The St. Louis Republic., 1904-12-28

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ROBERT MOORE.
Consulting civil engineer. WHO has written
an instructive paper on vital statistics
of 81. Louis.
The only cities showing less rate than
ours are Chicago. Cleveland. Buffalo. De
tr0it and Milwaukee. in which the average
rate for 1870 was 1922, or Lis less than
our own. In regard to these cities. how
ever IT is worthy Of note that the per
Centage 81 negroes. among whom the
death <ce IS always much greater than
among .s whites is very small. namely
liz per cent. as compared with 6.2 per
cent In ST. Louis. Besides which n close
scrutiny of the facts might show that
the figures Of population in these cities
are Incorrect: for as We have already
seen in our own history for 1s7o. even
a census report may he heavily padded.
OF which there j. ~" ~iIrer sign than an
exceptionally low death rate. For exam
pie when we find. as do in the census
figures for 1900 three cities one of them
in Missouri in which the death rates in
dicate a mean duration Of life Of Jog. 1t5
and 10 years. respectively. we can be
very sure that the Ngur.S OF population
need to be revised.
CONTROL. OF EPIDEMICS.
Coming now to the causes OF this very
great lowering of the death rate and the
consequent increase in the mean dura-
tiun OF life. We find. Il general state
m.nt. that it is due to better kn0wl-
edge Of the causes and cure of disease
and th.. methods Of It's prevention. and to
a batter observance of the laws Of
health which this knowledge has dis
This is well illustrated in the case of
cholera which. AS We have seen, was Tor
thirty years in 81. Louis frightful
scourgc But at that time its cause and
the methods OF its propagation were IN
known. When. therefore. tie ptSt &c
appeared the people knew not what 10
do In their beWilderment the city au,
thorities appointed days OF fasting aid
t,rgyCr and burned tar barrels IN the
streets. meantim" dong nothils EtaL!S q :
fectiyc to prevent the disease from Spredd-
,. ere it to appear now. something, ex- x
tre1nely improbable. the cases "ouia os
promptly isolated. the cXcrsta disinfected
and a general purihcation of the drinking
water by filtration ana by boiIing InauS u
rated, for by such measures as Te gov
know the propagation OF the disease is
mad impossible. In fact cholera is not
likely. hereafter, ever to become eplceinlc
in any large European or american CITY.
Much the same may, be said OF smallpox.
Of yellow feve- and Of the plague, for
each Of which the means OF prevention are
now well known.
DE 'REASE OF INFANT MORTALITY.
Next in importance 10 he control OF epi-
denies as a factor in increasing the mean
duration OF life has been the very marked
decrease in the deaths Of children under
) years. AS a rule. with almost no cHcep-
lions. this class embraces a. larger num-
her of iniividl.alS than Is found in any
other class embracing an equal number Of
years. Potentially. therefore. no class of
the population is more important. In the
last two ceususes the proportions Of the
population embraced In this class in the
whole United States have been. for 1syy
i22 per cent. and for 1900 f2l per cent
N mn H..gs a. fttf.1 q
per cent, and for 1870. 9.9l per cent. For
round numbers, therefore, may say
that the proportion of the population un-
der years of age In ST. Louis is 10 per
cent. Being also the feehlest element Of
the population they are the most easily
affected hv mOrbfc influences, a liability
which inevitably results In higher death
rate than Is found in any other class.
The figures show that during the four
years from ls61-lsTo the deaths Of the chill
dren from to years of age amounted to
which. bcariu; In mind that this class
numbers one-teHth only Of the whole.
means Il rate OF 1925 per 1000 OF those be-
longing to- this class. For the years 1872
ana 1873 the rates per 1000 of those belong
Ing TO this class were lI2 and 1iS.S re-
spective!y. or more than one in every
seven. Since 49, this rate has rapidly de
creased until Tor the three years 19Ol-1903
it was i5.6 per i.oo0. still very high rate.
but less than One-tilird of what il was
only thirty wears before.
IL
fantl!e death rate--one of the most impor-
tant events in the citv's history-has been
brought about, speaking broadly. by great
or knowledge Of the causes Of disease. and,
as Il result NJ such knowledge bv better
food and more skillfuI care Part Of it
has been brought about ny the better CON
troll of diphthcria since the intrOduc tiun of
the seropatilic treatment.
CONSUMPTION AND PNEU MONA.
Next after the mortality among children
under years as Il factor in the general
death rate is consumption Here also we
note a decline from 2.56 per 1000 for the
eleven years lS.O-s1 to l. 81 In 1909 and | 50
for the thirteen years lsyI-lsS This de-
chnc Is part OF general movement In all
enlightened countries, which In Massachu-
sets has brought the death rate from this
cause down from 3.33 per 1850 in the dec
ade lS5i-50 to l.J9 in 1902 a reduction of
over 10 per cent. 1t is noteworthy that in
st: Louis the mcst markell reduction has
,aker place since 1856. soon after Doctor
kochs announcement OF the true cause OF
the disease. That by sanatOriums for the
open-air treatment and by the general dif-
fusion of knowledge rs to the means of
prevention the mortality from this cause
can he still i''Ither lowered there can be
no doubt.
Following closely consumption as a cause
OF death Is pneumonia. Here. however. We
the deaths from this cause have been
increasing, SO that it is now almost
as serious a foe to life as consurnp-
ton. In fact. there have been two
years-lssi and 1S9I-wfere the deaths
from pneumonia exceeded those from con-
sumption. The same conditions sbuStau-
TALLY are found In Massachusetts where
in 1890 pneumonia slightly exceeded con-
sumption as a cause of death. Nor is the
outlook for gaining the mastery over It at
present very promising.
TYPHOID FEVER
In the list of preventabIe diseases, that
Of greatest interest to the engineer Is ty-
pho!d fever. Taking 1t as a whole. there has
been very great decline. From rate OF
Lag per LOO in the eleven years 1S5O-1s60
there is in the decade 1Sgi-1?19 drop to
a rate OF 0.S3, which is less than one-fourth
of the former rate. A second noticeable
feature is the wide fluctuations which
mark the period prior to 1870. as compared
with the less frequent and less violent
fluctuations of the period subsequent 10
1870. suggesting corresponding variation In
the intensity Of the cause
AS throwing light upon the causes Of
these fluctuations, certain facts in the his
tory Of the city water supply and sewerage
systems are of special interest. From 1872
the date of the completion of the first wa
terworks, until 1871. the intake for the
public supply WAS at tho foot of Dicsson