Digging to the Roots of a Dying Tree 19 



where 85 per cent was without them. Such instances 

 are, of course, extreme ; yet, they could not conceivably 

 occur at all under the health regulations of any city or 

 good-sized town in America. 



In weighing the relative health conditions in urban 

 and rural life, it must be considered that a very large 

 part of the urban advantage in this respect is due to 

 the mere fact of dense population. This is due in part 

 to the element of "overhead expense"; in part to the 

 fact that the city naturally attracts the highest talent 

 in every profession. 



In this classification comes everything that requires 

 the presence of hospitals, with prompt attendance of 

 good physicians, and the care of trained nurses. Such 

 institutions require conditions which the unorganized 

 life of a sparsely settled countryside could never en- 

 courage or support. There are, and there can be no 

 exact data to show the drawback of country life in this 

 respect ; but none are needed. The case is plain enough 

 on its face. Fine hospitals, with the latest scientific 

 equipment, can only exist in the midst of a considerable 

 population. Whatever gain they represent in the mat- 

 ter of human comfort and welfare is the gain of the 

 city; whatever loss their absence entails, is the loss of 

 the country. It is a matter that touches the health 

 problem at many points. 



One of the sharpest points is that of maternity and 

 of infant mortality. According to the best available 

 statistics, one woman gives up her life for every 154 

 babies born in America. In other words, almost as 

 many women perished in giving birth to 4,800,000 ex- 

 service men of the great World War, as the total num- 



