Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-02-23
Civic Problems, Civic Bodies
District Legislation Lays in Honse-lncreased Sup
port for Juvenile Court Bal--Some Facts
on Health in Washington.

has been raised against the bill
on the ground that the proposed
law would prevent q child from
being represented by an attorney.
In reply to this objection, the pro-
ponents of the bill state that any
body with a direct interest in the
case may be present in the court
room and that this, of course, in
cludes attorneys. The whole idea,
however, is to strip the proceed
ings as much as possible Of the
appearance Of court procedure in
accordance with the most modern
thought.
One of the particular advans-
ages claimed for this new law Is
the more rigid fixing of the re-
sponsibility of adults who cause or
contribute to the delinquency of
the child.
1t is expected that the House
District Committee will shortly
hold hearings on this bill.
More Aggressive Warfare
Against tuberculosis.
7 INDER leadership of the District
of Columbia Medical Society.
the civic bodies are taking a
greater interest in the campaign
against tuberculosis than hereto
fore. During the discussion of the
report Of the Committee on Public
Health at recent meeting of the
Federation of Citizens Associations
there were heard number of re-
quests for specific information. It
was stated then that the death rate
from tuberculosis in the District
was higher than in any comparable
city with the single exception Of
San Antonio, Tex.
A question was raised as to the
distribution of this disease between
the races but no one was able to
give the figures. In the report of
the Health Department, at page 100
of the Report of the Government
Of the District Of Columbia for the
year ended June 80, 1885, this in
formation is given for the calendar
years from 1880 to 1884. During
the year 1884 there were 1,138 cases
reported, of which 442 were white
and 696 colored. The case rate per
1000 population was 1923 white and
sos colored. There were 600
deaths, 1913 white and 416 colored.
The death rate per 100000 of the
population was $50 white and $685.
colored. The percentage of deaths
to cases was white, 43.7, and coll
ored, 500.
Compared with the figures for
1890 it appears that in cases re-
ported there has been reduction
of 81 white and an increase of 16l
colored. In the number of deaths
from tuberculosis during the f1ve-
year period among whites there has
been a reduction of q, but among
the colored population of the Dis
trict there has been an increase of
sc. Pulmonary and communicable
forms of tuberculosis are the only
forms included in these figures.
Civic leaders who are particularly
interested in improvement of the
local public health conditions are
encouraged to believe that a more
general understanding of the facts
will result in increased appropria-
lions and a more aggressive war
fare upon this dread disease. These
leaders point to the poor showing
made by the District in its per
capita expenditure for public health
as compared with other commune
ties. Here only SO cents per capita
is available for public health pro-
lection service, while the American
Public Health Association recon-
mends $3.50 as a reasonable budget
for such purpose.