St. Tammany farmer., 1906-12-22
DEATH RATE IS LOW
WASHINGTON BY NO MEANS AN
UNHEALTHY CITY.
Statement Made in Memphis News
paper Is Not Warranted BY
Facts-compares Favorably
With Other Big Cities.

Memphis, Tenn, News-Scimitar thc
Washington is probably the mos
unhealthy city in the country" A
soon as this statement was brought t
light by the receipt at the Distric
building Of a letter from r. H. HON
NELL of Vicksburg. Miss, In whic.
the Memphis clipping was enclosed
the commissioners declared that th'
correspondent who was responsible
for the story had written completed!
outside the facts.
In the health department there wal
no hesitancy in offering for perusa
the United States census Office re
ports, which are as nearly correct a.
human skill can make them, In which
it was shown that Memphis, the city
in which the story of the unhealthful
ness of the capital was exploited, car
show an average death rate only {
trifle under one-tenth of one per cent
less than that of Washington. By the
actual figures the death rate in Wash
ington is 20.9 per 1000, and in Mem
phis 1875 per 1000 of population
Other cities which show higher
death rate than either Washington
or Memphis include: Augusta, Me.
23.7; Atlanta, Ca, 22.S; Annapolis
Nd, 22.2; Lynchburg, Va, 21.6; Key
West, Fla, 24.O; Jacksonville, Fla.
2S.1; Mobile, Ala, 24.4; Savannah
Ca, 27.3; Saratoga, N. Y, 22.0; San
Antonio, Texas, 22.4; San Francisco,
CAL, 21.0; Wilmington, N. c., 1872;
Troy, N. Y, 21.3; Richmond, Va, 25.7;
San Diego, Cal, 21.5.
Referring to the local typhoid fever
ly 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 coun-
try, irrespective of geographical loca-
ton, have higher typhoid death rate
than Washington.
In speaking of the noted statements
made by the Washington correspon-
dent concerning the health conditions
of the capital, Commissioner Macfar-
land said:
while the commissioners cannot
make a formal reply to Mr.. Hummel
until they have the official reports Of
the officer in charge of the Washing
ton aqueduct and the surgeon gen.
eral of the public health service, It is
not only proper for the commissioners
to call attention once more to the
census Office bulletin No. 20, 1905,
Statistics of Cities, the latest official
publication showing comparative
death rates, in contradiction of the
absurd charge that Washington is
peculiarly unhealthy city, but to state
that since that report was published
our death rate has decreased, so th:t
now it is below 20 per 1000. This
is, of course, much lower than in
large number of other cities. Our
death rate for the last year was 1920.
1T must be remembered that this
is the death rate of the entire popu-
lation of the District of Columbia. The
death rate for the white population
alone was 1916. The death rate Of
the colored population was 1881. OF
course, most of the citfes.with which
Washington is compared to its disad-
vantage in this respect have little or
no colored population. We have, Of
course, the largest colored population
of any city in the world.
"It is an unfortunate fact that
some of our own people, often with
good intentions, have circulated ex-
aggerated statements about our death
rate, which they easily have found to
be inaccurate by consulting the dis
trict government, or, if they wanted
to go to an entirely disinterested au-
thority, by consulting the census bu-
reau. The fact is, as the figures show,
Washington compares favorably with
other cities, and it is not at all nee
essary in undertaking to make its
death rate still lower to misrepresent
1t. When we know from the impartial
authority of the public health service,
which we have asked to cooperate
with us, the cause of the typhoid fever
conditions, we shall be able to take
hope, which will still fur
ther reduce the death rate, and it
will also be affected by our efforts
through the legislation we secured at
the last session and otherwise, to deal
with unsanitary conditions, and also
with the tuberculosis conditions"