The agents were sometimes approached by mothers of babies born in 1911 who resented being omitted from the investigation simply for the reason that their babies’ births had not been registered. The agents were therefore instructed to interview mothers thus accidentally encountered and to include their babies in the investigation. But no additional baptismal records were copied nor was a house-to-house canvass made of the city; in fact, no further means were resorted to to locate unregistered babies for the purpose of including them in the investigation.
There were 1,763 certificates copied at Harrisburg, and 1,383 of the babies named in them were reached by the agents. In addition, 168 babies for whom there were no birth certificates, but who were located in the ways just noted, were included, making a total of 1,551 completed schedules secured.
Of the 380 not included in the investigation there were 149 who could not be located at all; 220 others had moved out of reach—that is, into another city or State; 6 of the mothers had died; 3 could not be found at home after several calls, and 2 refused to be interviewed.
From the following summary of data recorded on the certificates of the 380 unlocated babies just referred to it appears that the infant mortality rate (134.3) among them is almost the same as that (134) shown in Table [1] for babies included in the investigation. In reality, however, it is perhaps a little higher, as some of these babies no doubt died outside of Johnstown and their deaths were recorded elsewhere.
| NATIONALITY OF MOTHER. | Total births. | Live births. | Still-births. | SEX OF BABY. | ATTENDANT AT BIRTH. | Certificate showing deaths during first year. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male. | Female. | Physician. | Midwife. | Unknown. | |||||
| Total | 380 | 350 | 30 | 227 | 153 | 158 | 180 | 33 | 47 |
| Native | 134 | 118 | 16 | 76 | 58 | 122 | 5 | 7 | 12 |
| Foreign | 246 | 232 | 14 | 151 | 95 | 36 | 184 | 26 | 35 |
| Slovak, Polish, etc | 43 | 41 | 2 | 27 | 16 | 4 | 37 | 2 | 3 |
| Croatian and Servian | 13 | 11 | 2 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 5 | |
| Magyar | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| German | 8 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 2 | |
| Italian | 41 | 39 | 2 | 26 | 15 | 3 | 36 | 2 | 4 |
| Syrian and Greek | 7 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 1 | |
| British | 7 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 2 | |||
| Austrian (not otherwise specified) | 123 | 116 | 7 | 73 | 50 | 19 | 89 | 15 | 20 |
| Not reported | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||
RELATION OF INFANT MORTALITY TO ENVIRONMENT NEIGHBORHOOD INCIDENCE
The rate of infant mortality is regarded as a most reliable test of the sanitary condition of a district. (Sir Arthur Newsholme, Elements of Vital Statistics, p. [120]. London, 1899.)
Johnstown is a hilly, somewhat Y-shaped area of about 5 square miles which spreads itself out into long, narrow, irregularly shaped strips, detached by rivers and runs and steep hills. In some places it is not over a quarter of a mile wide, but its extreme length is about 4 miles. The city is composed of 21 wards and is an aggregation of what were formerly separate unrelated boroughs or towns. The names of these different sections, together with the numerical designations of the wards included in or comprising them, are shown in the following table. This table gives for each section not only the total population according to the Federal census of 1910, but also the number of live-born babies included in the investigation and the number and proportion of deaths among such babies during their first year.
| Table 1.—Distribution of Population, Live Births and Deaths During First Year, and Infant Mortality Rate According to Section of Johnstown, for all Children Included in this Investigation. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SECTION OF CITY AND WARD. | Population, 1910.[[12]] | Total live-born babies. | Deaths during first year of babies born in 1911 | Infant mortality rate. |
| The whole city | 55,482 | 1,463 | 196 | 134.6 |
| Down-town section (wards 1, 2, 3, 4) | 5,944 | 80 | 4 | 52.0 |
| Kernville (wards 5, 6) | 6,070 | 104 | 6 | 57.7 |
| Homerstown (ward 7) | 4,476 | 109 | 17 | 156.0 |
| Roxbury (ward 8) | 2,862 | 85 | 19 | 117.6 |
| Conemaugh Borough (wards 9, 10) | 5,282 | 136 | 16 | 117.6 |
| Woodvale (ward 11) | 3,945 | 107 | 20 | 271.0 |
| Prospect (ward 12) | 1,893 | 55 | 11 | 200.9 |
| Peelorville (ward 13) | 1,443 | 13 | 4 | ([[13]]) |
| Minersville (ward 14) | 2,403 | 72 | 9 | 125.0 |
| Cambria City (wards 15, 16) | 8,706 | 310 | 55 | 177.4 |
| Moxham (ward 17) | 5,735 | 157 | 14 | 39.2 |
| Morrellville (wards 18, 19, 20) | 5,757 | 194 | 15 | 32.5 |
| Coopersdale (ward 21) | 968 | 36 | 8 | ([[13]]) |
[12]. Federal census of 1910.