Manchester Democrat., 1909-10-06
F ali things in the United States, that most
enlishtened nation. human life is cheapest.
In his annual report for 1905 DR.. G.. J.
Whalen, Commissioner OF Health for Chi.
cago. made this statement as fact too
familiar to he controverted:

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approximately eighty millions Of people, Of whom mil.
lion or moro Will die each OF the total number OF
deaths 2b cent unnecessary and could be pre-
vented"
Medicine DR.. O. A. L. Reed of Cincinnati expressed the
same Idea in another form when he declared that pre-
vsntabls diseases In the United States kill one person
every two minutes Of the At this rate the total
would foot up 282 800 lives deliberately thrown away
twelve months Lot him who thinks this startling
fact Of to himself remember that death Ia
singularly indiscriminating
In Europe, whore human beings are regarded a. too
valuable to be wasted remarkable reductions have
been made in the death rate England and Wales had
In 1903 death rate Of 1874 thousand. which
decrease OF 322 cent from that Of the preceding
decade. The Netherlands. with rate Of 1856 showed
decrease Of II per cent; Denmark, 16.s decrease
Of s per cent: Holland l72 decrease Of SIS per cent
Even Sweden where selfpreservation had already be-
religion, had been able to decrease Of
Sc per cent bringing her down to the remarkably
figure Of 151 per thousand.
But the astounding thing is that while the death
rate In Europe continues Decline II turned about
and is the increase in the United States twenty
i've out OF thirtysix larger cities the death rate
higher in 1905 than In 1905, and in nine Of them II
was higher than 1t had been In nve years. For the ve
years from 1901 to 1906 the average death from
typhoid In Norway was 81 100000: in Switzerland
o6 in Germany, rs; In Japan, 11.4; In the United
Kingdom. 121 for the registration Of the United
States, s22 six times the rate in Norway four and
half times the rate In Germany, and nearly three
times the rate In England.
By the typhoid fever test human life s held cheaper
In Pttsburg than anywhere else for the death rate
from that preyentabe disease averaged 1898 per
population for the Ave years ending with 1906 the high
est in the civilized world. Pueblo Coo second
in this catalogue OF shame with rate Of 1886 ALLIE
gheny. third. l101; Jacksonville Fla. 76S Columbus
o. 728 Louisville. KY. 676 And typhoid is but one
Of the preventabe diseases Disease by stealth
in the darkened chamber out of sight of but few
But Violence seeks crowds where In the full glare OF
uoonday he strikes down his victims with all the bloody
ferocity Of an Indian massacre.
According to the mortality statistics Of the United
States Census Bureau for 1905 deaths all forms Of
violence In the registration in 1906 aggregated
652 This Is at the rate Of 1909 per 100000 as com
pared with rate Of SOL in the German Empire in the
same year. Nor s this ALL The rate exceeds that OF
1906 which ILL., and greatly exceeds that OF any
preceding year. The rate rose steadily from 61 per
cent Of al deaths In 1909 to 7b per in 1906 yo
lencs now ranks NTH among the principal causes OF
death. and the rate Is still increasing.
The railroads led the slaughter In 1906 as they do
today, with tally Of 1000 killed. as compared with
4As6 1902 Increase from 14l per 100000 to 173
Other principal causes Of death by violence with total
number Of deaths and the rate per 100000 nhabitans
set forth in the following table, murders suicides
and executions being omitted: