The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-06-06
ILLNESS INCREASES:
DEATH RATE LOWER
DR.. Dublin Urges Uniform
Health Bill Before Life
Insurance Presidents.
WANTS REGULAR REPORTS
Figures show Annual Losses
From Prcventablc Sickness
to Be 81, OOO,00O,OOO.

n Louis I. Dublin. statistican Of the
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company,
told the members OF the Association of
Life Insurance Presidents yesterday that
sickness throughout the country had not
decreased, despite lowering OF the death
rate.
u. urged the passage OF bill drafted
~ rr state health officers ut n confer
tnUr 10 1913 to insure complete reports of
diseases Application OF sanitary science
based on such reports would, DR.. Dublin
thinks reduce disease to considerable
degree and be OF great economic value to
the country.
The amount OF sickness has not been
controlled TO any appreciabe degree" he
said. Indeed. some maintain that Ill
MSS has actually increased in spite OF
al tho saving IN mortality. The next
twenty years must. therefore. see our
actN ties IN health work directed cspe-
,iaiiy to tho control of disease
1.-THE basis Tor any campaign against
sickness must be an accurate knowledge
Of it, prevalence. Just as the reduction
o. mortality is furthercd by complete
registration OF deaths and their causes so
our efforts to reduce the frequency of dis
ease depend upon machinery for report
Ing cases of Illness. their causes and their
duration They are socially more i'm
pOrtant than deaths and our programme
must more and more prevent their &C.
Curfence and effect their CONTROL
DR. Dublin said that although most OF
the states had laws requiring the report
ing of some infectious diseases. investi-
cation showed that the reports were al
most useless because OF incompleteness.
This was owing to lack of facilities in
carrying out the provisions OF law.
whatever be the explanation" he
went on. 1T is quite clear that at pres
ent no important aspect OF our State
health work shows mp to such poor adj
NantaEes as does the registration and
control OF tho prcventable diseases. We
aye here concerned with conditions which
are responsible from year to year for
large economic and social losses and yet
We have only the crudest machinery for
checking them.
"Prof Irving Fisher OF Yale has esti-
mated that about 100000 people are
seriously III at any one time in the
United States, Of whom about a half
are suffering from preven:able causes.
The economic losses from such illness ne
declares to be no less than $500, 900. 900
annually In wages and an equal sum in
doctors fees, drugs and other necessary
medical accessories. These figures he be-
ItNes, are conservative. but II Is obviously
impossible to make any estimate which
will approximate the truth In view of the
total absence of reliable information"
Dr. Dublin then outlined a few cases
In which epidemics of communicable dis
eases had been checked by early reporting
Including an epidemic of infantilc paraly-
SIS In Buffalo. which was halted withou,
serious fatalities.
An outline OF the bill drafted to meet
the need " complete reports was read
bv Dr. Dublin. who said that the life
insurance companies could assist in hav-
ING this measure put upon the statute
books OF the states by cooperating with
committees appointed for the purpose by
the American Medical Association and
the American Public Health Association
The life insurance companies have al
ready done a great deal in solving the
problem, he said. because of their in.
terest In preventing disease among policy
holders. The Metropolitan Life Insurance
Company. with which he is connected, has
attempted To- collect information on the
occurrence of cpidemics through It's field
force. II has also been advised of de-
ieCts In water supplies the lack of ade-
quate facilities for the disposal of sewage
ard other conditions which affect public
health.