The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1941-01-16
Always Heavy Demand
For Certificates of Birth
Ten Thousand Seek Proof of
Health Department In
Four Months

Over ten thousand applications for
copies of birth records have been re-
Ceived at the Maryland State Depart
ment of Health within the past four
months from persons residing in Mary
land or claiming Maryland as the place
of birth, according to recent reports
from the Bureau Of Vital Statistics,
which has charge of such records. A
large proportion Of these requests
were from adults and were for the pur-
pose of proving identity, establishing
citizenship, obtaining work permits
and for other uses for which records
are required.
Some of requests necessitated re.
search into records of fifty, sixty or
even more years ago. Individual claims
were substantiated by interesting fam
lily records, marriage and baptismal
certificates, lists in family Bibles,
school and church records. Each appli-
cation was checked back under the di-
rection of DR.. A. w. Hedrich, Chief Of
the Bureau. Copies of the record were
made available whenever the original
could be found and delayed registra-
ton" records were substituted when
justified by the documentary evidence
submitted by the individual.
Commenting on the experience, DR..
R. H. Riley, director of the State De-
partment of Health, said that the ne
cessity for establishing citizenship to
secure employment in industrial con-
Germs and the compulsory registration
of aliens has brought home the value
and Importance of the authoritative
records of ones birth, to thousands of
individuals who have never given q
thought to the the subject before.
GAS a means of safeguarding the
rights of the individual" he continued
'the State Department Of Health
through the Bureau of Vital Statistics
checks and rechecks each birth certif-
icate as it is received at this office, tc
be sure that the necessary information
has been correctly and completely re-
corded. Surveys of the completeness
of registration are also made at fire.
quent intervals by the Baltimore City
Health Department and the State
Health Department to be sure that the
births of all children born to Mary.
landers are properly and promptly
registered.
"In recently completed survey
the names of approximately $4,000
children in the preschool age group
in the counties, obtained through the
county school authorities from the
school census of 1888, were checked
against the birth records. Careful
checking and rechecking resulted il
the registration of the births of ovel
a thousand of the children who haC
not been registered at birth. This sur
vey was carried out with the aid Of
the WPA.
"This checkup indicated that 95.'
per cent of all births, white and col
ored, in the counties, are reported
But this means that 4.3 per cent, Of
approximately one in every twenty
are not reported. You can imagine thu
difficulties these children will have tt
overcome as they grow older, to prove
their identity, to establish citizenship
to establish other rights for which
authentic birth records are a lega
requisite.
"The responsibility for prompt, ac
curate and complete reporting Of eacl
birth rests primarily with doctors
midwives and parents. Evasion of thi
responsibility may work very seriou
hardship upon the individual who's
birth is not recorded"