The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1915-03-30
DEATH Rate AActs::
NEGROES DECLINING
.norN BY CENSUS REPORTS
u ,sr ISSUED BY THE BU-
pEAU AT WASHINGTON.
uOyf OWNERSHIP ONE CAUSE

Mortality of Blacks IS Ne'" ~i00
-"Oi'' cnoat as That of Whites Per-
ontaoe of Deaths of Both Races
CIV Increase Last Ten Years.
mAsHINGTON, D. C.-The bulle-
negroes in the United States
'..ned by William J. Harris, director
4ho census. department of COM
norco will contain for the first time
d statement regarding mortality
.mong negroes. All previous census
~nh,ications have given statistics for
.hn total colored population, in which
T ar included the Chinese. Japanese,
indians and other non-whites. The
do+o will be shown for the registra-
finn area of the United States. che
rogistration states and certain select
y ed cities.
The negro population of the area
woo 1877 per cent of the total num-
bor of negroes in the United States
in 1910. and the deaths numbered
40 499. with a death rate of 25.5 per
1000 population-a decrease as
comnared with the rate in 1900,
which was 29.4.
The selected cities are the fifty
seven registration cities which had,
in 1910. a negro population of $500
or more, for which comparable data
are available in 1900.
Record in Fifty-seven Cities.
In the fifty-seven cities included
in the table the death rate among
negroes in 1910 was 27.8 and that
among whites 1879 per 1000, the rate
among the negroes being nearly twice
as great as that for the whites. In
the thirty-three Northern cities the
death rate among negroes was PSI
and that among whites 1871 per
1000. while in twenty-four Southern
cities the rate for negroes was 29.6
4 and that for whites 1863. Thus the
death rates for each race were higher
4 in the Southern than in the Northern
/ cities, the difference between the
races in respect to death rate also
4 being greater in the South.
Both negroes and whites show de-
Creases in death rate in 1910 as COM
pared with 1900, when the flfty-seven
cities are considered in the aggre-
gate, the decline for the negroes be-
ing 3,4 and for whites rs per 1000
population. Every city in the South,
Il except Key West, Fla, and Memphis,
y Tenn, showed a lower death rate for
Il negroes in 1910 than in 1900; the in
crease in Key West was only 2,
while in Memphis it was 80 per
1000.
Death Rate Declining.
The general tendency appears to be
IN the direction of a declining death
rate for negroes in registration cities,
the decrease being somewhat greater
lof negroes than for whites; as a re-
suit the difference between the death
rate for negroes and for whites in
these cities was not as great in 1910
as decade earlier.
OeatnS among negroes, as cOmpar-
eu with the whites, are relatively
more numerous for malaria, tuber-
eulosls Of the lungs, other forms OF
tuberculosis, pneumonia and whoop-
ing cough; while for measles, scarlet
leVer, dipteria, cancer, appendicitis,
elarrhoea and violent deaths (includ-
.as sulcide), the distribution is no.
tlCeaoly higher among whites. In
Otuer causes the differences in the
percentages are slight.
Ownership of Homes.
Inc question as to whether the de-
I tease in mortality among negroes in
to1O as compared with 1900 was due
" permanent causes, such as I'M
LIVED housing conditions, better
mealcal attention and in general i'm
ploted sanitary conditions, and not
~, Inc absence of epidemics, is an
-DpoItant and interesting one.
ub G.nuoubtedly one of the factors
S HniCn mas caused the decrease in the
uealn rate-which decrease is almost
~ UNIVERSAL in the cities of the South
40 the increase in home ownership
"H TL negro population.
tbo n US ownership of homes data for
sron Northern cities and states is not
roirittaole, and what is presented here
da DDS only to the South. In the
h os from 1900 to 1910 the num-
tbo VI homes owned by negroes in
I09 southern states increased by
otb.S ~ of 31.4 per cent, and in
cent sntr homes of 72,463, or 49.S per