Excerpt from Second Biennial Report: The Vital Statistics of the State of Minnesota, for the Years 1888-89; (With General Statement to January 1, 1891); Collected, Arranged and Edited by the Secretary of the State, Board of Health and Vital Statistics The monthly collection, compilation and publication, of the essential facts of these statistics, enable the secretary of the state board of health, and all health Officers interested, to have a more accurate knowledge of the character, whereabouts, and importance of the causes operating upon the population. NO argument is needed to show the value of such informa tion as respects infectious disease. It has been the direct means of saving hundreds of lives, particularly child lives, from the attacks of infectious diseases. It is proper to state here that the information so Obtained is made directly available by its publication in Public Health in Minnesota which is sent regularly every month to all Health Officers, and to the chairman and clerks of Township boards. It is impossible to demonstrate here or in the body of the report, individual instances of the success of the measures based upon information derived from the vital statistics, but anyone who will take the trouble to review the general tables, and tables XXXVII - XLVI inclusive, will find abundant evidence of the general effect of prompt sanitary measures upon the mortality of several of our most fatal diseases. It is proper to recognize in this place the increasing efficiency of the work done by clerks of township boards of health in the collection and return of births and deaths. The work is a thankless one; the compensation in the smaller townships entirely inadequate, and popular co-operation, except in case Of alarming infectious disease, practically wanting. Despite all this the regularity and character of the reports is constantly improving. This is due probably, chiefly, to the fact that about 80 per cent. Of the Old clerks are re-elected, and we are therefore able to begin the work of each year with the help Of Officers more and more familiar with the duties to be done. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.