Gainesville daily sun. (Gainesville, Fla.) 190?-1938, 1905-06-23
'LocArlon o. vNIvaRslrY.

Tue Following letter, Nntch appeared
n The JucksonsliIs Tims Union OF
Wednesday. win no doob, set at ease
the mlnds Of many 10 regard TO the
health OF Gainesville,
Editor Times Unioni 10 Sundays
TInaes-Union the entire space for
the discussion OF she question
Of the location Of she State University
wss occupied BY an srtlcle signed By
F. B. Noodle Of Lake City in which
some statements nre made that are
rather startling, and which am afraid
wohld give the gentleman some dis
comatuFe u he were called on to prove
thrm. some OF these statements are
6pIy Wild--othep might be termed
hystefcal. In the latter class I place
HE statements In reference to the
"malafIai atmosphere" OF Gainesville,
and the amazing low death rate OF
Lake CITY, "the lowest OF any place In
che United States, save one, n small
place somewhere In California u IL
the gentleman will kindly give TO the
public health officials throughout the
country hIs pOnderous volumes OF vital
statlstIcs, by which he makes accurate
comparison of the death rate OF Lake
City with that OF every other rural
community In the forty-odd States of
the Union, they will thank him. Such
information 10 not obtainAble through
any other known source.
As TO the "malaFiAl atmosphere" OF
Gainesville, will let the thousands
who hsve bFesthed II, and still live to
tell the tale, answer. / was born In IL
and have breAthed IL for good macy
years, and never had q chill or any
other mAlArIal symptom In my life.
Perhaps 1 am a little biased. Wen
let that pASs--the statement, like
many others In the article. 10 not sus-
ceptible Of proof. The gentleman
goes on to dwell upon the statement
that Lake City has the lowest death
rate Of any place 10 the United states,
save one--A small place so MEWHERE
In California. | challenge this state
ment, and respectfully ash che gentle.
man by what authority no makes Il?
The only statistics obtsinahle on the
subject aFe those In the Office Of the
State Board OF Health, the State
health offlceF being the registrar OF
vital statistics Of the State OF Florida,
and all physicians, nurses, coFoners,
etc., are required by law to report all
deaths to that Office. The records
Of deaths In towns the size OF Lake
City, which do not maintain . city
board Of health, are not kept separate
Iy, but are compiled with those Of the
county In which such towns are To-
Gated. Therefore, l do not see how
the gentleman made his comparisons
and found that Lake City has the
lowest death rate Of any place in the
United States, save one--A small place
somewhere IN California"
For the five years ending December
81, 1898. the average yearly death rate
per thousand Of population In Colum.
bIA county was 49, 10 AlAehua coun.
~ for the same period IL was $50, Since
this period, while the rate has varied
from year to year, the relatively lower
rate OF AlAchuA county seems Co have
been maintained. For instance, N
1903 the death rate In Alaehua county
Was only l.p6, while In Columbla ooun.
" u was 8 SO. During the same period
there we're reported 10 the state Board
OF Health from Columbia county (Pop-
ulation II, Oe4) 81 deaths from malarial
fever, Alaohua county for the same
time population 2,2t6l had 81 deaths
from malaFial fever. In ie02. Colum.
bla county had Q deaths from rnAlaFial
fever, AlAchua county had q Daring
the same year, Columbia county bed
- deaths from all ca1see, or tS2 per
thousand OF the population, while
Alachua county had n deaths from all
causes, or ala per thousand Of the
population.
Please understand that do not mean
10 say thas Lake City 10 not healthy
town. have every reason TO believe
Il 10. All FloFlda 10 healthy the an.