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320 among the colored people has ranged from about 50 per thousand in 1875 to 23.50 per thousand during the past year, while the death-rate among the whites for the same period has been only a little more than one-half as great. During the past three years, out of a colored population estimated at twenty-three thousand, 951 births and 1,758 deaths have been reported. Among the white population, which is about twice as great, there have been 1,478 births and 1,600 deaths. It is possible that all of the births among the colored people have not been reported. If they have, it would indicate that while the birth-rates are about equal, the death-rate is twice as great.

The causes are numerous, and may be classified under four general heads,—poverty, ignorance of the laws of health, superstition, and lack of proper medical attention.

R. C. O. Benjamin was born in the Island of St. Kitts, West Indies, March 31, 1855. He was educated at Oxford University, England, and after graduation he traveled extensively in Sumatra, Java, and other islands in the East Indies. Upon returning to England, he took passage on a ship going to the West Indies, and visited Jamaica, Antigua, and Barbadoes, coming to America by way of Venezuela, Curacoa, and Demerara.

Soon after his arrival in New York he began taking an active part in public affairs, which brought him in close association with such prominent men as Dr. Henry Highland Garnett, Cornelius Van Cott, and Joe Howard, Jr, The latter, then editor of The New York Star, employed him as a soliciting agent, and when not at this work he was assigned to office duty. In the course of a few months, business led