The foregoing report comprises all the expenditures of the Board, in general and detail (except three bills for printing and expert service not yet presented the total of which is not in excess of the appropriation) from its organization in May 1880 to September 30, 1881, a period of sixteen months. The expenditures of the Board for the ensuing year will be kept strictly within the amount appropriated for the purpose, and the committee, as advised by the Board, respectfully suggests that the Legislature may, with advantage to the State, authorize the expenditure of five thousand dollars in addition to the sum of five thousand dollars allowed by law for sanitary surveys, inspections and expert duties, which are now and will be required for successful work, and which the State should provide for in addition to the necessary work of local Boards of Health. ERASTUS BROOKS, Chairman. Executive and Finance Statement of expenditures under chap. 407, of 1881, from July 5th to December 31, 1881. Traveling and Incidental Expenses of Chemists and Examiners. 1881. July 6. Dr.S.A. Lattimore, per itemized acct. rendered.. $26 64 6. Dr. W. H. Pitt, do .. 26 60 Printing and Stationery. 7. J. W. Wadsworth, comptroller, stationery.... do 1881. July 7. ... 30. A. L. Colby, stationery, per account. .... Purchases of Samples for Analysis. $46 93 3925 7 50 60 50 15 50 2 25 $76 53 30. C. E. Munsell, do 3 45 do .... 30. Dr.Chandler, per account of Hastings & Hahn. 30. A. L. Colby, per account. 3.90 Whitall & Tatum 4 54 6 33 $409 03 Library and Literature for Chemists and the Board. 1881. Oct. 8. Westermann, per account.. Total payments out of $700 advanced by Comptroller, August 29, 1881.... $1,516 51 383 88 Total..... $1,900 39 Liabilities to 31st December, 1881. For payments to eight chemists under contracts... $3,200 00 200 00 Total payments and liabilities.. 3,400 00 $5,300 39 Remaining unexpended (of appropriation by Chapter 407), after all outstanding obligations are paid, to January 1, 1882 ERASTUS BROOKS, Chairman. C. F. CHANDLER. EDWARD M. MOORE, President. $4,699 61 Executive and Finance Committee. REPORT OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON REGISTRATION AND VITAL STATISTICS. To the State Board of Health: Your committee in reviewing the results of its labors during the past year recognized the fact that the particular portion of duty entrusted to its supervision is of necessity a branch of sanitary reform, somewhat difficult to introduce and perfect in all its details. In the progress already made, however, and in the increasing frequency of reports and statistical information received at the Bureau of Vital Statistics, from all parts of our State, your committee hope to show that the anticipations. expressed in its first report are in progress of realization; that the seed sown is already ripening; and that harvest is near at hand. The labor of establishing a perfected and uniform system of registration of the vital movement of five millions of people, composed of all nationalities, and yearly increased by the great and never-ceasing flood of immigration that is constantly flowing in upon us through the great seaport of the Empire State, seems a task indeed; and when it is considered that every human life that forms an atom of the millions of breathing humanity existing in our vast commonwealth, has a history which, commencing at the cradle, rolls onward until the grave receives it, and that each event of every life may be of infinite importance both to the individual and its descendants, as well as contribute to the well-being of the State, the indispensability of vital registration, not only as a sanitary necessity, but also as a principle of political economy, must be admitted by every thoughtful mind. Our statutes provide for the registration of the lands and property owned by each one of the five millions of its people, and even for those who, living beyond our boundaries, hold estate within this commonwealth. Books of public record are kept in every town and city in our State, open to all, — setting forth, in minutest detail, the history of each parcel of land, and of each building upon its surface. Thousands of expert hands and minds are daily employed in making, keeping and preserving such records with mathematical precision; but yet how strange it seems that until recently the history of the life of the individual has been utterly ignored by the rulers of the people. If it is of such moment to the welfare of the State, that property should be registered, how much more does it concern the interests of society that the vital movement of those who own and improve such property should be equally well understood. The necessity of such correct understanding of the vital records of the race first originated in the minds of thinking men and women; the idea of State Boards of Health, correct and uniform registration not having obtained before their organization. |