Evening star., 1925-10-12
COL0RED RACE HIT
BY DREAD MALADY
Death Rate From Tubercu-
Iosis in 5-Year Period Re-
qarded Serious Problem.

SAI WV WI lOOS tSOtSb's
| The death rate from tuberculosis in
! the past five-year period in Washing
| ton averag ged nearly five times as high
| for colored persons as for white.
| This problem has assumed such
| serious proportions that special
| meeting of the board of directors of
| the Washington Tuberculosis Associa-
| tion was held last week for con-
sideration and action. The meeting
! was in the boardroom of the Social
/ Service House at 1922 Eleventh street.
Directors i'm Attendance.
The following directors attended: Dr.
! George NJ. Kober. president; Emile
! Berliner, chairman of the publicity
| committee, at whose special request
| the meeting was called; DR. William
| c. Fowler, city health officer Or. Jo-
! seph a. Murphy. chief sanitary in
! spector of the public schools: Rev. ID.
! +. Niseman, pastor of the Lutheran
| Church of Our Redeemer (coloredl: DR.
| Harvey w. Wiley. noted food expert:
/ DR.. ". d. Tewksbury tuberculosis
! specialist: DR.. +. c. Schroeder of the
| Department of Agriculture on animal
| diseases in their relation to public
/ health: DIR. Harry :. Bernton, bac-
teriolosist: DR.. +. c. Smith. repre-
Sentlng Surg. Gen. Cumming of the
Public Health Service: Mrs. Ernest R
Grant. chairman of the committee on
child health education of the National
tuberculosis Associations: Miss Ger
trude Bowling. head of the Instructive
Visiting Nurse Association: Mrs. Jo-
seph Sanders. active in the work of
the Farent-TeaCher associations and
Congress of Mothers: Wallace w
Hatch. chairman of the health COM
mittee of the Monday Evening Club,
and Walter 5. Ufford. secretary of the
tuberculosis Association. As special
~ invited guests. there We're also pres
ent Mrs Blanche McDuffie. principal
OF the Harrison Health School for
colored children. and Miss Anita Tur-
ner, in charge of the physical train
ing department of the colored di-
visions.
Onlclai Fig eureS as Basis.
Mr.. Berliner opened the discussion
ana exhibited a chart showing the
comparative death rates of colored and
White population Of this city from
1900 to 1924. Not only did these fig
ures, taken from the Health Office,
show the constantly declining rate for
both races, with the white rate ever
lower than the colored. but the strik-
ing fact that, while the period from
1918 TO 1920 was one of rapid decline
in rate for the colored, the period from
1920 TO July /. 1925 had shown no
decline for people of this race. A
comparison of the tuberculosis death
rate for white and colored during this
period was indicated as follows:
1920. 1925.
Colored Observation-Disclosures. 225 23S
W hltes II 80
In sharp contrast to this showing
for the colored race. the figures for
the previous five-year period. 1915 to
1920. indicated a decline in the rate
from 407 to 233. Mr.. Berliner urged
still more health work among the col
ored people for their own sake but he
also warned that a high death rate
among those people from tuberculosis
means also greater danger in the
homes of many of the white residents
of the city who employ colored help.
DIR. kober also cited official figures
showing the relative death rate for
different age periods of both colored
and white children. Thel widest dis
crepancy was found between the ages
of 10 to 49, In this age period during
the last reported year 1924 he said
that the white death rate had fallen
TO 1.3 persons per hundred thousand,
whereas the colored death rate within
the same age period was 31.3, or more
than twenty-fold times as high as the
white rate.
Health Workers Give Causes.
Mrs McDuffie attributed the high
tuberculosis death rate among the col
ored people of Washington to three
general causes: First. economic con
ditions or extreme poverty; second.
bad housing with insanitary provi-
sions, and, third. ignorance on the
part of the parents in the poorer
classes She referred to the fact that
often a family of three or four is
found living in one room. Large fami-
lies are common and many children
that come to her school have in
adequate clothing and are underfed.
Wages of the family breadwinner are
inadequate. She thought that the
best way to reach these families of
the very poor is by systematic home
visiting. Mrs. McDuffie also expressed
the opinion that in certain congested
colored neighborhoods there is less
attention paid by the city to the re-
moval of refuse than in the better sec
tions She doubted that the people of
the colored race are more susceptible
to tuberculosis than are the white un-
der similar living conditions.
Miss Turner paid special attention to
the gains made by the colored children
in the nutrition classes and cited this
as an example of what can be accom-
plished through health education.
More Medical Inspection Needed.
Dr. Tignor strongly urged the need
of more medical inspection for the col
ored schools. He said there are at
present only three school inspectors
and three school nurses for 10000 col
ored school children.
Rev Mr.. WiSeman expressed the be-
lief that bootleg liquor is contribu-
tory factor to be reckoned with. He
also said he had felt that the colored
sections of the city do not always have
the same attention paid to their sani-
tary condition as the other sections do.
Statement by Health Officer.
Speaking of the housing problem,
DR.. Fowler, District of Columbia
health officer told of the work done by
the Bureau for the Condemnation of
Insanitary Dwellings. He said large
number of buildings had been torn
down under the law permitting such
action where a depreciation of 80 per
cent or more was indicated. DR.. Fow
Ter laid special stress on the fact that
in many cases among the poorer class
of colored people they fail to call in
| a physician until the patient is near
to death also their failure to take full