REGISTRATION REPORT, FOR THE YEAR ENDING MARCH 31, 1881. By an act of the legislature at its last session, the entire responsibility of the enforcement of the law upon registration was transferred to this department. Section 4, chapter 64, Pamphlet Laws of 1881, reads as follows: "The Board shall take charge of the vital statistics of the state, and enforce the provisions of chapter 181 of the General Laws." The law upon registration of births, marriages, and deaths was passed in 1849, and although the same required the secretary of state to publish an annual report embodying such information as might be deemed useful or important, a report was not made until 1881, because the returns were too imperfect to be of any value whatever. In his report to the legislature (the first and only one), the secretary of state says, "The returns have been so incomplete, some towns sending none, and those who did send, only sending partial ones, that former secretaries have not only felt that they would not be justified in incurring the expense of making and publishing an abstract, which, on account of its incompleteness, would be of no value whatever." To Hon. A. B. Thompson, secretary of state, is due much credit in attempting to secure a more perfect registration, by personal work, circulars to physicians, clergymen, and town and city au thorities upon the subject, and suggestions to the legislature. Some idea can be formed of the total neglect of duty chargeable to some town authorities, from the fact that when the registration reports from the different towns were turned over to this department in December last, by the secretary of state, forty-eight towns had failed to make any report whatever for the year ending March 31, 1881. A letter to the delinquent town-clerks, calling attention to the law and the fact of their neglect, in a majority of cases secured an early response, but a few were written to two or three times. In a few instances no attention has been paid to the communications sent from this office: such towns appear in the table unrepresented by statistics. The very incomplete returns have made the present report of but little value, except to illustrate how a few careless or delinquent parties or towns may seriously impair the whole work, and ruin the aggregate statistical worth and correctness of the report. Our present law is defective, and will not secure correct returns. The additional law passed last session, giving clerks a fee of fifty cents for each birth and death which they report, not otherwise registered, has in a few places secured a more accurate registration, as the reports now being received show, but it will only in a slight degree assist in accomplishing the purpose for which it was intended. It is admitted that this latter feature of the law has not been in operation sufficiently long to test its efficacy, but it cannot be supposed to be sufficient to fill all the omissions of physicians, clergymen, selectmen, and town-clerks. So far as we have examined the results of the various methods of registration, we find that some of our city ordinances are much more effective than the state law. In this city the record of vital statistics is very near or quite perfect. A burial permit secures the report of every death, and the ordinance requiring the report of every birth, within six days, by the attending physician or any person who assists or advises in the case, is promptly complied with. Manchester, even with her large foreign population, through the requirement of a burial permit presents an accurate registration of deaths, but is very deficient in the report of births. It is not our purpose in this report to discuss in detail the question of registration of the vital statistics of our state, but simply to draw the attention to many existing defects. This board will, undoubtedly, in its next report, present the matter in a broader manner, and offer some suggestions for legislative consideration. The law regulating the return of marriage records would seem to be adequate, from an examination of the present returns and a comparison with other states, for the purpose intended. Deducting from the total population those towns which failed to report, and the percentage would equal that of Massachusetts. It would appear that under the law which we now have, a correct return of marriages can be secured. Below will also be found a table exhibiting the average annual rates, per one thousand of population, of births, marriages, and deaths in thirteen countries, which is inserted for comparison. RATES OF BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 1860-'80. *For 19 years. † For 13 years. For 9 years. § For 10 years. For 17 years. For 8 years. The rates for Massachusetts for the year 1880, per one thou sand of the population, are as follows: Birth rate, Marriage rate, . Death rate, 24.80 8.71 19.79 For our own state, as shown in this report, the rates are as fol Taking Massachusetts rates as a standard, there would be 3,990 births and 2,251 deaths for the year ending March 31, 1881, not reported. While this deficiency is sufficiently large to render tabulation of the births and deaths practically useless, there has been an improvement over the reports of last year. The increase is as follows: Births, 375 211 821 For instance, reports three In consulting Table II, the percentages will often indicate where there are deficiencies in reporting; but in towns of a small population such calculation might be far from correct. Windsor has a population of only sixty-five, and deaths, which would make a mortality rate of 46.15 per thousand. These three deaths might have been from accident or old age, hence this high rate in so small a town has no particular sanitary significance; while the above rate in a place of several thousand inhabitants would be most alarming. In calculating the mortality rates of Concord, Manchester, and other cities that have returned a correct registration, some deductions should be made. For illustration: In Concord, twentythree died at the Insane Asylum not belonging to the city, three at the state-prison, thirty-four brought from out of the city for burial, making sixty to be deducted, which would leave the actual rate of mortality of the city at 18.71, instead of 23.30, as given in the table. Probably similar causes would considerably reduce the death-rate of Manchester. It is to be regretted that our registration is so imperfect, but it is to be hoped that the causes which contribute to such defects may soon be removed. Strenuous efforts are being made to secure better results, and the returns now being received for 1882 indicate a marked improvement in this direction. The result of the registration work of 1882 will determine the course of the board relative to legislative suggestions upon the subject. TABLE I. POPULATION OF 1880, BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS FOR THE YEAR ENDED MARCH 31, 1881, BY COUNTIES. |