The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-14
OUR NEGLECT OF
 THE PUBLIC HEALTH Only One-Fourth of the State
 Boards Are Efficient .EPIDEMICS MISMANAGED
"Bueiness Interests" Conceal Real Con- ditions to the Detriment of the Communty-Physicians Make
 Vital Statistics Unreliable.
BY SEWELL HAGGARD.

BY SEWELL HAGGARD.
 New York, June 13.-Americans devote much time and. presumably. some thought to politics; they are becoming more care ful every year in the selection of their public servants and more inslstent in their demands for laws to safeguard their financial interests. But so far they have shown almost criminal lack of interest in the proper safeguarding of the public health
 An article here and there In some monthly publication. a speech by some physician; this is all that is being done t point out the crying need of a com prehensive national health organization. At present all we have Is the Marine Hospital Service--an efficient organization as far as 1t goes. Any city may call on it for help, but it has no authority to tackle an epidemic unless requested to do so by the local authorities. What we need is a system of cooperation and di- rection of the state boards of health, about one-fourth of which are efficient In many instances, the state boards would would be efficient if they could, but with the niggardly appropriations given them by the legislatures they are powerless.
 South Carolina is splendid example O. 1 this; the president of the state board of | health is a noble man, but when he asked the legislature for 5000 to enforce the pure food law and prevent decayed meat ! from entering the state 1t was denied 1 him. 1t wasn't so long ago that a body of physicians went to the public health committee of the legislature to appeal for more funds for the health depart ment A medical politician, who was a member of the committee, said to them What do you want of laws to prevent folks being sick? Ain't that the way you make your living?"
 These and other examples of the atti- tude of the public toward its health arg given in an interesting article by Samuel Hopkins Adams, in McClure's Magazine for July. Regarding the unreliability of our vital statistics MT Adams says:
 Vital statistics in this country are an infant science. Yet they are the very basis and fundament of any attempt to better the general health. Knowledge of what is killing us before our time is the first step toward saving our lives. The 1 census bureau does it's best to acquire i this essential information. For years Di- ! rector North has been consistently ham mering away at this point. But progress
 is slow Only 15 states, representing is
 per cent of our population, are comprised
 in the registration area; that is, record
 all deaths, and forbid burial without legal permit giving the cause of death and other details Outside of the little group of states, the decedent may be tucked for llNr dor
 be the wiser for it. This Is convenient for the enterprising murderers, and saves i trouble for the undertakers. Indeed, 50 interested are the latter class, that in | Iowa they secured the practical repeal of a law which would have brought that state within the area; and in Virginia this | year they showed under a similar bill Tn
 the legislature, by flood of telegrams Ohio, the third largest state in the
 union, keeps no accurate count of the ravages of disease. Probably not more
 than 60 per cent of it's deaths are report ed. Why? Inertia, apparently, the part of the officials who should take the matter In charge Governor Harris, in
 his January message, made a strong
 plea for registration, but without result
 As for births, there is such thing as 1 general registration of them. So this
 matter is neglected, upon which depend
 such vital factors as school attendance,
 factory employment, marriage, military
 duty, and the very franchise which is ! the basis of citizenship. It is curious to
 note that Uruguay, in it's official tables i of comparative statistics, regrets it's in
 ability to draw satisfactory conclusions
 regarding the United States of America,
 because that nation has not yet attained ' to any scientific method of treating the
 subject Patriotism may vince; but let us
 not haughtily demand any explanation ori,a affrl,I
 plantations might be embarrassing. For the taunt is well founded.
 [ "Is it strange that, having no basis in national statistics, our local health fig ures speak a varied languege?' We have no standards even of death on which to base comparisons. But a dead man | is dead man, isn't he whether in Maine 1 or California? Not necessarily and un- qualifiedly. In some southern cities he ! may be a dead colored man." hence | thrown out of the figures on the "white
 death rate,' which we are asked to regard
 as the true indication of health conditions.
 In New Orleans, until recently, he might
 be death in county hospital" and as 1 such not counted-this to help produce a
 low death rate. In Salt Lake City he's
 a dead stranger" and unpopular an &C., | count of raising the total figures for the
 city They reckon their total rate there as | 16.3S, but their home rate or "real'' rate | as 10SS. That is to say less than Il out
 of every 1000 residents die in a year. If | this be true, the Salt Lake citizen must
 send their morbund into nasty exile. or give them rough on rats, so that they
 may not die in the house."
 "The medical profession Is to blame
 for the unreliablity of vital statistics, ! MT. Adams continues: This unreliability
 may be set down to the account of the 1 medical profession Realizing though | they do the danger of concealment from 1 the proper authorities, and in the face
 of the law which, as it gives them spe-
 clal privileges, requires of them cer-
 tain return, a considerable percentage
 Of physicians falsify the returns to pro- tect the sensiblites of their patrons. | That they owe protection rather to the lives of the public, they never stop io think. Tuberculosis Is the disease most
 unsupported. In many communities it Is
 regarded as a disgrace to die of con 1 sumption. So it is But the stigma | rests upon the community which permits l the ravage of this preventable disease; 1 not upon the victims of it, except as they contribute to the general lethargy. In or- l der to save the feelings of the family | a death from consumption is reported as 1 bronchitis or pneumonia. The man js buried quietly The premises are not dis l infected as they should be, and perhaps | ome ,1nknoWing victim moves into a