Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1915-03-31

I'D ~ sZ1AJ
authority not only that preventable
diseases are causing undue numbers
of deaths. but shows the exact lOca-
ton of such undue mortality, the ages
and classes of persons affected and
the relation OF the disease TO season,
race, social class, sex, poverty and
other conditions.
Guide to Action-lt exactly locates
the enemy and charts the battlefield
for the most important warfare man
kind has ever waged; vital statistics
point an uncrring finger al the very
spot in which the remedy should be
applied. IL rObs disease prevention OF
the dangerous and wasteful element
OF guess II makes possible the APP
plicatiOn of our remarkable, scientific
knowledge at the proper place.
Test of Efficiency our
mortuary data made from year TO
year, accurately indicate the value or
uselessness # those measures which
arc advocated and employed i'm the
hope of preventing disease. Without
mortuary figures for comparison we
can never hope to know definitely
which public health measures are eff
fective and which ineffective. They
are our only reliable guide in the Sc
lection, employment or rejection Of
agencies Of prevention.
Municipal Health Work - The
healthfulness or unhcalthfulness of a
community is largely matter Of COM
parison. No city can know its own
health conditions: no city can deter
mine offhand whether its prevcniable
diseases are excessive or not unless
there are available the data of other
cities of like size and similarly situat-
cd. The average citizen becomes so
accustomed TO the prevalence of dis
ease about him that he regards the
condition i'm his home town as nor
NAL" and inevitable"
One mid-western city had tolerated
| death rate from typhoid fever of 80
per 100000 of population and had
| looked upon IL as the normal
| typhoid death rate" The study of
/ Vital Statistics showed this to be eX-
cessive and lead 10 an investigation
of the cause. In two years the death
rate was reduced fifty per cent.
DR.. w. S. Rankin, secretary of the
/ North Carolina State Board of Health
IN an address before the Association
of Life Insurance Presidents. de-
scribes several southern cities reused
to the realization of their deplorabl'
health conditions by the study o
mortuary statistics and settinl
in operation preventive measures
which will save scores of human
lives
The SNUG self-satisfaction of mos
American towns as 10 their healthful
ness is the reckless folly of ignorance
The Unhealthful Community-OT
the other hand. certain communities
bear the stigma of being "unhealth-
! full undeservedly. A comparative
study of actual morality data viii
prove that the city presumed TO be
most unfavorably situated is. in fact
more healthful than other cities pre-
sumed TO be relatively free from pre-
ventable disease. For generation;
We have believed that all rural dis
tricts are especially healthful. Stats
tics conclusively demonstrate tho
folly of this assumption.
Is it no better to know the fact anC
set about correcting the evil than t'
let preventable diseases continue
their death ravages?
Value of "Civic Health"-In Oul
present enlightenment. men seekinl
homes and manufacturers casting
about for the location of industries
are more and more making healthful
ness a prerequisite 10 their selection
A great industrial company, cOntem
plating a change i'm location for theil
plant, sent committee of intelligent
workmen TO inspect the town undei
consideration. The committee gavl
an adverse report because they were
unable TO ascertain anything which
was definite in regard to the health o
the place and because the statement
of citizens were conflicting. In spit
of its industrial advantages, the cit!
lost a great industry because II cOulG
give no reliable account of its health
fulness. It has no Vital Statistics.
The Immigrant and the Home Seek
er-Charles Dickens had some justi
fication for his description of tht
trials of the American immigrant il
Martin Chuzzlewit" Thousands o
home seekers have been lured {,
death in unhealthful communities
through the eXaggerative literature o
land boomers and immigration
agents. II mOrtuary statistics weri
complete and uniform in all sections
of the country. the home seeker would
be able to ascertain the truth an,
would be guided intelligently.