Ohio has a similar plan of local and state administration. The mayor of each of the smaller cities and villages, and six persons nominated by the council, including two medical practitioners, constitute a board of health which is authorized to appoint a health officer and "create a complete and accurate system of registration of births, marriages, deaths, and interments, for the purpose of legal and genealogical investigations, and to furnish facts for statistical, scientific, and sanitary inquiries." The secretary of state is required each year to prepare and submit to the general assembly a full and accurate report of the statistics of Ohio.[1523]A system of state registration of births, marriages, deaths, and divorces has existed in Michigan since 1867. The secretary of state is required to furnish the clerks of the respective counties with suitable blank books for record and forms for reports. The reports of these local officials are to be properly bound and indexed under the direction of the secretary; "and with such assistance as may be voluntarily rendered by any authorized committee appointed by the medical faculty of the University of Michigan, or by any regularly authorized medical society ... , he shall prepare such tabular statements, results, and deductions therefrom as will render them of practical utility, and make report therof annually to the governor." But in reality this report, under the general direction of the secretary, is prepared and published by the secretary of the state board of health.[1524]As early as 1852 Wisconsin made provision for registration of births, marriages, and deaths; and the plan then adopted, with some modification, still exists. By a statute of 1897 the register of vital statistics in every city havingsuch an officer is required to keep a record of all marriages celebrated therein, in the same way as he does of births and deaths. To him the persons or societies conducting marriage celebrations are required to send certificates thereof; and every week these certificates must by him be forwarded to the register of deeds of the county or city. For the commonwealth the secretary of the state board of health, under the direction of the secretary of state, performs the same functions as discharged by that official in Michigan.[1525]Provision for similar registration, under authority of the state boards of health, is made by the laws of Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. California has a similar statute. Careful provision is made for keeping registers of births by physicians and midwives; of deaths, by clergymen who officiate at funerals, coroners who hold inquests, sextons and undertakers who bury deceased persons; and by those who conduct marriage celebrations. Certified copies of all these registers are to be filed quarterly with the respective county recorders; and every three months these officials are required to transmit a "certified abstract" of their own registers to the secretary of the state board of health at Sacramento. This body consists of seven physicians appointed for four years by the governor; and at each biennial session of the legislature it is authorized to make a report, "with such suggestions as to legislative action" as it deems proper.[1526]The New York law is very careful and elaborate. There are local boards of health in towns, incorporated villages, and cities. In the town the board consists of the clerk and the justices of the peace, together with a "citizen" appointed by them; in the incorporated villages, of from three to sevenmembers nominated by the village trustees. The village and town boards each hold office for one year, and each is authorized to appoint a "competent physician" to serve as "health officer," who, in the case of the village, may not be a member of the board. The city board is composed of six members, at least one of whom shall be a physician, all appointed by the common council. The board thus constituted is authorized to choose a president and to select a competent physician as health officer. The six members hold office for one, two, and three years, respectively, by pairs. It is made the duty of each of these local boards "to supervise and make complete the registration of all births, marriages, and deaths occurring within the limits of its jurisdiction in accordance with the methods and forms prescribed by the state board of health, and to secure the prompt forwarding of the certificates of birth, marriage, and death to the state bureau of vital statistics after local registration." To attain completeness in such registration, "it shall be the duty of the parents or custodians of every child, and the groom at every marriage, or the clergyman or magistrate performing the ceremony, to secure the return of the record of such birth or marriage to the board of health or person designated by them within thirty days from the date" of the same, "and each record shall be duly attested by the physician or midwife (if any) in attendance at such birth, or the clergyman officiating at such marriage." If in any place the state board of health ascertains that the registration is "not completely and well made," it may notify the delinquent local board that within one month such "defects and neglects in the records must be amended and prevented." If the abuses are not remedied within the period named, the state board is required to take control of the records, and to "enforce the rules and regulations" so as to make them complete.The bureau of vital statistics has general charge of thestate system of registration, under direction of the state board of health. The latter body consists of three "state commissioners of health," appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate, and six other members, three nominated by the governor, and three servingex officio. It appoints a secretary who is "superintendent of registration of vital statistics;" and it makes an annual report to the governor regarding "vital statistics and the sanitary condition and prospects of the state."[1527]
Ohio has a similar plan of local and state administration. The mayor of each of the smaller cities and villages, and six persons nominated by the council, including two medical practitioners, constitute a board of health which is authorized to appoint a health officer and "create a complete and accurate system of registration of births, marriages, deaths, and interments, for the purpose of legal and genealogical investigations, and to furnish facts for statistical, scientific, and sanitary inquiries." The secretary of state is required each year to prepare and submit to the general assembly a full and accurate report of the statistics of Ohio.[1523]A system of state registration of births, marriages, deaths, and divorces has existed in Michigan since 1867. The secretary of state is required to furnish the clerks of the respective counties with suitable blank books for record and forms for reports. The reports of these local officials are to be properly bound and indexed under the direction of the secretary; "and with such assistance as may be voluntarily rendered by any authorized committee appointed by the medical faculty of the University of Michigan, or by any regularly authorized medical society ... , he shall prepare such tabular statements, results, and deductions therefrom as will render them of practical utility, and make report therof annually to the governor." But in reality this report, under the general direction of the secretary, is prepared and published by the secretary of the state board of health.[1524]
As early as 1852 Wisconsin made provision for registration of births, marriages, and deaths; and the plan then adopted, with some modification, still exists. By a statute of 1897 the register of vital statistics in every city havingsuch an officer is required to keep a record of all marriages celebrated therein, in the same way as he does of births and deaths. To him the persons or societies conducting marriage celebrations are required to send certificates thereof; and every week these certificates must by him be forwarded to the register of deeds of the county or city. For the commonwealth the secretary of the state board of health, under the direction of the secretary of state, performs the same functions as discharged by that official in Michigan.[1525]
Provision for similar registration, under authority of the state boards of health, is made by the laws of Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. California has a similar statute. Careful provision is made for keeping registers of births by physicians and midwives; of deaths, by clergymen who officiate at funerals, coroners who hold inquests, sextons and undertakers who bury deceased persons; and by those who conduct marriage celebrations. Certified copies of all these registers are to be filed quarterly with the respective county recorders; and every three months these officials are required to transmit a "certified abstract" of their own registers to the secretary of the state board of health at Sacramento. This body consists of seven physicians appointed for four years by the governor; and at each biennial session of the legislature it is authorized to make a report, "with such suggestions as to legislative action" as it deems proper.[1526]
The New York law is very careful and elaborate. There are local boards of health in towns, incorporated villages, and cities. In the town the board consists of the clerk and the justices of the peace, together with a "citizen" appointed by them; in the incorporated villages, of from three to sevenmembers nominated by the village trustees. The village and town boards each hold office for one year, and each is authorized to appoint a "competent physician" to serve as "health officer," who, in the case of the village, may not be a member of the board. The city board is composed of six members, at least one of whom shall be a physician, all appointed by the common council. The board thus constituted is authorized to choose a president and to select a competent physician as health officer. The six members hold office for one, two, and three years, respectively, by pairs. It is made the duty of each of these local boards "to supervise and make complete the registration of all births, marriages, and deaths occurring within the limits of its jurisdiction in accordance with the methods and forms prescribed by the state board of health, and to secure the prompt forwarding of the certificates of birth, marriage, and death to the state bureau of vital statistics after local registration." To attain completeness in such registration, "it shall be the duty of the parents or custodians of every child, and the groom at every marriage, or the clergyman or magistrate performing the ceremony, to secure the return of the record of such birth or marriage to the board of health or person designated by them within thirty days from the date" of the same, "and each record shall be duly attested by the physician or midwife (if any) in attendance at such birth, or the clergyman officiating at such marriage." If in any place the state board of health ascertains that the registration is "not completely and well made," it may notify the delinquent local board that within one month such "defects and neglects in the records must be amended and prevented." If the abuses are not remedied within the period named, the state board is required to take control of the records, and to "enforce the rules and regulations" so as to make them complete.
The bureau of vital statistics has general charge of thestate system of registration, under direction of the state board of health. The latter body consists of three "state commissioners of health," appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate, and six other members, three nominated by the governor, and three servingex officio. It appoints a secretary who is "superintendent of registration of vital statistics;" and it makes an annual report to the governor regarding "vital statistics and the sanitary condition and prospects of the state."[1527]