Tuberculosis death-rate.
Turning now to tuberculosis, the death-rate in cities is very markedly higher than in rural districts, and the superiority of the country as a place to live is hereby plainly demonstrated. The preceding table shows the death rate from tuberculosis in cities for the years 1903-1907, the data being taken from the United States Census Reports.
The death-rate in the cities is evidently about 60 per 100,000 greater than in the rural districts, due, of course, to the crowding in city tenements. This is true for nearly all cities, although the difference is more marked in some parts of the country than in others. In Massachusetts, for example, the death-rate in rural districts is slightly higher than the death-rate in cities, but tuberculosis is much more prevalent in that state than in any other part of the country. In New York State the rate in cities is about 70 per 100,000 greater than in rural districts, due, presumably, to the larger number of manufacturing centers in this state. In New York City the rate is constantly more than 200, and in 1908 in the borough of the Bronx it was nearly 500.
Diphtheria as affecting the rate.
Diphtheria is another disease that exacts heavier toll from the cities than from the country, about three times as many deaths occurring in the former as in the latter.
Influenza, and its effect on death-rate.
Influenza is, on the other hand, markedly severe on people in rural districts, the death-rate there being more than twice as high as in the cities. It is easy to see why this is. Lack of sidewalks, lack of protection, lack of uniform temperature in the houses, and the lack of care in the first stages of illness, all tend to increase the death-rate from this disease.
Pneumonia.
The death-rate from pneumonia, on the other hand, is higher in the city, the vitality and power of resistance of victims probably being reduced under average city conditions.