Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-12-12
HOW WE DIE. .e
- various States and
y k''s unw Affected by Con-
5es race and occupation.

,a;se-t4oW
le' a Race and occupation.
issued by the Census Blu
f asn shaw Billings comments
!. %riaal-statis'ifs therein po0''sn-
4. gays; ,,,,,e or vita, sta
lnud upon their being SO pre-
TO ~ permit Of making COM
:" The fact that $50 deaths &C.
- . certain locality during a
!. mali interest by itself. II
go sw, that the population Of
u. during that year was $4,000.
~ dsstb rate of 10 per 1000. we
49, Il with the death rates Of
n 'ssss and thus find that it was
18th rate. If we also knew
gem anmber of births during the
'' .s,iod was 400, giving a birth
a. nor 1000, we might suppose
we're comparatively few wo-
n ID children in that town. and
,.cves. If we also knew the
~ ~ children under five years of
Z. number of deaths among
:" 81 the number of women be-
s ssssn and fifty years of age. we
.se further comparisons. and
. . that the proportion Of chill
"a If women of child bearing
~ .hout the same as in most
70 should probably conclude
~ number of births and deaths
~ small, and that an adequate
W 4 registration is needed. This
!. ,se conclusion which will be
- hy a skilled statistician when
go the number of deaths and
aren for the majority of the
s,d therefore. for the United
asa whole. in the Census Re-
a vital statistics.
...,e has a complete registration
.s. the ones that come nearest to
1 ,.,r probably Massachusetts,,
leland and Connecticut, but the
!. ., the registration in these
I. .hould be sought, not in the
,,Dort, but in the state reports
=. marriages and deaths.
.cly states which had a regis
!, nf deaths sufficiently complete
e. the death rates worth calcu-
we're Connecticut, Maine, Mas
,vtts Michigan, New Hampshire.
Jersey New York and Rhode
4 which, with the District of
nbja form the group referred to
a. census report as the "registra-
states.
southern state and no Western
except Michigan. had any salts
IN system of registering deaths
4, time the data were collected.
IN the states classed as registra-
aztes the deaths were not all re-
Id az was found by a comparison
h. returns made by the enumera-
With the registration records.
|,us s,atisticians having ascertained
the census reports on vital statis-
Tor the majority of the states are
unplete and unreliable, and do not
Iss US to make definite comparisons
III birth and death rates Of this
Ery with those given for France.
many Great Britain, and other
nirs having a fairly satisfactory
tem Of registration. conclude that
hardly worth while to attempt to
bdy OF use the data given in the vital
htics Of the census. and that the
aey expended in their collection and
imitation has been wasted. This
tsrs to be an error. There 10 q
r amount Of information contained
o. census figures which can be
wight out by careful study and COM
tSns with the data of other coun-
and II they do not always an
questions. they suggest many in
sting lines of research. This Is
eialy the case with regard to the
Fstics Of the causes Of death
H. Inaccurate and incomplete al
y are contain nevertheless much
Re Information than the published
b satisfies of France and Germany
are surpassed only by those OF
M Britain. They can be greatly
fsved. and by the methods to be
by the permanent Census Blu.
they will, no doubt, be greatly
nved, but the vital statistics vol
= Of the Tenth. Eleventh and
Nth censuses will always have
! value in medicine. in hygiene
N sociology.
me historian had a few such re-
as these for ancient Greece OF
4 for Italy or France or England
- sixteenth century. or for Asia
Africa Of today. his sources of in.
Auon would oe enormously in.
sa In the volumes containing the
statistics Of the Tenth. Eleventh
i"eItth censuses there is a large
UA' 81 Information with regard tt
NA'lve prevalence Of certain
; s" death in the Southern and
T"'n mates, which is very little
'Na Of made use of by physicians
.s."assts. or by local historians
W which will hereafter be shown tc
-0s. miserable Importance and in
vi The other hand, there are
'vurres OF error in these stats.
~'a IN the ratios derivable from
S"lch make it necessary to con.
me results with caution. In thi.
!" the figures give for the regis.
;. ava 40 not differ materially
"''Se lot other countries. One o.
sS' Important Of these sources O.
'ne number of cases in which
S sought are unknown to tht
furnishing information to thu
M. "ofs or the registrars. Thi.
specially to the facts relating
4 ka~ sai condition and to occu.
ka 4, wa Tor the living population
on,,. dead. and 1t is impossible