4 tions that new problems are coming to the front every day. When each family killed its own meat supply it was comparatively an easy task to so conduct the killing that everything of an unsanitary nature was eliminated from the process. But in our social evolution things have changed, a new sanitary problem, the modern slaughter house has come into existence and the people have not yet been educated up to the plane where its dangers have been fully appreciated, and where regulations for its management and control have been systematically instituted. We have had occasion in our official capacity and otherwise to visit and inspect a number of such places and from information gleaned from other sources we believe those visited are fair samples. Some are kept in excellent condition, as clean and sanitary as those places can well be. Of these we have nothing to say; they are above reproach, and fortunate are the communities that have them. But from this as a standard we find all gradations down to the most filthy conditions. imaginable. . Here is a common type; the killing house is a small wooden structure on the side of a hill, if there be one in the neighborhood, or on the banks of a coulee or stream. They are usually unsupplied with water to flush the premises or wash the persons of the workmen who are dressing the meat. The blood is allowed to run through the cracks of the floor or is conveyed to the outsidewhere it is allowed to soak into the ground or add its bulk to the pestiferous mass of entrails, heads, legs, and offal which are thrown out into that which is termed a yard. This makes an excellent breeding place for insects, rats and other vermin, who soon become potent infection and disease carriers. In this yard is kept a number of hogs "for revnue only." They devour that which is edible and wallow in the rest. In due course of time they grace the block in the meat market and finally find a place on our dinner table as choice roasts. Animals slaughtered in the evening are usually kept hanging in the atmosphere of stench and corruption till morning. This, it must be admitted, is neither a pretty or tempting picture, yet one that is too common and justice and public safety demand its presentation. Several communities and municipalities throughout the state are awakening to the conditions and insisting on purification and reform; and it is interesting to note that they are getting them when the demand is properly presented. Others are beginning to take notice and ere long we expect to see a grand cleaning up crusade against the slaughter houses of the class described. Let clean, pure, healthy, public sentiment be fostered and maintained, and these evils will vanish like mist before the rising sun. BULLETIN ON VITAL STATISTIC LAW. The last legislature passed Senate Bill No. 222, creating a Bureau of Vital Statistics. This made an entire revolution in the manner of collecting and reporting births and deaths. The neces sary blanks for putting the new law into effect are under preparation and will be placed in the hands of the county auditors for distribution to the local registrars early in January. The system heretofore in force in which all reports were supposed to be reported to the County Board of Health and by the county health officer to the state health officer was found, wherever it was tried, to be a failure. The Bureau of Census; Washington, D. C., after careful consideration prepared a standar form which has been adopted by many of the states. Our North Dakota law is framed after this model. The importance of complete, accurate, and uniform records of births and deaths have long been recognized by statisticians and students of socialogical problems as well as by those directly interested in the cause, classification and cure of disease. That people do not generally so fully appreciate the value of such records is amply demonstrated by reference to past returns. The registration of its birth is a valuable inheritance to which every child is entitled and some of its most valuable rights and privileges may be placed in jeopardy or entirely lost if this is neglected. Upon a death record may hang very weighty problems of inheritance and litigation. As our country grows older these will increase in importance. It devolves upon the state, therefore, to devise some method by which the interests of its dependents may be protected. That the public may know the principal provisions of the Act and have a proper conception of what is required of them, the following may be of interest and value. Each incorporated village, city or township constitutes a primary registration district and the clerk of each shall be local registrar, with authority to appoint a deputy who will take charge of his registration duties during his absence, illness or disability. He is also authorized to appoint suitable persons to act as sub-registrars, who are subject to the supervision and control of the State Registrar. In an unorganized township the State Registrar has authority to appoint some one suitable to act as local registrar. The duties of the local registrar are as follows: He must carefully examine each certificate of birth and death when they come back and see that they are made out in accordance with the provisions of the act and the instructions of the State Registrar. If any certificate of death is incomplete or unsatisfactory in any way it shall be his duty to call attention to the defects in the return and he shall withhold issuing a burial permit or removal permit until the errors are corrected. If the certificate is properly filled out he will then issue a burial or removal certificate. Provided that when the death occurred from some disease that is held to be dangerous to the public health no permit for the disposition of the body shall be granted except under such conditions as may be prescribed by the State and Local Boards of Health. If the certificate of birth is incomplete or unsatisfactory he shall immediately notify the informant and re On quire of him the missing information if it can be obtained. He is required to number the cerificates of births and deaths consecutively, beginning with number one (1) for the first birth and the first death in each calendar year and sign his name as registrar. the 5th day of each month he shall send to the State Registrar all the original certificates registered by him during the preceding month. If no births or deaths have occurred during the month it will be hay to report the fact to the State Registrar on the cards provided for that purpose. When a child is born it shall be the duty of the attending physician or midwife to file the certificate of birth properly and completely filled out giving all particulars as per blank, with the local registrar in their respective district within three days after date of birth. If there is no physician in attendance, then it will be the duty of the father, house-holder, owner of the premises, manager or superintendent of the public or private institution in which the birth occurred, to file the certificate. The local registrar is entitled to 25 cents to be paid by the county for each birth and each death certificate properly and completely filled out or each certificate stating that no birth or death has occurred, when they have been returned by him to the State Registrar and duly certified by that officer. The certificate of birth and death shall be on the standard forms recommended by the Bureau of the Census of the American Public Health Association and supplied by the State Registrar. The undertaker or person acting as undertaker shall be responsible for the obtaining and filing of the death certificates with the registrar and securing a burial or removal permit prior to any disposition of the body. No sexton or person in charge of any premises in which interments are made, shall bury or permit to be buried a body unless it is accompanied by a burial, removal or transit permit. When a sexton or person in charge of any burial ground accepts a body for burial he must place upon the permit the date of interment over his signature and he shall send all permits to the local registrar of his district within ten days of the date or within the time limited by the local board of health. He shall also keep a record of all interments made in the premises under his charge, stating the name of the deceased person, place of death, date of burial. and name and address of the undertaker, which record shall at all times be open for public inspection. All superintendents or managers or other persons in charge of hospitals or other institutions, public or private, to which persons resort for treatment of disease, confinement, or are committed by the process of the law, are required to make a record of all the personal and statistical particulars relative to the inmates of their institution as directed by the State Registrar. If any physician, who is in medical attendance upon any deceased person at the time of death, neglects or refuses to make the required certificate of death, or shall knowingly make a false certification of the cause of death in any case, or if any physician or midwife in attendance upon a case of confinement or any other person charged with the responsibility of reporting births shall neglect or refuse to file the required report of such birth or if any person acting as undertaker shall remove, inter or otherwise dispose of a body of any deceased person without having first obtained the required burial or removal permit or if any person or persons violate any of the provisions of this act, they shall each and severally be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be liable to severe punishment. 4.. REPORTS FROM COUNTY AND CITY HEALTH The following circular letters were sent to each county and city health officer with the object of securing not merely answers to the specific questions but a comprehensive summary of the sanitary conditions that exist in different parts of the state. The replies that are here appended may be regarded as expressing in a general way quite clearly and fairly, I think, the actual state of affairs as well as reflecting the most advanced ideas of our health officers in reference to matters of public sanitation. County Health Officer: Grand Forks, N. D., July 20, 1908. DEAR SIR: My report to the governor of our state for the biennial period ending June 30, 1908, is now in course of preparation. That your county may be properly represented I would respectfully ask you to answer the following questions and send them to this office by August 1, 1908. Your report to be for the two years ending June 30, 1908, or for as much of that time as your records may show. First. What conditions detrimental to public health exist in your county? What remedies would you suggest? Second. What complaints have been lodged with you in reference to unsanitary conditions How have they been disposed of? Third. Have there been any outbreaks of infectious or contagious diseases? What methods have been adopted to prevent their recurrence cr spread? Fourth. Have you noted an increase or decrease in the prevalence of any disease How about smallpox, typhoid fever, or consumption? your conclusions. Fifth. Give a report of the following diseases: Give Diphtheria Scarlet fever Measles Typhoid fever Pneumonia Whooping cough For Biennial Period Since Jan. 1, 1908 Cases Deaths Cases Deaths |