East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1910-11-02
KEEP BETTER RECORD
OF HOG THAN CHILD
L. S. VERY NEGLIGENT
ABOUT IT'S OFFSPRING
Few Statistics Secured and No Way
of Telling Annual Crop of Babies
Sanitary Laws Could Save Chill
drcn.

Washington, d. C.-Better record is |
kept in this country of a pedigreed |
hog than Of child.
A record is made Of a hogs birth. |
OF the events of its life and of its |
death. Yet in over half of the United
states a human being can be born
and can die without official record
being made Of either event.
The United states is nearly the
only civilized country which does not
collect vital statistics The Census
/ Bureau has striven for years to edu-
cate the states to enforce the record
! ing Of these most important statistics.
! As a result record is now kept of the
mortality or death-statistics for
about 55.3 per cent Of the total popu-
! lation. This year for the first time
the birth rate statistics for some OF
the states, will be published by the
government.
The territory in which the mortality
figures are recorded is almost wholly
in the northern part of the country so
that 1t is admitted by the census ex-
ports that they are not a sound basis
upon which to estimate the nations
death rate. particularly as the high
death rate Of the negro population Of
the south is eliminated. The birth
rate figures viii not cover a large
enough portion of the total area Of
the country to allow of any national
estimate.
This discrepancy I'm national stock
taking is all the more striking be-
cause there is no other country world
where more effort Is made to record
material resources. Every bushel of
wheat, corn and oats, every ton OF
cotton IS accounted for and closely
estimated long before It is harvested.
The yearly estimates OF the Agrlcul-
!. tural Department and Of the Census
Bureau on grains and farm products
are now brought within five per cent
OF the actual figures.
But not once has stock ever been
taken Of the annual national crep of
babies. An effort was made TO Sc
: cure an estimate from Census Director
. Durand.
ut is somewhere around two and
n half millions" he said, but so fai
: MS that goes, anybody's guess is as
good as mine on those figures"
' 1t Is impossible to tell without those
c figures whether the so-called origina
American stock is holding its owr
+ against foreign invasion. The dire
:. prophesies Of the anti-race-suicidC
advocates are mere hazards and vii
To be until they are based upon accurate
y vital statistics.
The figures representing the dealt
n rate in that zone in which mortality
= statistics are accurately recorded Ger
italnIv point out crying need for th'
collection Of this data throughout th'
country.
a II is shown in those statistics tina
e the deaths Of children under fiv
3, years constitute q per cent Of all tn
S deaths in that area. This is far owe
o half the total population Of the coun
= try. More than one-fourth of tn
= American born population $oday eve
c reach the age Of five years.
& Whose children are those that ar
dvingP Where Is the harvest of dealt
greatest among them? Why are the
diving? This information, say scien
lists would go a long way towar
pointing out the necessary preventa
l. tive methods for checking this wan
ton infant waste.
r An eminent student of rne publ
health. Dr.. Irving Fisher, claims tha
n the present rate of infant mortalit
NJ Al per cent OF those that die With
their first year and 81 per cent c
= those that die between the ages of
and might he saved through ma
tion-wide knowledge OF conditions an
rigid enforcement of known san
:" tary laws.
Every year the census bureau, tn
"' national medical association and XII
y dred organizations go before the stat
's legislatures with their pleas for tt
n passage of bills requiring the register
ing of all deaths and births and tt
ie circumstances of them And evei
te year in most of the states these bill
70 pigeou-holed.
&C. The progress is slow but 1t is b
e ing made. Education is helping goo
u deal and fear a good deal more. F.
instance there Is constant fear In Il
IN New England states of the decline
IL the birth rate which Is now suppo
er edly the lowest in the country. Their
nd fore these states are commencing
rn tally their births. Slowly but sure
NJ the United States will be brought
ee to the level of other great nations
ce, the matter of vital statistics, t
census officials hope.