The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-10-19
HEALTH OF AMERICAN CITIES.
New York Has No Cause to Complain
When the statistics Are Studied.

From the Sun.
In those European cities which have
statistical bureaus of the kind whlch
certain municipal reformers are en-
deavoring to establish in New YORK
the rela tive salubrity of rival cities mas
long been a matter Of dispute. In Lon
don, in Paris. in Berlin. and in Vienna
there have for many years been dis
putes over the healthfulness of each
city, and computation made some
years ago by an English authority,
probably biased. gave these results
Death rate in London Pill for each l.oeO
inha bitants, Paris 2S.6. Berlin 21.6 and
vienna 30. As is usually the case in
figures prepared by English authori-
ties, E.nGla,d stood best on the list
and a pretty poor showing was made
for cities with which the English sta
tisticians have little to do or in which
English ideas have not found lodg-
ment. In st. Petersburg the death
rate was given as 81. in Milan as 500.
and in Rome as 26.S
In the United States the record of
health statistics has never been thor
oughly exact. but it has of late be-
come more nearly so In the city of
New York than elsewhere, though un-
der existing sanitary regulations the
correct computation of the death rate
sUpuli be easy III CitltS 'N'iN
where For the year 1895 New York
city's death rate was 23.l5 Brooklyn's
was 20.5 and Chicagos 1903 The low
rate in Chicago is in part due to the
fact that the chief city of Illinois. un-
like New York and Brooklyn. has a
small number of institutions of pub
lie character for the care of the in
firm, the needy. and the superannuat-
ed. Moreover. Chicago is not. like
New York. a port of entry for immi-
grants, and this fact further lessons
its rate. In Boston the rate is 22.2 in
Baltimore lS. in San Francisco IS. in
Cincinnati 1929. in Cleveland 1923. in
: Memphis 0ong noted as one of the
most unhealthful of American cities.
but not so now 23 in Milwaukee 15.1.
and in st. Louis 161. In many cities
of the south the death rate is abnorm-
ally increased by the large colored
population. which is not uniformly.
and cannot perhaps be generally. OBJ
servant of sanitary rules. In the city
| of Charleston, for instance. where the
colored population is very much larger
| than in other cities of the seaboard.
the death rate last year was 273, but
under sub division of the population
! between white and black it was l6 IS
of the white population and S5.S of the
I colored population. or more than twice
as much for the latter. Likewise In the
/ city of New Orleans, which has an ex-
tensive colored population. the death
rate was 23.SS-21.90 whites and 33 IL
/ colored. Notwithstanding the increase
of the rate by reason of the large col
ored population. the city Of New Or
leans had last year no higher death
rate than the city of Newark. n. j.,
and this Improvement was in "~eat
measure due to better sanitary regula-
tions in the Crescent City. long known
among American municipalities e. its
lack of salubrity in consequence of its
poor geographical position. Perhaps
the most healthful of the large cities OF
the United States, If city with q
population of 10000 may be included
in the category of large cities" is Salt
Lake City. with an average death rate
last year of less than 10. smaller than
that Of any other large city Of which
there is any record. But Minneapolis
claims rate nearly as low and Sioux
City, s. d.. when booming. claimed the
low rate of only five for each Thousand
Of population. The larger the popula.
tion claimed, the lower. of course, the
death rate, and to this is ascribed b!
some the modest position of Chica go
New York's rate is low, and is steadi
ly decreasing.