3.50 per cent. What,
Then, must have been the case with returns
from some OF the southern and western states?
Statisticians recognize and appreciate these
facts, but the general public may be misled by
II the editor Of the journal Which gave this
| paragraph to its readers had turned to page p
o1 the Introductory portion of the volume he
quoted from he would have found there u table
showing the registration records of 81 large
cities, which the compiler says may be pre-.
| sumed to be fairly accurate" In this he would
have found that the cities range in population
from Al $50 for Lynn, Mass, to LOG, 299 for
only reliable figures given, it is New
York, and not Washington, that fur
nishes the largest death rate. This table
further shows that Of the thirty-one cities hav-
ing proper registration records and furnishing
| accurate returns, the death rate of the white
population OF Washington is lower than that of
twenty nine, leaving the small city of Cam
bridge, Mass, as the only one in the list having
a smaller death rate, and that but q mere frac-
ton below. In the six cities where the distinc-
ton of color is shown, given below, the death
rate here is decidedly below that OF either OF
the other five. 4
The following are the figures given in the