34 ILLINOIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



SYMPOSIUM ON THE SCIENCE OF 

 SANITATION 



WHY SHOULD BIRTHS AND DEATHS BE REGIS- 

 TERED IN ILLINOIS? 



FREDERICK R. GREEN 



The basis of all knowledge is carefully observed and ac- 

 curately recorded facts. If this is true in biology, chemistry, 

 geology or astronomy, it is even more so in the two most 

 important events in the life histor}^ of every human being, 

 birth and death. It is indeed strange that our laws provide 

 for records of real estate transactions, transfers of property, 

 patents, inventions and copyrights of books ; that we care- 

 fully preserve the transactions of all kinds of business, scien- 

 tific and pleasure organizations, and that those interested 

 have made the most minute records regarding animals and 

 plants, insects and micro-organisms, and yet, in forty out of 

 the forty-eight states that compose this nation, no provision 

 exists for recording the birth of a new life and the appear- 

 ance on earth of a new individual, while in twelve states, a 

 human being can die and be buried, without any record of 

 the event being made or preserved. This singular disregard 

 for authenticated and attested records of birth and death is 

 one of the evidences of our newness as a nation, and of our 

 defective social organization. In the older civilizations of 

 Europe, positive proof of personal identity, from the time of 

 birth until death, is regarded as of the utmost importance, 

 and is essential to participation in any of the activities of life 

 In Germany, for instance, the child cannot enter the public 

 school, the gymnasium or the university, without a copy of 

 his birth certificate, to show who he is, who are his parents 

 and when and where he was born. If he does not follow the 

 path of higher education, he cannot secure any employment 

 or be apprenticed to any trade, without first showing this 

 birth certificate. If he desires to leave home and go to an- 

 other country, he cannot secure a passport to cross the fron- 

 tier without establishing his identity. If he desires to marry, 

 a copy of his birth certificate and tha:t of his future wife 



