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The comparative importance of deaths under three years of age in the Indian population and in the general population is further indicated in the last column of Table 4, which shows, by states, the per cent that deaths in early childhood constitute of all deaths in the respective areas and groups.

The exact significance of the percentage which early deaths form of all deaths is always open to question. A high rate of infant mortality, if accompanied by a high death rate among older people, does not reveal itself in the percentage based upon all deaths; nor does a low percentage necessarily reflect a good condition among young children, for it may merely reflect heavy fatalities among the older members of the population. Fine comparisons are therefore hardly justified. But one thing appears beyond question when the last two columns of Table 4 are compared with each other. Among Indians almost everywhere, deaths of young children occur with relatively great frequency. In fact, the relative numerical importance of deaths under 3 years of age is greater among Indians than among the general population in each of the eighteen states listed, except Utah and Wisconsin. Indeed, the percentage of Indian deaths under 3 years of age is double or more than double the corresponding percentage for the general population in Idaho, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, and Washington.

Among Indians in the states listed 28.3 per cent of the deaths reported were of children under 3 years of age. Comparison of these figures with those given in Table 3 for the eleven reservations for which the data are believed more complete, suggests that the figures for the states in Table 4 would be higher if the records were well kept.

Total Deaths. Despite deficiencies in reporting Indian deaths, state totals of the Indian population on reservations visited by the survey staff show more than twice as many deaths per 1000 of the