{"id":25326,"date":"2012-09-12T23:42:09","date_gmt":"2012-09-12T23:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=25326"},"modified":"2012-09-12T23:42:09","modified_gmt":"2012-09-12T23:42:09","slug":"the-united-states-census-in-its-relations-to-sanitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=25326","title":{"rendered":"The United States Census in Its Relations to Sanitation"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States Census in Its Relations to Sanitation<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Public Health Paper Report<\/a>
\n Volume 15<\/a> (1889)
\npages 43-46<\/p>\n

John S. Billings<\/a><\/strong>, Surgeon, U.S.A. (1838-1913)<\/p>\n

I have several times inflicted upon this patient and long-suffering\u00a0Association papers relating to statistical matters and methods, which, it\u00a0must be confessed, were better fitted to serve for occasional reference\u00a0than to occupy any of the scanty time available for listening at our annual\u00a0meetings. To-day, however, I have a very short discourse on the same\u00a0subject which I want you to listen to, because, if the suggestions in it\u00a0have any value, some of them should be acted on before the paper will\u00a0probably appear in the volume of our proceedings.<\/p>\n

Theoretically, we all agree that vital statistics are the foundation of\u00a0public medicine, but, practically, I suppose that the majority of sanitarians\u00a0and physicians think that they are not essential to the work of a\u00a0health officer or board of health, although they may be desirable; that\u00a0the main objects in sanitary work are to see that the water-supply is\u00a0pure; that garbage and excreta are promptly removed or destroyed;\u00a0that no filth is allowed to accumulate in the vicinity of habitations; that\u00a0contagious diseases are controlled by isolation and disinfection; that\u00a0plenty of fresh air be provided in schools, churches, etc.; and that all\u00a0this can and should be done whether death-rates are known or not.<\/p>\n

This is not my own view, because my observation of the progress of\u00a0public health work in this and other countries for the last twenty years\u00a0leads me to believe that this progress, in any locality, for any considerable\u00a0length of time, depends upon the completeness of its vital statistics\u00a0and the use that is made of them; because upon such completeness\u00a0and use depend mainly the amount and regularity of appropriations\u00a0from state or municipal funds for the payment of the expenses needed to\u00a0secure the objects of the health department. Occasionally it is possible\u00a0to get up a cholera, or yellow-fever, or small-pox, or typhoid fever scare,\u00a0and to then get a little money for sewerage, or for street and alley cleaning;\u00a0but these spasmodic reforms do not last long, and in most cases do\u00a0not amount to much. You have got to produce constant, undeniable\u00a0evidence that the work is needed, and is useful, evidence that will convince\u00a0the press and the majority of the community; and this evidence\u00a0must be mainly death-rates, to which should be added all the sickness rates\u00a0that can be obtained…<\/p>\n

…In investigating the details of the records of deaths kept in different\u00a0cities, I have noted deficiencies in a few of them to which I wish to call\u00a0the attention of all who have to do with the registration of vital statistics.<\/p>\n

First<\/em>. All deaths occurring in hospitals should be charged to the\u00a0ward or district of the city from which the patient was taken to hospital,\u00a0when this can be ascertained. Otherwise the death-rate in the\u00a0ward in which the hospital is located will be too high, and in the other\u00a0districts it will be too low.<\/p>\n

Second<\/em>. The birthplace of the parents of the decedent should be\u00a0reported. We want to know the race of the decedent, whether he was\u00a0Irish, German, Italian, or American, and to give merely his own birthplace\u00a0is not sufficient.<\/p>\n

Third<\/em>. It is very desirable that in all cases of deaths of colored persons\u00a0it should be stated whether the decedent was black or of mixed\u00a0blood, such as mulatto<\/a> or quadroon<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the most important questions in the vital and social statistics of\u00a0this country relates to the fertility, longevity, and liability to certain diseases\u00a0of those partly of negro and partly of white blood, and the only\u00a0way to obtain data on this subject is through the registration of vital statistics.<\/p>\n

Under the provisions of the law providing for the census, the living\u00a0colored population is to be enumerated with distinction as to whether\u00a0each person is black, mulatto, quadroon, or octoroon<\/a>; and we need the\u00a0same distinctions for all colored persons dying during the census year, to\u00a0enable us to calculate comparative death-rates.<\/strong> Wherever there is a\u00a0fairly accurate registration of deaths, which now exists in several states\u00a0and in over one hundred cities, the next census will afford the means of\u00a0calculating death-rates with distinctions of color, sex, and age, which\u00a0will furniish important indications for sanitary work. For all cities of\u00a0io,ooo inhabitants and upward, it is proposed to collect as complete\u00a0information as possible with regard to altitude, climate, water-supply,\u00a0density of population, sewerage, proportion of sewered and non-sewered\u00a0areas, and other points bearing on the healthfulness of the place, which\u00a0will permit of interesting comparisons with the death-rates.<\/p>\n

Read the entire paper here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United States Census in Its Relations to Sanitation Public Health Paper Report Volume 15 (1889) pages 43-46 John S. Billings, Surgeon, U.S.A. (1838-1913) I have several times inflicted upon this patient and long-suffering\u00a0Association papers relating to statistical matters and methods, which, it\u00a0must be confessed, were better fitted to serve for occasional reference\u00a0than to occupy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,33,2039,8,20],"tags":[11830,11831,11829],"class_list":["post-25326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-census","category-health-medicine","category-media-archive","category-usa","tag-john-s-billings","tag-john-shaw-billings","tag-public-health-paper-report"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25326\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}