New-York tribune., 1905-01-08
STATISTICS HER WORK.
Mss Brandt Prepared Herself at
Wellesley for Her Occupation.

statstics-any kind and all knds-are commonly
supposed to bristle with terrors for the feminine
mind, but in a while arises who
gives the lie to this absurd theory by taking
statistics as her life work. for better worse.
for richer poorer. Such a refuter of hoary
ley girl of the class of 95. who is the stastician
of the Charity Organization Society, and whose
brilliant work the statistics OF tuberculosis in
connection with the Directory of Institutions and
Societies Dealing with tuberculosis for hor
gold medal at tho St. Louis Exposition where
1t formed part of the exhibit of the Charity Or
ganization Society
This directory, the first OF its kind. has been
prepared by Miss Brandt. under the joint auspices
OF the committee on the prevention OF tuberculosis
of the New-York Charity Organization and the Ma
uonal Association for the Study and Prevention of
tuberculosis
l have been working on 1t on and off for about
a year." said Miss Brandt I'VE received so
many inquiries from private individuals phan-
thropic agencies physicians. etc, that we thought
1t would be good idea to collect all the informa-
ton that was to be had and print it in a book
The directory will be uniform with the handbook
the cure of tuberculosis which was issued last
year"
1t was while she was at Wellesley that Miss
Brandt decided to be professional statistician.
Inc colleges now offer courses in training of
TINS Sort. she said. THAT was how 1 learned to
DO It. My studies in sociology also led up to it,
so determined TO take up the statistical side of
social work"
Referring to the directory. Miss Brandt
said: Taking the United States as a whole provis-
ion is made for caring for 5000 tubercuar patients
simultaneously" Nearly one-third of this provis-
ion is made by the State of New-York
And is that sufficient" was answered by a
shake of the head. over 100000 persons die every
Most OF the Information gained came by way
OF correspondence" She went on to say We cor
selves with the heads Of hospitals and institutions
with State and city boards of health. TO these
we sent printed QUESTIONABLE with the purpose of
would be interested in knowing who thought OF go
Amon ohr oaesons on s asked were the loca
ton of the institution in question. whether for tu
scns whether for adTaneed or early Gases e OF for
al cases the size of the institution. terms nunber
admission should be made, date of opening. and
we also asked to have their printed reports sent
us. we could often gather from these facts that
Putting toEether ali the. data we could gather.
society and sent it back to be either corrected or
@ K'd. and returned to us In this hi way we we were were
they would be stated in manner satisfactory to
'some Of the people did not return the state
ents In that event we TOOK it for granted they
have been eager to have them corrected.
although We took great care to eliminate hos
making concerns, two or three may have Grept il,
s ON the 0tnef aane are as we'll a oe
that arc free have been included
A great many pictures, diagrams. etc, are IN
the location OF all the sanatoria and special dis
pensaries for the of tuberculosis all over the
United States. Looking at this map. one sees that
the great majority of these institutions are stu
ated in New-York State. in Eastern Massachu-
setts and Eastern Pennsylvania. There is one
group about Dencer, chain of them in Southern
California, a few in New Mexico but the great
Northwest is practically without any. When asked
the Northwest, Miss Brandt replied: well, there
Is certainly very much less than with US. Tuber-
culosis is pre-eminenty a disease of the cities"
North Carolina has few sanatoria' In the
in South Carolina. With these exceptions. the
South seems to be bare of special institutions
for combating the great white plague as the North
west.
question as 10 the date of the institutions. The
greater number have been started within q Few
years-ndeed, nearly all have sprung up since 1900
showing the increasing interest that is fet IN the
table summarizing by States the organized work
that is being directed against tuberculosis"
Miss Brandt Is just about taking up her next
piece of work-the statistical side OF deSertion.
AS every worker In philanthropy knows deser-
ton is the cause of great deal of the poverty
and suffering in big cities.
'On average, one-tenth OF the cases which
come to organized charity for help" said Miss
off because It was too much trouble to support
his wife and children. year ago last ralI we
made out a schedule OF questions on such cases
and sent them around TO charity. workers, at the
same time inviting other similar organizations In
the cities to cooperate with US IN gathering IN
formation on the subject
Records have now been secured from Boston,
philadelphia, Indiana polls Cambridge, Baltimore,
Buffalo. Portland. Me-; Newport, worcester and