Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1912-09-16

G9ures On Births, Deaths
and Disease Are Care
fully Kept.
oUeeess o. the Model Law Enacted BY
NE State 81 psnnsyivanla-insant
Morality Will Receive . Large Share
~ Attentien-Tsbles Upon Which
Life Insurance Ratss Are Bassd-
Other Subjects.

Other Subjects.
Dy Frederic ]. Haslsin.
The program Of the division Of
demography-or vital statistics OF the
International Congress Of Hygiene and
Dsmography covers the whole range Of
health and death statistics. 1t IL only
through the work Of those who gather
And digest the statistics Of health and
hisease that country Is able to know
that measures are needed to promote
the public health and what results fol-
low the adoption Of these measures. For
instance. when vaccination against
typhoid fever was worked out it was
only because the information gathered
with reference to the prevalence Of the
disease pointed the medical fraternity
to the necessity Of adopting repressive
measures. Likewise, but for the sta
tistics kept II would be impossible now
to guage the full results Of the new
methods Of rendering people immune
from the disease. The results have
been 20 remarkable tina they would
hardly be believed but for the cold fig
0IU0 tu3S ISAV0 U0O11 R0Rts w ucu VIC
consider $4,000 cases Of vaccination,
measuring the number Of cases and the
number Of deaths in q like number of
non-vaccinated persons, and then COM
pare the results with the cases OF those
who have been vaccinated, we begin to
see what the effect of vaccination
against typhoid has been.
The same IL true Of tuberculosis, Of
diphtheria, and other contagious dis
eases. The doctor does the work and
the statistician checks 1t up. When a
man finds that the death rate in tu-
berculosis il cut in twain since doctors
were introduced to the germ Of the dis
ease by DR.. Koch. that less than one
third a. many children die from diph-
liberia since the advent Of the anti
toxin treatment, that typhoid fever IL
largely robbed Of its terrors through
vaccination, he loses his skepticism,
ana IL he II q law maker or an execu-
tor Of the law. he helps enforce these
lessons. Thus are medical statistics
the conclusive test and principal aid
Of medical science.
Three Kinds Of Data.
Three principal kinds Of data>are es-
sential to proper checking up ,of
health conditions in any country. The
first il the statistics Of births. With
these statistics, data as to infant NOR
tality makes its beginning. without
them no accurate measure of health
conditions in infancy can be taken. We
know that infancy is the most fatal
period Of human life, and that It is
impossible effectively to protect the
little babies without accurate data
about them. Yet comparatively few of
the countries Of the world have ade-
quate birth statistics. In our own
country very few OF the states have
birth registration laws.
The second essential line OF informa-
Nion needed properly to guage the
public health, to tell OF the need of re-
presstve measures, and to indicate the
results that grow out of the adoption
OF such measures, is data concerning
diseases. Many states have made GER
tain Of the most serious diseases re-
portable--that IL, doctors are obliged
to report cases in their practice to the
local health officers. In the majority
Of cities and also in few of the states.
all contagious diseasNi are required to
be reported. Without such data Chi
cago never would have known the
wide extent Of typhoid fever prevailing
there. and the drainage canal would
not have been built. And without 1t
afterward the wonderful result in the
cutting down Of the death rate from
kyphoid fever-the economic saving be-
ING vastly in excess OF the interest on
the cost--could not have been
measured.
Death statistics also are highly es-
sential. One Of the great problems has
been to get q universal death certificate
and universal practice in the state
ment OF the causes OF death. An in
ternational 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 II q registration Of the causes Of
death. The census Office IL pushing the
movement to have all The states adopt
such registration.
Reports to Congress.
All Of these matters will come before
the congress in the form OF reports up
on results and discussions. One Of the
speakers will be DIR. Greasy l.. Wilbur.
chief STATISTICAL for vital statistics of
The census bureau. He will tell OF tho
remarkable strides that have been
made n the development Of vital sta
tistics in the United States since 1900.
The discussion Of state health statis-
tics laws will be an interesting feature
Of The proceedings.
Ono speaker will tell about the sue
cess Of the model law enacted by the
ptate Of Pennsylvania, while another
wtll tell how Missouri instituted it, law
and made II effective. There have been
= laxgo number Of court decisions on
ua$eees Affecting the hearth laws Of the
sasso9e ststes md their bearing ON the
e3tuet1en win ut hearing. Kentucky
- - 1lTDe DtAte south Of the Ohio
49, ~ - -.