increased death rate among the colored race puts those States which have a large colored population, such as Alabama, Tennessee and Virginia, at a disadvantage when their total death rate is compared with those which have a smaller colored population. So, that if it be true that there is a deficiency in the enumeration of the blacks, this deficiency is more than counterbalanced in a comparison between the Southern and the Northern States by the increased death rate in the large colored population of the former. We have every reason to believe, from these figures, that the chances for life are better in Alabama than in the other States named in the table. The reasons for this will appear more plainly by the following comparison of certain general diseases which prevail in every part of the United States. I have selected for this purpose, Malarial Fever, Typhoid Fever, Consumption, Pneumonia, Diphtheria and Cancer. These six diseases are more generally prevalent than any others. In the United States, in 1879-80, according to the census of 1880, from all causes there were 756,893 deaths, or 15.09 per 1,000. From the six diseases above named, there were, for the same time, 248,619 deaths, or 4.95 per 1,000 of population; or 328, to every 1,000 deaths in the United States. Thus it is seen that nearly one-third of the total number of deaths was from these six causes. In Alabama there were from all diseases 17,929 deaths, or 14.20 per 1,000 of population. From the six diseases above mentioned there were in Alabama 6,274, or 4.96 per 1,000 of population; or 344 deaths per 1,000 of all diseases in the State. This gives you a fraction over one-third of the deaths by all diseases. I have selected New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, for a comparison with Alabama, based upon these six diseases. In these three States the rate per 1,000 of all deaths is less than in Alabama, which is to the disadvantage of the last named State in the comparison; and yet when we compare the rate per 1,000 of popu lation of these six diseases in Alabama with the rate of the same diseases for the United States, and for the other three States, we find but very little difference, showing that the larger rate from malarial fevers in Alabama is very nearly counterbalanced by the greater prevalence of the remaining five diseases in the entire United States, and also in the States of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. And, if this comparison is extended to all diseases, this excess is more than counterbalanced, as shown by the table on a preceding page. The rate of malarial fever (1.04) in Alabama, is high, as compared with the other States named, but there are compensating factors. This is evident, when we compare the rate of consumption in Alabama (1.30), with that of New York (2.01), Connecticut (2.02), and New Jersey (1.86). So, also, with typhoid fever, Alabama, 0.23; New York, 0.29; Connecticut, 0.32, and New Jersey, 0.22. Here Alabama has the advantage, except in New Jersey which is nearly the same. So, again with diptheria, United States, 0.76; Alabama, 0.18; New York, 0.81; New Jersey, 0.32; Connecticut, 0.36. Here Alabama has largely the advantage of the other States. Dr. J. S. Billings, of the U. S. A., located at Washington, has collated from the census of 1880, some very interesting data upon the mortality of the United States. In his address before the British Medical Association, August, 1886, he exhibited the results in maps, shaded so as to represent the relative mortality by certain diseases in different parts of the United States. These maps are portioned off by six different shades, according to the prevalence of the disease represented, the rate per thousand of all diseases being indicated by the shading. One of these maps, No. 4, shows "the distribution of deaths from cancer, as compared with the total deaths from all known causes." In these six divisions, the lowest has under 10 per 1,000, and the highest 35 and over per 1,000. In this map, Alabama is placed in the second lowest grade, or 10 to 15 to 1,000. Another map, No. 2, shows the distribution of consumption, the grades ranging from 75 to 175 and over per 1,000. Here, all Alabama, except in the northeastern mountain region, and the Tennessee Basin, is represented in the lowest grade, under 75 per 1,000; and the excepted part is only in the fourth grade, or 125 to 150 per 1,000. The pine regions of Alabama have ever been regarded as well suited to consumptives. On the map referred to, Dr. Billings ranks this part of Alabama as superior to Florida. The map shows in this part of Alabama, 50 to 75, and in Florida, 75 to 100 per 1,000. All the eastern and middle States, many of the western States, and most of California, show from 150 to 175 per 1,000. Dr. Billings has also represented on another map, No. 3, the distribution of pneumonia. On this map, Alabama ranks in the third grade, 100 to 125 per 1,000, except in the northeastern part, where it ranks in the second grade, 75 to 100 per 1,000. This latter is the portion of Alabama where consumption prevails to a greater extent than in other parts of the State. These maps, not only in Alabama, but in every section of the country, represent apparent antagonism between pneumonia and consumption; or where one prevails the other is rare. This is markedly set out in a mountain region of country on the upper Colorado River, divided into two parts by this river. Here, on the east side of the river, consumption prevails to the extent of 125 to 150 per 1,000, and on the west side only 75 per 1,000. But on the other hand, on the east side of this river, in the same locality, pneumonia prevails only to the extent of 100 to 125 per 1,000, while on the west side it prevails to the extent of 175 and over, per 1,000. A similar antagonism, is by some supposed to exist between malarial fever and consumption, but here as in the case of pneumonia and consumption, the apparent antagonism is rather to be sought in the sanitary environments in their relation to the two diseases, than in any antagonism of the diseases themselves. But though there may not exist any antagonism between the different diseases, yet it is evident from what has gone before, that there are often compensating factors in the sanitary history of one section as compared with another. While in one locality or State, a given disease may prevail to a greater extent than in another, the compensating environments will balance the mortality accounts, so as to make them equal in the two localities. This is the idea intended to be set out in this paper. While it is not denied that malarial fever prevails in Alabama to a greater extent than in some other States, we have seen that it is not peculiar to Alabama and other Southern States, but prevails to some extent in every part of the Union. We have found it on the Atlantic coast, in New Jersey and Connecticut, the Pacific slope, in California, Oregon, and Washington Territory, and among the peaks of the Rocky Mountains, in Wyoming and Idaho. * Not only this, we find that the topographical and climatic influences which engender this disease are unfavorable to the prevalence of consumption and diptheria, and hence, these latter diseases are very prevalent in the States where malarial fever is less prevalent. * * These compensating influences balance the account between the two, and I believe any fair mind, which will examine the data here presented, will be forced to this conclusion. I have already given facts to show that the deleterious influences of the prairie region have been much changed for the better, |