The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-05-09
Too Much HySteria.

t. u "a
SIN my opinion there has been a1lS UNI !
necessary amount OF hystcria eNhlbltedB
over the health conditions OF Rlchmollu. s34
~ have been practicing in this city forB
twelve years. and have also lived n OF .,
ciiies. and when compare conditions, u
appears to me that the, death rate IN
this city has In no wise exceeded ina S'Is5 o.
tohers Will, which ! am familiar. XXX s;3%
& "In fact, from my experience WIN tlleS 9,
white population only, this city IS exceed
ingly healthy. and l thlnk tnal VIC ~ ~
doing ourselves a great deal Of unneces-A
snry harm by advertising to uhc Worlu% K
nrnlal startling death rates, which, y +
NE consider the white population MAINLY
are entirely unwarranted. 70 me !ne SIS 4
nltjcant fact regarding our health re-.
ports Is that we have been honest enough
to report every case or death occurring y
IN our limits, unfortunately for VS.. s4 VIA
Many cities have convinced themselves
that such q course would not bc 70 tnelr3
advantage, and the elimination with !, tieet' en- I
of certain cases OF death S II practice as 4
we'll as Il theory. l \,
"And, too, the people who read these 4
reports Of our board arc Intelligent peo-g 4
nln some of them perhaps having an eye
- n future home. ] these should ever
come to our city to live. they Wo9ulu
live under tho same conditions that most
OF us live under, and would not pc suu-I
1ected 10 conditions that made the deatas5
rate proportionatcly higher than Is war
rantcd. III other words,I mean thisTT
that white people coming here would I'VE
under the sanitary conditions that eSlsf.5
and would not be In the least anletapitoS
TO the conditions that seemingly an. anu I
actually surround the colored populations 'sI
not only in this city, nllt III eNeEs N''S Il
where they reside,
AS Other Cities Do. ii
"lf our authorities were to 90 as theg
silt, it,nt tn
nonulation, the still-births. the patients g
living in hospitals, almshouses and penl-8
,cntIarics. and also all non residents. our
death rate would not be III the least
anomalous, ] do not believe, however,
that this method, which Is folloWed. ny
many cities, Is the correct method. sun
this fact should he borne IN nlhd When
,nm,,arativo ,.',n health statistics are made.
II uo,,ld he much bcttcr, as you say, d1dH
MI tho cities adopt n uniform method of
computing death rates. Were this me
cnsc tho figures would not be so mis-
leading as they are 5$ !, l8S5
"I believe also that tho area which tha Il
different cities OCCUPY should also %
COMPARED and estimated in making out
these reports on health conditions for
there is no question that, especially Tor y Il
southern city, Richmond is compnctly
populateu' 49,, ~ no,roe.
,vith us Is n responsibility wo must ass
s,rmo, and It seems to mo that II tha II
environments and santation8nf this race
could be improved and active Efforts II
we're directed towards this end, that wn
would have nothing to fear nta compara-
i've health estimate even II this part Of I
o,,r regulation were included. In my
opinion, Richmond is one OF the best
located cities within my knowledge ana
naturally AMI artiicialiy Is one of tha
,,,,,, bast araineI cities that l know of tl
in the world sg
Studied Health Conditions.
several years ago. before determtn.nKBs Il
10 establish q private hospital ~ tniA 4
eitv, i studied the health conditions PEGS,
taihing 10 this locality very thorouEtiys
aud discovered that there was but aAs n