Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1918-02-23

coming from isolated southern dis
trictS> are apt to be relatively free
from this disease for Il considerable
period after their arrival in Pitts
burgh
And again:
Table number XXn was ascertain.
ed from Il study Of the records of
three of the largest hospitals in
Pittsburgh. as to the treatment Of
Negro patients in these Institutions
for period Of six months before the
migration and an equal period dur.
ing the migration. Although th,t9
table proved interesting. as showing
tho amount kind and extent Of tho
hospital morbidity among the co,ored
people, 1t Is not at all conclusive.
That the hospital records give no
clue to the sickness among the No.
grocs is apparent from the following
Eighty to ninety percent Of the hos
pital cases examined were ward pa
tient. Very few Negroes can afford
private rooms, and almost every col
ored physician complained Of the dir
ficulty he Ed in securing places for
his patients. 1t Is only fair to state
however, that one Of the largest hos
pitfalls in the city. had no such charge
lodged against 1t.
Here again we have an instance of
where the hydra-headed monster OF
ra.co prejudice Ind raised its head
against the people in black from the
SOUTHLAND. He continues:
Aside from possible difficulty in sc
curing beds in the hospitals, there
Is another cause for the scanty mum
Der Of Negro hospital cases. Tho No.
gro not only because of his ignor-
ance, but perhaps even moro because
OF his inclinntions to voodooism and
superstition, feels an aversion to the
hospital where he thinks the knife
and the "black bottle" are frequently
used. He Is still childlike in many
ways. and will prefer all sorts Of
patent medicines and quack doctors
rather than expose himself to tho
surgeons knife in n hospital: and
chooses to stay ut homo among his
own people where he may "die In
peace"
This is statement Of an existing
condition and fact Colored folks
arc slowly but surely beginning to
learn tho Value Of hospital treatment
The white-capped nurse and the white
bedstead with It's snow-white sur
roundings have superstitious aspect
to most illiterato colored folks and
to MANY litcrate ones. They prefer dy
ing i'll their own beds. He says:
Therc is no more striking phase OF
tho local Negro pre- blcm, than that
shown i'll table number XXlII. These
IiSdrcS ulaclOSc tile astonishing lact
tnat the death rate among Negroes
i'll this city during the first sevcn
months OF 1917. WAS forty eight per
cent create" than tho birth rate. In
other words, while i'll the city poula
ton as whole, the number OF deaths
wa3 80 percent less tnan the numDcr
OF births, tho number of deaths among
colored people Was forty-cight per
cent more than the number Of births
thus, for every ono hundred persons
born in Pittsburgh in 1917. there wero
seventy deaths, while among thI<
colored putu.a,IoE lor c,c.y one
hundred children born, ono hundred
and forty-cight persons died.
This fact h,s already been empha--
sized. And again:
These figures seem OF sinister sig
n1ficancc TO tho Negro race. Even
when taking in consideration the
facts that tho migration is largely
that OF single males, rather than that
OF families, and that because of tao
women here are doing some work out
side the homo there Is definite poll
cy Of limiting their birth rate there
still remains the fact that even dur
ing me entire year of 1916, while the
birth rate Of tho entire city popula---
ton was practically twice the death
rate, tho excess number of births over
deaths among colored people was on
ly Twenty-Five in total Of over five
hundred.
He says:
That tho infant mortality rate
among colored people is much higher
than among the white groups, is gen
orally believed and 1t is not surpris
ing to find that the mortality among
Negro infants in Pittsburgh is much
greater than the infant mortality
rate for the entire city. Figures for
tho year 1867 were unobtainable.
The records Of the Department of
Health show that during the year
1915 ono hundred and four children
per thousand born in Pittsburgh, died
in their first year.
There were three hundred and fif--
ty-siX Negro births in the first seven
months Of 1917. During the same per-
iod cighty-sevcn Negro children died
under one year. OF this number fifty
nine had been born between January
al T,,1x IN