El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-09-16

! the whole range OF health and death
| statistics It is only through the work
of those who gather and digest the
| statistics of health and disease that
! a country is able to know that meas
! IIres. are needed to promote the public
| health and what results follow the
! adoption of these measures
/ For instance, when vacclpation
! AGAINST typhoid fever was worked out
! II 80 only because the information
| Gathered with reference to the preva-
| Ience of the disease pointed the medl-
| cal eraternftv to the necessity OF adopt
| ing repressive measures. Likewise.
| nut for the statistics kept 1t would
! he impossible now to gage the full re-
| suits of the new methods of rendering
! people immune from the disease
! Effect of Vaccination.
| The results have been so remarka-
| HE that they would hardly be be-
/ lieved but for the cold 1lSures mat
| have been kept When we consider
| 25,0 900 cases of vaccination, heasuI ms
! the number of cases and the nuInDef
of deaths in a like number Of non-Vac-
/ cinated persons, and then compare tHe
results with the cases OF those VINO
! have been vaccinated. We begin 10 see
I what the effect OF vaccination against
\ typhoid has been
! The same is true of tuberculosis, Of
! diphtheria, and other contagious us
\ eases. The doctor does the work and
1 the statistician checks II up Nhen
/ a man finds that the death rate in tu-
! berculosis is cut in twain since doc
/ tors were introduced to the germ OF
! the disease by Dr. Koch, that less than
| one-third as many children Ole from
|. diphtheria since the advent of the anti
! toxin treatment, that typhoid fever IS
! largely robbed of its terrors through
/ vaccination, he loses his skeptlclsm,
4 and if he is a lawmaker or an executor
! of the law, he helps enforce these les
( sons Thus are medical statistics the
/ conclusive test and principal aid OF
medical science
/ New Data Is Compiled.
Three principal kinds OF data are es-
/ sential to a proper checking up OF
/ health conditions in any country. The
! first is the statistics of births With
I these statistics, data a. to infant NOR
/ tally makes its beginning. Without
/ them no accurate measure of health
| conditions in infancy can be taken We
4 know that infancy is the most fatal
/ period of human life, and that 1t IS
i impossible effectively to protect the
little babies without accurate data
/ the countries of the world have ade-
I quate birth statistics. In our own
/ country very few of the states have
birth registration laws
| The second essential line of infor-
nation needed properly to gage the
| public health TO tell Of the need OF
repressive measures, and to Indicate
| the results that grow out OF the adop-
/ ton of such measures, is data con-
! corning diseases. Many states have
[ made certain of the most serious dis
! eases re2Ortable-that is, doctors are
| Obliged TO report cases in their prac-
/ tice to the local health officers.
In the majority OF cities and also
/ in few of the states, all contagious
diseases are required to be reported
/ Without such data Chicago never
would have known the wide extent OF
! typhoid fever prevailing there, and the
M he
J built And without it afterward the
/ wonderful result in the cutting down
! of the death rate from typhoid fever
! the economic saving being vastly IN
| excess Of the interest on the cost
could not have been measured
Death Statistics.
/ Death statistics also are highly es-
! sentiaN One of the great problems
has been TO get universal death Ger
tificate and a universal practice in the
| statement of the causes OF death An
| international congress has considered
! this matter, and steps are being taken
! looking to the world wide use OF a
/ standard death certificate showing the
| causes of death This data now Is
! given more thoroughly than any other
| kind of health statistics. More than
! half of the population in the United
States now lives in territory where
! there is a registration of the causes OF
! death. The census office is pushing
I the movement TO have all the states
I adopt such registration
All of these matters viii come be-
fore the congress in the form of re-
ports upon results and discussions. One
/ of the speakers will be DR.. CreSsy l.
/ Wilbur, chief statistician for vital sta
( tistics of the census bureau. He VIII
tell of the remarkable strides that
have been made in the development OF
I vital statistics in the United states
I since 1900 The discussion of state
health statistics laws will be an in
! teresting feature of the proceedings
One speaker will tell about the sue
/ cess of the model law enacted by the
/ state of Pennsylvania, while another
| will tell how Missouri instituted its
law and made it effective. There have
! been a large number of court decisions
! on matters affecting the health laws
| of the various states, and their bear
! ing on the situation will get a hearing.
! Kentucky is the first state south of the
Ohio river to adopt an adequate sys-
| tenn of death registration, and the reg
! istrar OF that state will tell about
| the operation Of the law and its re-
! suits Virginia is preparing Tor the
: operation of the model law and Dr. "
| A. Picker will tell what the Virgin
| ians are doing in that direction.
Health Conditions In Country.
1t is we'll known that health condi-
tions in the rural districts are better
than those in the cities, as is reelected
( by the death rate a Canadian author
ity will bring a paper showing the re-
latiOR of rural and urban populations
to the public health, while France will
bring a message concerning the i'm
provements in the classification of the
causes of death, and as 10 what fur
! Their changes may be made with adYan-
| tage. Everybody knows that doctors
sometimes make wrong diagnoses, and
one of them proposes TO bring a paper
telling the congress just how much OF
a margin of error there is in this con-
| nection. showing that it differs in diff
ferent diseases and in different locali-
ties.
The training of health and death
Neutrality-suspicious. known as
! mographers-wiI receive its share
! of attention. Germany has a system
of training men to be statisticians jus1
I as we train men to be doctors and law
yers and one of its leading officials
will tell the congress how Germany
makes photographers. France also viii
be heard from in this connection. and q
| Cornell professor will tell how the
| supply of and demand for statisticians
may be increased. The use of machin
cry in the tabulation of statistics, It's
! advantages and disadvantages, also
! Will be discussed.
Infant Mortality.
Infant mortality will receive a large
share of attention. 1t will be shown
that cutting down the death rate
| among children allows those who sur
vive to grow up to a healthier man