Evening star., 1944-08-03
H!eaIlIh Service
Plans New Drive
0n1ubercuIosis
District Listed
Among q cities
10 Receive Aid

Among q Cities
o Receive Aid
The United States Public Health
Services today announced It 4 xIaSp.
HI up plans for 4 new national tu.
berc1lo6is control. program in ~
cttiss with q population Of more
than 100000, including the District
Of Columbia.
pr. a. Darklie Coulter, head CT the
Tlbarculosis Bureau Of the District
Health Department, when informed
Of the announcement. said he fully
expected the national assistance to
be extended to Washington viii be
In the form Of q grant Of money.
Legislation authorizing q fund Of
$10, ,000.0o0 for the Public Health
Service has been enacted, but the
money has not yet been appropri-
ated.
The Public Health Service made
public . comprehensive set Of sta.
tistical tables disclosing the rela.
tive death rates Of the 81 cities,
based on deaths during the three
years Of 1899. 1910 and 1s41. The
average yearly death rate in the big
cities was shown to be 55.4 per 100,-
600 population, compared with 43.5
In communities OF $500 to 100 ZOO
population and 3l.l in rural areas.
Death Rates Vary.
DR.. Herman e. Hilleboe, chief Of
the newly-created tuberculosis
Control Division of the Public
Health Service, recently authorized
BY Congress, said that death rates
IN the large cities vary extremely.
and studies were beiog made to md
out why. For example, he pointed
out the death rate in cities OF over
vhelmingiy white population varies
from l5.6 deaths per 100 900 popula-
tion IN Grand Rapids, Mich, to 1Sl.7
In San Antonio, Tex.
Washington's standing among the
20 cities was listed in several ways
It's relative position based on deaths
among all races, deaths among
whites only. among nonwhites,
among cities Of its own size and by
geography.
The cities with the lowest death
rate among all races, which stood
at the top Of the list, were Grand
Rapids, Mich, 1856; Salt Lake City.
1913; Minneapolis, 20.9.
d. C. IL in Slth Place.
Washington was listed In 84th
place, with q rate of S2.7 deaths
per 100000 population of all races,
Cities with higher tuberculosis
death rate among all races than
washington were: San Antonio.
l5l.7; Chattanooga, Tenn. 113.7:
Sacramento, Calf. 975; Jackson-
vile, Fla, 89.4; Memphis, Tenn.
SOL; Atlanta, Ga, 86.5; Birming.
ham, Ala, 83.7.
In the list given, the death rate
for the white race only, however,
Washington stood next to the top
among cities OF its own relative size
from 5oo,o 900 to 1000 900 population,
with q death rate Of only 3S.3 per
10000 population. The only city
which had better rate than WASH
ington was st. Louis, Mo-. with a
death rate Of 81 per 10000 white
population.
DR.. Coulter. pointing to this good
showing of the District, said this
was the fairest comparison OF any
of the tables listed by the Publ:s
Health Service. He emphasized.
however, that cities should no. lie
considered to be In competition with
each other in q tuberculosis death
rate. Instead, he said, mole prac-
tical consideration would be to show
how rapidly the death rate was go-
ing up or down in each city.
He stressed his recent report that
since the establishment of the Bu-
reau, of tuberculosis in the Health
Department here In 1896, the death
rate generally had dropped from
l02-2 to 66.A per 100, 900 population,
according to his figures here.
Other Cities Listed.
After st. Louis and Washington
In the Public Health Service list Of
death rates among white popula.
tions were: Pittsburgh, $50; Mil.
waukee, 39.3: Cleveland, al; Balti.
more, 468; Buffalo, 4S. Boston, IS:
and San Francisco, 81.
Among cities of its own size.
Washington stood in fourth place for
the death rate among nonwhites, as
follows: st. Louis, 176, per 100000
population; Pittshurg, 1926; San
Francisco. 1855; washington, 194.3:
Boston. 21k7; Baltimore, 22s.2, and
Cleveland, 735l.
The nonWhite situation among 80
cities Of the country listed showed
Washington in 2Sth place with the
figure OF l943. The highest non.
white tuberculosis rates were in
Newark, 27S5; Chicago, 250I; Chat.
tanooga, 2444; Cincinnati, 243.3:
Cleveland, 235.1; Tulsa, Okla, 234.I:
Baltimore, 229.2: Boston, 2l5.7; New
York, 2l3; Philadelphia, 2o35; Jack
sonyille, Fla. 1854; Washington.
le4.3, and Detroit, 1892.
Among such cities the ones with
the lowest nonwhite ceath rate
were; Fort Worth, 102.7; Charlotte.
N. c, 1o72; Kansas City, Kans..
1907; Dallas. 1le9; Houston, 1914,