Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 84.djvu/415

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Bureau of the Census has published its thirteenth annual report on mortality statistics, this report for 1912 following closely on that for 1911. The death rate in the registration area, which now includes about two thirds of the population, fell from 14.2 for each thousand of the population in 1911 to 13.9 in 1912. There are always fluctuations in the death rate due to weather conditions, epidemics, etc., but, as shown in the chart taken from the report, the death rate has steadily decreased from 17.6 in 1900. This means that in so short a period the saving of human lives in this country amounts to about 350,000 a year, a statement which it is difficult to appreciate at its true magnitude. In 1880 the death rate was 19.8. If we