MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 131 



ail imporlaiit oiie that it has pi-aetically (hvartVd the i)i'uper development 

 of the science as an indejiendent, although iiumerously correlated, study 

 of the statics and dynamics of population for its own ends, namely, pure 

 knowledge of the nature and causes of tlie ]»henomena displayed, without 

 ulterior purposes of "practicaT" application to hygienic problems. I 

 think I may appeal to this Academy to take a broader view of the matter, 

 and without disparaging the useful ap])lications of vital data to the 

 preservation and im]»roveiiient of the ]>ublic health, as well as the protec- 

 tion of the legal rights of individuals, we may consider some of the val- 

 uable scientific results that would come from a more adequate and com- 

 l)lete knowledge of the people of the State and country. 



"The noblest study of mankind is man," and the most patriotic study 

 of an American is that of the American people. In no other country is 

 there a greater field, presenting more variety, or better displaying the 

 movement and swing of social forces whose destiny it is to write the 

 future history of the Republic. The native American, whatever that 

 term may be taken to represent, the negro, the oriental element, and, 

 most important of all foreign sources, the various nationalities constitut- 

 ing the recent European immigration, with their immediate descendants 

 — these are the factors of a demographic problem whose solution is infi- 

 nitely important to the human race. 



Complete and accurate vital statistics are the necessary materials for 

 the study of these questions. It is not to our credit as a nation that the 

 subject of demography has lieeii greatly neglected in certain respects. 

 We have, it is true, a longer history of national censuses than can be 

 found in most countries, and so far as this basis of demographic investi- 

 gation is concerned, we may point with pride to the achievements of 

 American official statistics. But when avo come to the records of births 

 and deaths, marriages and divorces, which fill in the picture of national 

 demographic change, we are more at a loss, and for certain important 

 departments of study we find that materials are entirely wanting. 



The only laws regulating the registration of vital statistics are those 

 authorized by the various States. The Federal (jovernment may utilize 

 the results of the State registration laws, and from time to time has done 

 so, but the primary collection of the data is solely under State control. 

 As a result, statistics have been collected in nianv different wavs, some 

 of them most inefficient in character, and for a very large part of the 

 country there is practically no etfective registration of vital statistics 

 whatever, even for the most essential item, that of mortality. Not a sin- 

 gle state in the Union at the present time has a fully efiicient registration 

 of births, and many states fail to properly register their marriages and 

 divorces. As for sickness, important as tiiis is in its relation to sanita- 

 tion and economic effectiveness of population, we are not so much behind 

 the rest of the world since this important branch of vital statistics is only 

 in its infancv. 



How do we compare in this respect with other civilized countries? As 

 an example I shall take Japan, which, although not a P]uropean country, 

 I have no doubt you will pronounce one of the most civilized nations of 

 the earth. In this connection I may refer to a conversation said to have 

 occurred with a Japanese diplomat, who comi)lained that Western opin- 

 ion had been very tardy in recognizing the status of the Japanese people. 

 *'We sent you exquisite paintings for many years, enamels, porcelain and 



