PAPERS ON MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH 451 



From the standpoint of the relation of the population 

 to the hosjDital beds as compared to the hospitalization 

 in other communities, I wonld like to present the follow- 

 ing table, the data for which was obtained from the 

 Journal of the American Medical Association. 



(Reference data obtained from American Medical Association 

 Journal. April 16th. 1921, page 10S5.) 



RATIO OF HOSPITAL BEDS TO POPULATION. 



Area of 

 Unit of Population Sq. Mile 



N. Atlantic States 161.976 



S. Atlantic States 209,071 



N. Central States 756.36S 



S. Central States 609,255 



Western States 1,177,220 



All States 2,973,890 



New York City 



Holyoke, Mass 



Baltimore, Md 



Wheeling, W. V 



(Has nine general hospitals containing 

 less than 25 beds) 



Chicago, 111 



Rockford, 111 



Springfield, 111. ** 



New Orleans, La 



Chattanooga. Tenn 



Los Angeles, Calif 



Sacramento, Calif 



8 largest western cities 



8 largest eastern cities 



From this table it will be seen that the community in 

 and around the city of Springfield has one hospital bed 

 to each ninety-five of the population, which shows a 

 greater hospitalization demand than any other district 

 of the United States ; one hundred per cent higher than 

 any single state in the United States, and a greater per- 

 cent than any other city. I attribute the low hospitaliza- 

 tion in the southern district to the colored population. 

 The discrepancy in the east is without a doubt due to the 

 system of closed staff hospitals which increases noii- 

 hospitalization of patients on the part of physicians not 

 on the hospital staffs. 



It will be noted from these statistics that the western 

 cities have a larger hospitalization than those of the east. 



*• Since these figures have been made 100 beds have been added, and a 

 new addition is under construction which will give 75 more, making the 

 ratio of beds to population 75. 



