Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1919-06-20
FINS CARLETON WINS
TRUST COMPANY MEDAL

Several years ago. with the purpose
of extending and intensifying estab-
lished educational methods, the In
terstate Trust and Banking Company,
New Orleans, instituted an annual
gold medal prize competition in each
High School of the States of Mississ-
ippi and Louisiana for the best essay
on a subject selected in consultation
with educators and public officials.
The contest for 1919 was based on
Vital Statistics" the State and Ma
tional Health authorities deeming it a
question whose Importance was not
fully and widely appreciated as it de-
served to be.
The winning thesis for the Macon
High School was written this year by
Finis L. Carleton which is here print
ed:
Vital Statistics
Vital Statistics is system of ac-
counting for human life. Births, mar
riages, divorces and cases of sickness
and death are facts with which the
modern State is most concerned Just
as the business man gets accurate
information for the management of
his affairs, so the State should Sc
cure knowledge Of the nature and eX-
tent of its vital resources. Such knowl-
edge is obtained from the census and
registration records. A balance sheet
of these records properly kept by
| the State shows whether or not pro-
gress is being made or not on a bus
mess basis. Handled on a strictly bus
mess basis, it amply repays for the
capital invested
The record Of a child's birth will
answer many questions for parents,
and aid the child in every stage of life
| II will dmit the child to school: al
low him o work when the proper age
has been reached; and keep him from
being put to work before that time. A
birth record will settle without ques-
tion all legal rights; prove identifica-
tion at home or abroad; and entitle
the holder to the full privileges of
Icitizenship.
Records of marriages and divorces
should be carefully kept by the State.
Marriage and divorce laws are being
revised in many States and an effort
made to learn whether the DEGREES in
number of marriages is varying or
whether there is an increase in divor-
ces due to bad health or economic con-
ditions. Every means should be used
to prevent the marriage of detectives.
No community can safe guard the
health Of its people without accurate
statistics i Of sickness and death.
Death certificates tell the health off
Ger of defects in sanitary conditions;
protect the community from the dan
gers of infection and contagion and
prevent epidemics. (The presence of
certain diseases indicates certain ex-
listing conditions)
Mississippi was the thirty-first
State in the Union to enforce laws of
vital statistics. Some states require
the registration Of death, but not of
births. These States are not taking
the proper care Of individual or ma
tional interests. From statistical re-
cords the homeseeker may obtain in
formation Of health conditions. States
cities and rural sections may know
their own health conditions as compar-
ed with that of other communities
and any influence, either hygienic OF
economic, which tends to produce a
decline in the birth rate or an in.
crease in the death rate, may be cor,
rected. Likewise, from these records
the Government may have a better ac,
count of the strength in numbers
available for the services of our coun.
try,
Vital statistics cost money, but il
is profitable business.
Provide the health officer with suf.
ficient funds, and his work will show
results from the beginning. 1t mean.
greater prosperity.
Help to make complete Mississippi.
family bible.
FINS CARLETON,
Macon, Miss
W. NJ. Cox, Supt. Macon, Miss.