The Penn's Grove record., 1915-08-06
MAY FURTHER CUT
DOWN DEATH RATE
Health Board Bulletin Points
Out Possibilities.
SLIGHT COST PER CAPITA
To Make Result Equal That in New
York More Money Is Required
Public Should Be Willing to
Bear Extra Cost.

Public Should Be Willing to
Bear Extra Cost.
Especial Trenton Correspondence.)
Trenton.-The possibilities of furth-
er reducing the death rate in New
Jersey by public health work are
pointed out by the State Department
of Health in a bulletin outlining what
has been done and what is possible
to be accomplished in this direction.
ut is often said," remarks the
board, that we should have the
Chinese system of paying doctors in
this country. Persons who make the
statement mean that we should pay
doctors to keep us well instead of
paying them for services when we
get sick. AS a matter of fact, we do
have a system of health preservation
in this country, so adapted to u in
situations that few people recognize
it's similarity to the Chinese scheme
of practicing medicine. We regard
health protection as of so much i'm
p~ortance that we have improved upon
the Chinese system by taking it out
of the field of private endeavor and
making it the function of a separate
branch of the government.
Health protection as a distinct
function of the government is of COM
p~aratively recent origin.
Cuts Down Death Rate.
"The New Jersey State Department
Of Health, which was among the first
State departments to be organized in
the country, was created and the or
g~anization of local boards provided
for by an act of the Legislature only
thjrty-seven years age. While a few
local boards of health were in ex-
i1tence when the State Department
vas created, fully nine-tenths of the
nearly 500 such boards engaged
in protecting the health of the people
have been formed since that time.
"The response of the death rate to
this organized attack upon disease in
New Jersey has been a decline from
the high point of 21.S2 per 1000 popu-
lation in 1882 to the low point of
14.02 in 1914. When it is remembered
that each point of reduction in the
death rate meant the saving of 1850
lives in the State in 1914 alone, the
magnitude of these results may be
partially appreciated. Further ap-
probation may be gained by consider
ing that for each life saved perhaps
ten cases of serious illness have been
prevented. -
"The experience of New Jersey in
reducing its death rate by the or
ganized efforts of health officials
merely adds further proof to the truth
Of the saying that public health is
purchasable; within natural limita-
lions a community can determine its
death rate A few calculations will
show that the security given to life
and health by efficient public health
work makes an investigation in such
work the best paying proposition for
life and health insurance ever offered
to the public.
Slight Cost Per Capita.
''The cost of both State and local
public health work in New Jersey
varies from ten cents per capita per
year in many communities to fifty O.
sixty cents per capita in a few of the
communities where larger appropria-
tons are made to the local health
boards. This meager expenditure has
already resulted in adding several
years to the average spar of life and
reducing very greatly the amount of
serious illness which falls to the aver
age lot of man.
THAT we can still further reduce
the death rate in New Jersey by an
adequate investment in public health
work is indicated by the experience of
New York City. The appropriation
for the health department in New
York City amounts to about IS cents
Per capita for the population. The
activities of the health department,
made possible by ample appropria-
tons, have resulted in a reduction of
the death rate to 13.40 in 1914. If
this rate had prevailed in New Jersey
instead of the rate of 14.02, 1,767 lives
would have been saved in this State
last year..
ut must be remembered in this
connection that the New York City
health department is working with a
population living in the most crowded
city in America. Conditions are
therefore unfavorable for public
health work, yet the ample appro-
priations have enabled such efficient
work to be done that the death rate
for that great city is lower even than
the death rate for the rural sections
of New Jersey. The 1914 death rate
for New Jersey cities over 5000 popu-
lation was 14.17, while for the rural
districts, comprising the balance Of
the State, it was 1866.
Supreme Court Rules on Inheritances.
The Supreme Court has just set
aside the assessment under the col
lateral inheritance tax act levied by
State Comptroller Edwards against
the estates of Matilda H. Smith and
Jane M. Smith. sisters, of Pittsburgh.
The Assessments were upon the stocks
which were passed as requests by
the wills of the sisters.
The Supreme Court sets the as
sessments aside upon the ground
that the inheritance tax does not
apply to inheritances between SIS
ters.
Names Several Road Inspectors.
State Road Commissioner Edwin A.
Stevens has appointed several road
and bridge inspectors under the new