134 SEVENTH REPORT. 



scientific association scattered llu-onoliont tlie State might be a valuable 

 aid in secnring more credital)]e i-psnlts. It is imi)()itant for the i»ni-])ose 

 of reliable legal records that each birth and death, maiTiage and divorce 

 in Michigan should be recorded with scrni)nl()ns fidelity to details; it is 

 necessary for practical sanitary uses that every birth and death, and 

 more i)articnlarly the causes of each deatli should be registered; but in 

 addition to these valuable uses, it is indis])eusable as a contribution to 

 the scientific study of human life in ]Michigan that.all of these vital data 

 should be observed with all ])Ossible precision. Guesswork and estimates 

 are of little value; ^Vhat we must demand are facts, and they should be 

 subject to no discount for careless or negligent observation. AVhat was 

 created in Japan by the intelligent action of a centralized imperial gov- 

 ernment, we must bring about by tlie cultivation of an enlightened ])ublic 

 opinion. In the end Ave can trust America to ])ress to the front rank 

 junong nations of the earth, but for the present we are left to the indi- 

 vidual action of the various states, and until their efforts shall be cor- 

 related and unified, little will be accomplished in the Avay of creditable 

 vital statistics for the nation. T am glad to say that Congress has ex- 

 pressed an interest in this work, and the I'. S. Census I^ureau has already 

 made considerable progress toward the introduction of approved methods 

 of collecting and presenting vital statistics in co-operation with the 

 state authorities. 



AVhat is our most pressing duty in Michigan? At present it Avould 

 seem to consist (1) in the maintenance of our present system of imme- 

 diate registration of deaths in unimpaired efficiency, and (2) in the sub- 

 stitution of a modern system of registering births for the anti<piated 

 and inetfective system now emjtloyed. I am not going to discuss the 

 necessity and principles of birth registration in the present paper. I 

 have here some reprints of a paper recently printed in the Detroit Medical 

 Journal on this subject, and will merely say that with an enlightened 

 jmblic opinion supporting the movement all or practically all births in 

 this State could be promptly registered and returned in substantially the 

 same manner and by the same officials as deaths are at present. When 

 this is done we shall have the f(mr branches of vital statistics in ^lichigan 

 upon a solid foundation, admitting of ])rogressive improvement in effi- 

 ciency, so that the Michigan system will form a worthy part of the great 

 national system of vital statistics which we shall some day possess — 

 when we have advanced as far in this respect as Japan. 



Lansing, Michigan. 



