Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1894-08-17
VITAL STATISTICS.
An Official Call for Sanitary Statistics
"A Chance for the City Council
to Advertise Santa Fe.

To the Editor of the New Mexican.
Santa Fe, Aug. 16.-The following letter
is self-cxplanatory:
MARINE HOSPITAL SERVICE,
Washington, D. c., June z, 1894.
To the Secretary of the Board of Health,
Santa Fe N. NJ.
Dear Doctor: Ihave the honor to call
your attention to the following extract
from section 4, act of congress, approved
February Is, 1898: "* X and the
secretary of the treasury shall also
obtain, through all sources accessible, in
Guiding state and municipal sanitary
authorities throughout the United States,
weekly reports of the sanitary condition
Of ports and places within the United
States, and shall prepare, publish and
transmit to collectors of customs and to
state and municipal health officers and
other sanitarians weekly abstracts of the
consular sanitary reports and other peril
nent information received by him. Il i
X"
In conformity with the above, have
, to inquire whether it will be practicable
for you to make weekly reports to this
Office of the mortality in your city, for
publication in the weekly abstracts OF
sanitary reports. The proper blank
forms with ranked envelopes for mailing
same will be forwarded you on receipt
of an affirmative answer.
Respectfully yours,
WALTER WYMAN,
Supervising Surgeon General, M. H. s.
At its next regular meeting presented
this letter to the CITY council and warmly
urged upon that body the Importance of
taking some step or steps by which the
desired information could be furnished to
the Marine Hospital Service each week.
The matter was, after some discussion,
referred to committee composed of
Councilmen Delgado, Ortiz y Salazar and
E. Andrews.
This committee reported that "there
being no city records to give the infor-
nation required, we have been unable to
furnish the statistics. We find that a
former city council had these matters be-
fore it once, but failed to pass an ordi-
nance covering these points"
Finding there was no ordinance re
curing mortuary record to be kept
and feeling that the keeping of such
uloIbudIy SVhbISJlCo ID vi COusluoTbUlo
Importance to the members of every COM
munity, again appeared before the city
council and submitted for their inspection
copies of pamphlet sent me by the
surgeon general, DR.. Wyman. This little
publication prints weekly the deathrate
of all the principal cities of the world
but with special reference to consump-
ton of the lungs, yellow fever, smallpox,
typhoid fever, aiphtheria and other like
diseases, so we'll known as powerful de-
stroyers of human life.
Apart from the general sanitary bene-
fits accruing to our city and its inhabi-
tants, the fact of the name of the city OF
Santa Fe appearing in this publication,
and the further fact that these reports
get into the hands of thousands of medi-
cal men over the entire world-men who
have warm personal interest in such
questions = should, in my Judgment
prove of sufficient moment to urge upon
our city council the Importance of max.
ing some provision to comply with the
request of the surgeon general of the
Maine hospital service.
No town or city can expect to maintain
its claim as health resort unless it has
it's statistics bearing upon life, death and
general health duly recorded and ready al
any time for comparison or inspection.
FRANCIS CRossoN,
City Physician.