Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-12
WAsHINGToN's HEALTH.
District Office Much Incensed Over a
Newspaper Article.

NSWSpdpST AIt1C4c.
Further steps were taken in the District
health department yesterday to disprove
the unjust charge printed in the Washing
ton correspondence of the Memphis, Tenn,
News Scimitar that washington is prob
ably the most unhealthy city in the
country" AS soon as this statement was
brought to light by the receipt at the Dis
trict building Of letter from r. III. HON.
NELL of vicksburg, Miss. in which the
Memphis clipping was inclosed, the Com
missioners declared that the correspond
ent who was responsible for the story had
written completely outside the facts, and
further that the printing of such a story
was calculated to do much harm to the
capital in the very field which the local
Jobbers and Shippers Association is now
working so hard to draw into closer bust
ness communion. -e----..-.
In the health department yesterday there
was no hesitancy in offering for perusal
the United States census Office reports,
which are as nearly correct as human skill
can make them. in which it was shown
that Memphis, the city in which the story
of the unhealthfulness of the capital was
exploited, can show an average death rate
only trif1e under one-tenth of one per
cent less than that Of Washington. By
the actual figures the death rate in Wash
ington is 2O.9 per 1000, and in Memphis
1915 per 1000 of population. Other cities
which show a higher death rate than
-
Augusta, Me. 23.7; Atlanta, Ga, 22.S; An
napolis, Md. 22.2: Lynchburg Va. PIG;
Key West, Fla, 24.0; Jacksonville. Fla,
Isl; Mobile, Ala, 24.4; Savannah, Ca,
Texas. ga; San Francisco. Cal. 21.0;
Wilmington, N. c., 2S.2; Troy, N. Y, 2l.3;
Richmond, Va, 25.7, and San Diego. CAL,
21.5.
Referring to the local typhoid fever sit
uation, which was made particularly
alarming in the. correspondents version,
the health authorities called attention to
the census reports, which showed that at
least twenty-one cities in a list of eighty
in the country, irrespective of geograph-
zeal location. have a higher typhoid death
rate than Washington.
Statement by Mr.. mcfarland.
In speaking today Of the noted state
ments made by the Washington CORE
spondent concerning the health conditions
of the capital, Commissioner Mcfarland
said:
while the Commissioners cannot make
formal reply TO Mr.. Hummel until they
have the official reports of the officer in
charge of the Washington aqueduct and
the surgeon general of the public health
service, 1t is not only proper for the Com
missioners to call attention once more to
the census Office bulletin No. 20, 1908, Sta
tistics of Cities. the latest official publica-
ton showing comparative death rates. in
contradiction Of the absurd charge that
w dSDlnStOn Is a pecullarly unhealthy city,
but to state that since that report was pub
lished our death rate has decreased, so that
now 1t is below 20 per thousand. This is Of
course, much lower than in large number
of other cities. Our death rate for the last
year was 1920.
''It must be remembered that this is the
death rate of the entire population of the
District Of Columbia. The death rate for
the white population alone was 1916. The
death rate of the colored population was
2S.S1 OF course. most of the cities with
which Washington is compared to its dis
colored population. We haye, of course
the largest colored population of any city
in the world.
1.-The figures have given compared with
those for the past ten years show steady
decrease In our death rate. The Commits
sioners have STATED these facts SO often
that they ought to be known to every onA.