Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-22
ALLEGES error AS
TOD. c. DEATH RATE
Census Bureau Does Washing
ton Grave Injustice, Dr..
Woodward Declares.
EXPLAINS HIS POSITION

The census bureau is charged by Dis
trict Health officer Woodward in a state
ment to The Star today as doing Wash
ington a grave injustice in the figure 1t
publishes weekly as the capitals death
rate.
Declaring that it is calculated upon an
incorrect basis. DIR. Woodward asserts
that even if all the factors in the calcu-
aation were correct the rate would yet be
Misleading
And the injustice done Washington by
Biis publication. he continues, IS not INIT
H1ated by the footnote calling attention 70
I,e probab ility of errors throughout the
- tire list of death rates; the footnote Is
TOO inconspicDouS and its significance Is
too obscure to the lay reader to make II
Of value in SO far as the public is con-
Serned."
Pointing out that if population is I'M
.derstated the death rate is corresponding
" increased, DR.. Woodward charges the
bureau with having understated the mum
Der of people living in Washington, with
resulting exaggeration of the citys death
rate.
Death Rate 1877, Not 1877, he Says.
.The police census of November. 1917.
showed that the population of the Dis
trict was 3e5 947-" said the health Off
cial. ''In the four months that have
elapsed since then the population has
beyond reasonable doubt increased at
least to AGO. 900. Yet in spite of the
fact that an actual enumeration In No
.yember showed a population of ap-
;proximateIy $4,000. and in spite of
the well known overcrowding of the
city since then, the bureau of the CEN
sus has calculated Washington's death
rate upon an estimated population
of 3se2s2. the estimate heinz ba-~1.
n inf al % r.
eral censuSeS of 1900 and 1910. aud
without regard to other figures or facts.
Rehabilitation of the death rate for the
District on the basis of a population of
100000 shows that it is not 25.7, as
stated by the bureau of census but only
23.7.
THE Washington death rate publish
ed by the bureau of the census Is, how
ever. merely one of the many death
rates that Washington has. in common
with every other community. 1t is "a
Washington death rate, not the
Washington death rate. There ave
crude death rates and corrected death
rates, general death rates anu Special
death rates. And there are ali manner
Of combinations of these, running into
hundreds.
The death rate published by the
bureau of the census is what is known
IS crude general death rate. To draw
from it any inference of value. in so
tar as the healthfulness of a place is
concerned. is impossible, unless all of
the factors that enter into it are
known. and they never are known to
the lay reader
How Crude Death Rate Misleads.
After mentioning the elements that
enter into the determination of a crude
death rate, Dr. Woodward says that to
weigh and adjust these elements in a
manner that will permit the drawing
of fair conclusions is impossible for a
person without technical training, and
that the publication Of crude general
death rates even under the most favor
able circumstances should be INDUCED
in with caution.
where they are based upon an estimate
Of the population, which itself is based
upon census enumerationS ten and seven
teen years old, respectively. without any
effort Of correction for intervening events
such publication is highly dangerous" he
asserts And when the differepces be-
tween the crude general death rates OF
various communities are magnified fifty
two times, as it necessarily must be when
the deaths during single week are multi
piled by fifty-two and the rate calculated
upon the basis of the hypothetical year
30 compounded. the publication of such
crude general death rates should be for
hidden by law"