Page:LewisMeriam-TheProblemOfIndianAdministration.djvu/199

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

172

Problem of Indian Administration

Births and Deaths. The recording of deaths and births is not sufficiently complete to admit of the use of these records as a sole device for keeping track of the changes in population. On the Pima Reservation, for example, an inheritance examiner found that a disastrous epidemic of influenza had caused a large number of deaths previously unknown to the local or the national offices, so that the population figures in use were materially too high.^[1]

Since the recording of births and deaths is incomplete and the population figures unreliable, it follows inevitably that the Service lacks vital statistics, one of the most essential tools in the promotion of public health and the control of preventable disease, and a rough index of economic welfare. Not only is the recording of deaths incomplete; the statement of the causes of those deaths recorded is frequently not given in a way that permits of its use. The local staff dealing directly with the Indians is thus handicapped in studying conditions in their jurisdiction and equally, if not more important, the Washington Office, the Department, the Budget Bureau, and the Congress cannot get the data essential for planning and developing an adequate health service for the Indian wards of the nation.^[2]

Statistics of Economic Efficiency. To some persons the question of Indian health is the major one before the Indian Service. Others direct their main attention to the releasing of the Indian from wardship and giving to him the same status with respect to his property as is possessed by the legally competent white adult. Although some confusion exists regarding certain of the details, the assumption, broadly speaking, is that when the Indian is given this status, he passes from the jurisdiction of the national govern-

↑ In the chapter on Health, pages 189 to 345, will be found many concrete illustrations indicating the practical uses which are made of vital statistics in public health work in determining the need for the different types of medical service, such as physicians, nurses, hospitals, and sanatoria.
↑ In this instance the deaths learned of by the inheritance examiner, although an accumulation from past years, were included as deaths occurring in the year in which they were discovered by him, with the result that the mortality rate for that year was alarming. Many people were distressed by it, and the Indian Office because of it was subjected to vigorous attack for its failure to protect the health of the Pimas. This example illustrates how the public interested in Indian welfare may be grossly misled by figures issued by the Indian Office to its own detriment.

[1] In the chapter on Health, pages 189 to 345, will be found many concrete illustrations indicating the practical uses which are made of vital statistics in public health work in determining the need for the different types of medical service, such as physicians, nurses, hospitals, and sanatoria.

[2] In this instance the deaths learned of by the inheritance examiner, although an accumulation from past years, were included as deaths occurring in the year in which they were discovered by him, with the result that the mortality rate for that year was alarming. Many people were distressed by it, and the Indian Office because of it was subjected to vigorous attack for its failure to protect the health of the Pimas. This example illustrates how the public interested in Indian welfare may be grossly misled by figures issued by the Indian Office to its own detriment.

[1]

[2]