CARRIAGE OF DISEASE 157 



person begins to realize the full extent of the ravages 

 of this disease, and indeed of the mortality rate among 

 young children. The Census Bureau shows that in 

 1908 nearly one- fifth of the deaths in the registration 

 area of the United States, comprising about one-half 

 of the population of the country as a whole, were of 

 children under one year, and that the deaths of children 

 under five years comprise more than one-quarter of the 

 whole number of deaths. Ratios are not as convincing 

 or as strong as actual figures, so that we may say in 

 other words that the deaths in the registration area in 

 1908 amounted to 691,574; those of children under one 

 year to 136,452, and of those under five years 189,865. 

 It is a recognized fact that the general death rate of 

 the country is largely dependent on its infant mor- 

 tality. 



The number of deaths among children becomes even 

 more striking when we consider that in 1908, according 

 to the census, 197.3 o^t of every 1,000 under one year 

 died, while 274.5 out of every 1,000 under five years 

 died. It is clearly shown that summer complaint is the 

 most important cause of infant mortality. Irving 

 Fisher, in his estimate of hves that could be saved, 

 states that sixty out of every one hundred dying from 

 this disease could have been saved. The actual num- 

 ber of deaths from summer complaint in 1908 was 52,- 

 213, of which 44,521 were under two years. 



Of course there is no way of showing in what pro- 

 portion of these cases of summer complaint the house 

 fly was instrumental, but under conditions that exist 



