Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-28
Deaths ON the Railroads.


lay aside the f1gurative sickle for the
fender OF street cars in many instances.
but the steam railroads are pointed at
in the report as the causes Of many
graves. In spite of the establishment of
the Union station and the reduction in
the number of grade crossings seven
teen persons were killed on steam rail-
roads in the District during the period
covered by the report.
There were no more deaths than that
during the five-year period ending 1905.
when great gangs Of laborers were work
ing on the tracks daily. In those years
an average of twenty-four year met
death from accidental causes on the rail-
roads. Before that the rate was seven
teen a year-just what 1t has been dur
ing the year closed
The report points out that there are
certain obstacles to an Improvement In
the death rate, and the figures given in
dictate that while the doctors are battling
with death In one portion of the field
the enemy is marshaling his forces and
making inroads upon the army Of the Nv
ing quietly but effectively In another
place.
For instance, cancerouD growths pushed
its rate from 20 to S1.2 per 10000, and
previous to the 20 mark the rate was
about 90. Grippe marches along from
death rate of 1877 a few years ago to
2s6 fo1, the YEAR ending 1907. and last
year reached IS. Bright'a disease was
at es4 nns Years as GO The ,, latest est re,
''prever table disease" perhaps. suicide
has helped the death rate to keep at
higher figure than might otherwise nave
been reported. Ten years ago suicides
were figured at 1873 per 10000. The fg-
ures rose to 16.4 in the next Ave years.
Today it is within a hairs breadth of 90
Study Of Home Hygiene.
DIR. Woodward'e comment on this state
of affairs calls for wide and popular
study OF home hygiene:
ut Is apparent from the foregoing nS-
ures that efforts made by the govern
ment to prevent sickness and diseases
must. to be most largely successful, ex-
tend more deeply into the matter Of IN
yestigation and Of education than at pres
ent. Until the cause Of cancer IS known,
action for it's prevention will be impossI-
ble And with respect to such mortality
arterio-ecierosis, where it is commonly be-
lieved that something toward prevention
can be accomplished by the individual.
by proper methods Of living, 1t Will
generally to accomplish even what can be
accomplished unless they are properly
educated with respect to the matter, and
such education, as we'll as other sanitary
educate Of like character, must FORM d
part of the public school curriculum"
The figures, cold as they are. paint a
vivid picture Of some Of the living condi-
lions in the alleys. conditions wlli5h the
department hopes to improve through its
alley crusade. The report compares the
difference between the death rate In the
streets and in the alleys. In one instance
the alleys have a lower death rate than
the streets, and that is, oddly, in the
matter of consumption. The white death
rate from this cause in the alleys was 62
and in the streets 1t was twice that num-
Der. But the white people who died in
alley homes number II per 100000; the
colored people dying in alleys numbered
approximately 32 per 100000. The white
people dying in houses in streets num-
be. ed less than IL per 100000 and the col
ored people, the records show. figure at
1855. Pneumonia, bronchitis and con-
sumption figure in the grim causes.
Bad water, bad drainage, absolute ig-
norance Of the elements of home SANTA
ton have stricken down children to a
terrific extent I'm the alleys. White babies
under two years of age to the number Of
247 have died OF diarrheal diseases in the
alleys. while their more fortunate little
fellow-citizens living out Of alleys show
only Ga. The figures for colored babies
Of the SAME age soar to 800 in the alleys.
practically just twice as many as on the
eft