The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-03-01
will continue TO bo tho cradle of tho
reunited nations economic greatness.


THE VALUE OF VITAL STATISTICS.
The real business OF society Is to
keep alive. Human lives are tho raw
material of which civilization is made.
The State. therefore, should have, as
It's births. their circumstances and re-
gularity, and OF its deaths and their
causos. To secure and preserve this
Information In accurate. tabulated form
Is tho object of tho bill for the uni
form registration of vital statistics,
under State control. which has passed
the Senate and should pass tho House
In u few days. The bill carries but a
small appropriation. imposes slight ex-
pense on the counties, and involves no
hardship for the people at large. It
amply authorizes the gathering OF
certain vital records of enormous i'm
portance. II Will create q ledger OF life
wherein births and deaths will be bal
anced to determine how our business
Is progressing at bottom, and where
the losses occur.
1t was urged that in rural districts.
remote and thinly-settled, 1t would be
hardship to comply with the rulings
OF the bill. from the difficulty of com
municatlon in the time allowed Amend
ments have been added assuring such
districts that where reasonably neces-
sary the law may be complied with
through afidavits at later timo.
The figures provided If this bill be
n a Ca1 ,t-ill
boards of health to compare mortaii-
ties from different diseases, and com.
bat high death rates due to unknown
contasion and sporadic causes. With
out these figures typhoid, for example,
may creep up steaithiiy until ten times
the ordinary number Of deaths are
caused, and yet no one knows that a
perpetual epidemic exists. II high
mortality occurs IN any special dis
trict, remedial measures can be con-
contracted on the local causes for the
condition. And as any region has in It
the hideous Potentially OF spreading
its contagion through the whole state,
1t Is important to the whole State to
XIII this potcntiailty. These statistics
Will furnish Information of the APP
pearance OF new or virulent diseases.
An outburst of pellagra or infantile
paralysis could be checked. The record
OF births will have a tendency to es-
tablish the legitimacy of children, and
Indirectly to correct some of tho causes
of infant mortality. 1t will furnish evil
dence in the tedious settlement of the
race problem.
The law Will also have economic
values. 1t VIII be fundamental to all
other laws depending on age Tho child
labor. and in time the compulsory
education laws will depend upon it for
evidence. The records will prevent the
registration of voters before their ma
jority. They will furnish complete
data on legal heirs In Virginia, thus
saving many legal disputes, and they
Will furnish documentary proofs in dis
puted insurance claims. They Will be
as valuable as marriage records, or
those of the ownership of lands
Virginia needs such a law-if for
no other reason. that 1t will enable her
to prove the healthfulness she has long
been proud OF. The uation is urging
its passage, and already all the States
north of her and west TO tho Missls-
sippi River, save West Virginia, have
enacted 1t. 1t is n matter OF funda
mental publicity, and offers economy
in the very heart of the Commonwealth
Its lives.