The Washington herald., 1906-11-10

The report OF Health Ofncer W. 4.
Woodward for the fiscal year ended
June 30, 1906. submitted to the Commis-
sioners yesterday. shows that the gen
| eral death rate for the District of Co
| lUmbia during the year was 1920. This
! is somewhat better than the correspond
/ ing figures for the proceeding year, 1851.
and compares favorably with the average
for the past decade, 1892. The improve
ment in the death rate since 1902, said the
report, is wholly due to a dimunition in
the death rate of whites. which fell from
1908 to 15l6 and which Is only "a per
cent of the average annual death rate for
the ten year period.
/ In his report DR. Woodward discusses
/ the general mortality with respect to
| location, alley death rates, mortality of
whites and colored people. statistics re-
/ gardlng communicable diseases, births,
/ private hospitals. communicable diseases
of animals. removal of weeds. and the
/ conversion of alleys into minor streets.
More Men Than Women Die.
More deaths occurred among the men
/ than among the women, the death rate
among the former being 2166 and among
/ the latter 1897. In speaking of the high
death rate among the coloreG people of
/ the District Dr. Woodward says il is
due in his judgment to bad housing Gn-
cident TO a certain extent to defective
location and construction Of houses, but
probably to an even greater extent TO
bad housekeeping. TO bad clothing, 70
/ bad feeding). and 10 the absence Of need
ed medical treatment at the proper time.
/ All of this, he said, is due To poverty
and ignorance.
DIR. WOOdward's Views.
In relation to this subject Or. Wood
ward said:
For the excessive death rate among
our colored people there is no sovereign
remedy. The government has already
done much tending TO reduce IT, Other
things must be done and are now under
| consideration, as the establishment OF
/ public baths. the reclamation of the An
acOstia flats, and the extension of public
Fairgrounds and Of other movements al
ready inausurated.
"One thing disc has not yet been taken
up in the serious way in which the i'm
/ portance Of the matter deserves. and that
/ is the establishment Of day nurseries
Further than this there is. il seems
| to me. nothing that the government can
/ do directly to diminish the prevalence of
/ physical impairment Of sickness Of dis
/ ease. and Of death among them. Every
thing further depends upon the initiative
I of the individual and the most that can
/ be done is TO place the individual I'm a
/ position where he can and viii take that
/ initiative And this can be effected only
/ through education"
Record Number of Births.
The total number Of births recorded
during the year was 6.415 the largest num-
/ Der ever recorded during a single year
+ in the District Of Columbia Of this
number, 4140 were white and 2275 color
+ ed infants
/ During 1866, 1C97 cases Of typhoid fever
were reported. an increase Of 50 cases
/ over the preceding year. OF this number
/ l42 resulted fatally, a percentage Of p 81
/ In 1904 there were III deaths from "
phoid.
The following percentage of deaths re-
( suited from communicable disease: scar
! let fever. 3S7 per cent; diphtheria. 9 per
/ LEAlt- anu S-lldLllDAr l. Oef cent
Tuberculosis Rate Lowered.
The death rate from pulmonary tuber-
! culosis fell from 2623 per thousand &c
2.556 This was a decline in the death
rate for whites from L6f. but the death
rate for the coIored people increased from
| 4926 to 1892
/ Thirty-fve deaths occurred from steam
/ railroad accidents. more than at any 9th
er time from that cause during the last
/ decade There was also a large increase
1 in deaths from street railroad accidents
( fourteen having been reported. The
i average of deaths from this cause during
/ the past decade was but -
/ Dr. Woodward recommends the con
version Of alleys into minor streets. He
7 commends the system of medical inspec
/ tion of schools and says its scope should
/ be extended
! With regard TO the inspection Of bar
/ Der shops he says it is to be regretted
the staff of the health Office is not larg,
/ enough to enforce the regulations.
! DIT. Woodward requests additional ap
| propriatiOns in order that more men may
be provided for his department