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23
A study of this Table will show the effect of the one-room system
upon the death rates. It will be seen, that in each of the four
classes selected, the death rate falls in proportion as the number of
rooms occupied rises. In the next place, it will be seen that the
number of deaths occurring in tenements of two rooms or less
number 1,267, or 63 per cent, of all the deaths in the Borough,
though only 46 per cent, of the population actually live in such
tenements. Then, again, under each of the stated causes of
infectious disease, phthisis, and other respiratory diseases, it will
be seen that the same broad result holds good. Many deductions
might be drawn from this Table, but it is perhaps undesirable to
burden the report with them. The main lesson is an obvious one.
The conditions of life obtaining in one-room tenements are such as
tend towards poor physique, disease and death. The density of
population is higher, the physical restrictions are greater, and there
is less fresh air and more uncleanliness.