The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1916-11-02
Vital Records of Maine,
Their Collection and Preservation. Address
of MIR. Alfred Johnson before the Maine
d. A, R.

Their Collection and Preservation. Address
of MIR. Alfred Johnson before the Maine
| D. A. R.
| Mr. Joanson's address, delivered before the
Maine Society of the Daughters of the Ameri-
can Revolution at their Council meeting held
in Belfast on October 18th, was, in part, as
follows:
| Our consideration of the Vital Records of
Maine may properly begin with those of Massa-
chusetts; first, because. as l need hardly re-
mind you. Maine, during the two centuries
covered by the earlier records, was a part of
Massachusetts; and second. because Massa-
chusetts is unique. in being not only the first
one of the United States. but, as it is also
claimed. the first governmental body in the
world to enact laws controlling its public rec
ords, and to create a commissioner to enforce
such laws. And it is to Massachusetts that
Maine as we'll as the other New England States
has looked for models when forming her earlier
as well as her more recent public record laws.
That part OF these Public Records which we
are to consider here are those which relate to
births, deaths. and marriages; that is, the
Vital Records. They are entered on the books
of the town and city clerks And it would seem
that these should have special interest for
your society, and that you might properly
make them a subject of study, and to GER
tain extent charge yourselves with their pre-
se,vation; for, when they collected and ar
ranged in alphabetical order. they constitute
one of the richest mines open to members of
Patriotic or Hereditary Societies for tracing
their ancestors. To the student of local his
tory ,also this whole subject is one which can
not be overlooked, and is of constantly in
creasng Importance.
Further, Vital Recorus, comprls ng they
do the records of births, deaths, and marriages,
and the conditions surrounding these. may be
said to constitute the very life current of COM
munities and States. Through the data they
furnish we read the life histories OF cities and
/ towns, the origin, continuation, and termina-
ton of the lives of their inhabitants.
1t is from these Vital Records that the
classified facts known as Vital Statistics are
made up The Vital Records are the bare en-
tries, while the Vital Statistics are the collec-
tons of statistical ratios, relating to the aver
age course of life, such as the death rate at
different ages. birth rate, etc.
We may divide Vital Records into two
classes. j. e., ancient and modern. l shall
speak first, briefly. of the current or modern
records; and later. at more length, of the older
or ancient ones. The two are SO related that
to understand either, we must know something
of both.
Aside from the greater detail of the modern
record, the difference is largely one of treat
ment after the record is entered; for so far as
the facts entered are concerned the two classes
are practically the same, and the terms used
arbitrarily to separate the recent period since
laws were enacted to insure the preservation
of the entries from the older and much longer
period in Maine. prior to 1892, when their
preservation was left to chance, and to the in
dividual interest of town and city clerks.
First then, few words about the modern
records. 1t is to be regretted that we have not
the time here to consider at some length these
modern records, the scientific methods in use for
filing and classifying them.and the vital statis-
tics that are deduced from them, for il is upon
these statistics that bacteriology and prevent
i've medicine base their conclusions 1t is through
them that diseases classified, and that epi-
denies are studied and controlled. Witness
the striking example in the current epidemic
of infantile paralysis, known to medicine as
anterior poliomyelitis. This statistical treat
ment of the records has been undergoing
rapid evolution within the memory of most of
US here present. and the possibilities this new
sanitary science holds for the preservation of
public health and for the good of the human
race not yet grasped even by its devotees.
and at the Schools for Health Officers its many
intricate problems are being studied with the
keenest interest
The ratios known as birth rates, death rates,
marriage rates, infant mortality rates, with
their resultant methods of preventing mortali-
ty among infants, and in prolonging the lives
of older persons, are among the more obvious
accomplishments of this science which occur
to US at once.
The bare tables of statistics themselves are
anything but dry reading, and perusal of
them brings out great variety of curious and
interesting facts; such, for instance, that the
excess of male births is a phenomenon com,
mon to all countries as is the greater mortality
of male children, which results in a per-
manent excess of females everywhere.
But, to return to the purely eugeoic value of
the records, we may sum up by repeating that
they are becoming, through the statistics that
are deduced from them, of vast Importance to-
day, in that they are potent factors in conserve
ing life ard health; in locating and preventing
mortality in infants, infectious diseases in
early life, and those of adsgenerative nature
which begin to appear in middle age; For they
alone can show US the changes in the birth,
marriage, divorce and death rates which are
due to these perncious causes, and can help US
to locate and remedy them.
In addition to their eugenic value, these cur
rent records have many other values. (The
speaker called attention to these in some de-
tail)
Before leaving the subject of these modern
Vital Records. word may be said as to the
method of collecting and filing them The law
requires physicians to make returns; parents
and househoders also must report to their
town clerks all births and deaths which occur
in their families or houses. These the town
clark in turp sands fnratho, with raoo,J, ~