New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-12-27
DEATH IN BIG CITIES.
THE RATE OF MORTALITY BEING GRADU-
ALLY LOWERED.
pY DISCOVERIES OF NEW REMEDIES AND NE"
METHODS OF TREATMENT THIRTY-FiVE

and lost sight OF in the excitemen over the ais
coyeries Of new remedies and new methods or
treatment the health of the cities OF America
has been constantly improving and the death
rates dwndling. This has been strangely
marked Told in figures. this general lowering
OF the death rate means the saving OF thirty
five thousand lives yearly. To explain more
fully, had the science OF sanitation ana the art
or public or preventive medicine (by which is
meant the guarding against maladies before they
GOMEZ not been carried to their present high
levels and had the death rates OF American
cities been allowed to remain where they were
6vo vsars ago thirty-nve thousand more persons
in these cities alone would have been swept out
~ existence this year according to The
Washington Star" Quietly. yet surely. IN
nearly every municipality from the Atlantic TO
the Pacific the health boards have been cleaning
ND investigating examining foods. buildings
and their city's waste. and keeping an eye ON
cially on communicable diseases. Diphtheria' V-
phoid and tuberculosis consumption have been
watched as they never were before. and not only
are precautions taken against the spread ever 80
slight, Of these diseases but measures are CON
stantly adopted to reduce the number OF cases
In ordinary times. Thus in New-fork CITY
alone one thousand lives arc being saved yearly
from the ravages OF diphthera Ghis by the use
OF anttoxln) and during the last three years the
number Of deaths from consumption has been
gradually scaled down until 1t is now annually
five hundred less than 1t used 20 be
In the other cities OF America. while perhaps
not so far-reaching. the improvement Is no less
evident There Is hardly disease in which
decrease in the death rate Is no; TO be noted.
The great death danger and what chiefly
brings up the death percentage in any city
III do N
don. the heal,hlest great city In the world the
death rate Of infants (under n,c) ~ sixty in one
thousand G.ondon's total death rate being
trIre less than eighteen. with the death rate
between the ages OF Ave and twenty Ave only
A.. and between twenty-five and forty five aver
aging legs than twelve. Thus an immense
amount Of attention IL now being paid 10 the
guarding OF young chlllrcn's lives by better
sanitary regulations cleaner streets and the
thorough inspection Of milk Exactly what has
been the decrease in the percentage OF Infant
mortality throughout the cities Of the country
cannot be told. for no figures have been made up.
but authorities give II az something Ike 70 per
cent
Nineteen ~ the most prominent American
cities taken so az 10 include every section OF
the country. show. In every case save one.
decrease. In this one case the death rate has
not varied for twenty years except slightly.
from year to year That city Is Providence.
r. l. Minneapolis shows the largest decrease.
her death rate having fallen steadily from Il
per 600 In 1855 to q l3 during 1899. table.
made UP from the official Health Board reports
OF nineteen leading cities and approved by med
ical experts. shows the actual number OF lives
saved this year. The cities follows New
York, Brooklyn. Chicago. Boston Philadelphia
New Orleans Cleveland. Milwaukee. Baltimore
san Francisco. Buffalo Denver. Cincinnati. st.
Louis Hartford Providence st. Paul and At
lanta.
The lives saved foot up % SCI Tho total popu-
Iation ESTIMATED $500 Of these cities Is To- 70,
600 Statistics show that 2O.OOO.OO0 people OF
the United States live In cities. Even allowing
that the decrease Of the death rate has not been
so great In the other cities. there ia little ques-
ton but that the total number Of lives saved
yearly now amount to 80 O00 and the complete
figures would probably show nearer 10000
CAUSES or LOW DEATH RATE
One thing should be noted In regard to these
figures A low death rate Is no particular evil
dence OF superior administration. Certain cities
because Of their situation comparative new
ness naturally have "A low death rate. Particu-
larly Is this the with the newer cities Of the
West. where there is overcrowding and no
fewer OF the very old and the very young and
the larger the percentage Of inhabitants I'm the
prime of life between ten and thirty-hve) the
better a city's health under any conditions
Since 1892 these new scientific measures and
methods have been coming into use Chief
among them have been the antltoxin for diph-
iberia the public supervision Of Tuberculosis
the meteorological diagnosis OF tuberculosis and
diphtheria at the service OF private physicians
the famous blood tests for typhoid the inspec-
ton Of milk, by which a Gordon Is formed around
a city and no milk allowed to come In that does
not reach a certain standard; the inspection OF
the cows (within the city limits) from which
milk Is produced the proper cleaning Of the
streets and removal OF garbage: sanitary in
spection and the medical inspection OF children
In schools. and the wholesale destruction of rear
tenements and condemned buildings
Properly speaking. this Ii the science OF
preventive medicine" and It is all of these
innovations. not OF which has proved a
failure, that have made this revolution in the
health OF Americas cities. In the great ma
jorty Of these innovations. in the most impor
tant OF these scientific measures the initiative
was taken and the project launched under the
scientific guidance Of DR.. H. NJ. Biggs. bacteri-
ologist Of the NewYork Board Of Health and
under the practical supervision OF Charles c.
Wilson. It's president. Other cities have rapIdIy
followed suit. Approved by visiting scientists
OF the country. many Of whom have gone 10
New-York especially to study these methods
and Endorsed by the American public health
associations nearly all Of these Innovations
have been adopted elswhere, gradually and in
part. yet enough to show that they have mo,
with favor.
Chicago. In her Health Board. has initiated