MYFBS, MAY(R - the Digital Library of Georgia

MAYOR'S ANNUAL REPORT. 169REPORT Of HEALTH OFFICER.SAVANNAH, G-A., March 5, 1902.Hon. Herman Myers, Mayor:Sir:—The following report of that part of theHealth Department under iny control, with table ofvital statistics for the year 1901, is submitted foryour consideration:The year 1901 was not marked by any unusualsanitary occurrence beyond the spread of scarletfever, which, while in evidence during the entireyear, did not present any serious aspect until October,when the disease spread rapidly until December,when there were 45 cases under treatment at onetime.Taking the year as a whole, its death record wasthe best ever known since the inauguration of properrecords in 1889 and 1890; before that time therecords did not present full reports of vital statistics,nor was the Health Officer anything more than aregistrar of interments in the different cemeteries andthe director of the Quarantine Station under theBoard of Sanitary Commissioners.The United States census for 1900 gave us a population54,000, in round numbers, and it is fair toestimate the increase in population for the followingyear at 2,000, which makes 56,000 persons livingwithin the city in the year 1901.There were 512 deaths among the whites and 857among the negroes: the total death being 1,369.