SANITARY IMPROVEMENT IN NEW YORK. 323 



and welfare of the people, failed to meet the wants and necessities 

 of the rapidly increasing population, hut in 1890 the new aque- 

 duct brought relief ; and the only important particular in which 

 no sanitary improvement has been visible is in the cleanliness of 

 the streets and in the removal of the ashes and garbage of the city. 

 It is not creditable to the municipal government that so simple a 

 business problem has not long since been satisfactorily solved. 



1. The Death-rate. The death-rate of a city for a series of 

 years fairly represents its healthfuiness and general sanitary con- 

 dition. During the ten years, 1851-1860, the average death-rate 

 in New York was 33*66 per 1,000 of its population, or, omitting 

 the year 1854, when Asiatic cholera increased the mortality to 

 44*36, the death-rate for the period was 32*46. For the five years 

 previous to 1866, in which year practical efforts commenced under 

 ample provisions of law for the sanitary improvement of the city, 

 the average death-rate was 31*33. During the quarter of a century 

 ending in 1S90 the death-rate steadily decreased, with the varia- 

 tions from year to year due to climatic and other recognized 

 causes, from 31*33 in 1861-1865 to 25*54 in 1886-1890, the rate in 

 1890 being 24*58 per 1,000 of the population. This decrease in the 

 death-rate in twenty-five years of 5*79 per 1,000 represents a sav- 

 ing of about 3,300 lives in each year, the average population for 

 the whole period being estimated at 1,153,646, and of over 80,000 

 lives during the quarter of a century. As the number of cases of 

 sickness is estimated to be twenty-eight to each death, it is obvi- 

 ous that a large amount of suffering has been prevented by im- 

 proved sanitary conditions, and that the pecuniary benefit to the 

 laboring class and to the poor, consequent upon exemption from 

 expenses attending sickness and death and from incapacity for 

 employment incident to disease, is of great value and importance. 



Although a steady decrease is shown in the rate of mortality 

 in New York, it is, from a variety of circumstances, considerably 

 higher than in some of the large cities of this and other countries, 

 and the difference is likely to continue for a considerable period. 

 In no other city is the population so dense and crowded ; suburban 

 homes for laboring people so difficult and expensive to reach; 

 small dwellings for people of moderate means so unattainable ; and 

 large tenement-houses sheltering many families so necessary and 

 indispensable. No other city receives into its charitable institu- 

 tions so many weak, sickly, and indigent persons from foreign 

 countries. Its extensive public institutions of charity and correc- 

 tion, all situated within the city limits, are largely recruited from 

 adjacent villages and cities, and its numerous private hospitals re- 

 ceive persons from all parts of the country for surgical and medi- 

 cal treatment. These and other circumstances contribute materi- 

 ally to the mortality of New York, and, while they continue to 



