222 BULLETIN, PUBLIC MUSEUM, MILWAUKEE [Vol. 19 



Considering the fact that most children are born at the hospital, the high 

 rate of infant mortality is astonishing. Of the 232 deaths from 1931-1941, 

 the number of stillbirths and those surviving less than six months was 56 or 

 nearly one-fourth of the total deaths. 73 of the 232 were infants or children 

 who died before their fifth birthday. This means almost one-third of the 

 deaths was in the 0-5-year age group. 



This high infant mortality is largely responsible for the appallingly low 

 longevity rate among the Lac Court Oreilles Chippewa. The hospital records 

 show that from 1931-1941 the average age at death was 30.8. The death 

 records at the Agency Office for the years 1912-1921 revealed a longevity 

 rate of 30.7 for that period. This agrees with the average life expectancy — 

 30 to 40 years — of the American Indian as a whole (Townsend, p. 33). This 

 is a longevity rate of less than one-half of that for the general United States 

 population at large. This alone would give a people cause for alarm. 



Another myth exploded by the hospital records was that the Indians 

 who do survive the dangerous years up to adolescence live to a ripe old age. 

 Of the 232 deaths, only 8 persons lived to the age of eighty or over 

 as follows: 



100 or over 1 



90-99 3 



80-89 4 



Summing up the health situation of recent years, it may be said that the 

 Chippewa have good reason to be concerned with the health problem. That 

 with the high infant mortality rate and appallingly low life expectancy ot 

 30.8 years, we are dealing with a people that has every right to awareness 

 that something is radically wrong. That the problem is too involved to be 

 solved by even first-class medical aid is obvious. Poverty is a syndrome which 

 always includes sickness and disease in its ugly complex. Tuberculosis, a 

 disease of malnutrition, will continue to thrive in the low-income community 

 despite the efforts of doctors to check it. Until more adequate food, clothing, 

 and housing are provided these people, they will be helpless against attacks 

 threatening their physical well-being. 



2. THE HISTORY OF THE ATTITUDE 



The next problem to be considered, granting the excessive interest in 

 health in modern times, is whether or not Chippewa preoccupation with 



