ed by disease.

According to accounts given by Mr. Abraham Epstein, the health problem
of the Negro migrants in Pittsburgh was a serious concern. An
investigation into the causes of Negro mortality, based on comparison
between a seven-month period in 1915 and a like period in 1917, showed
that pneumonia cases during the latter year had increased 200 per cent
over those of the former year. The same period in 1917 indicated also
a marked increase in acute bronchitis and meningitis, and almost twice
as many deaths from heart disease. The seven-month period in 1917,
when the migration was in operation, registered, moreover, a total
Negro death rate of 527, whereas the same period in 1915, before the
movement began, showed a death list of only 295. During the first
seven months of 1917, furthermore, the death rate among Negroes in
this city was 48 per cent greater than the birth rate. In other words,
while in the general city population the number of deaths was 30 per
cent less than the number of births, the number of deaths among the
Negroes greatly exceeded the diminished number of births; "thus for
every one hundred persons born in Pittsburgh in 1917, there were 70
deaths, whereas among the Negro population for every one hundred
children born, one hundred and forty-eight died."[156]

The report of the Health Department of Newark stated that during the
month of December, 1917, there were 975 cases of diseases, and that
this number was 287 in excess of the number of cases of sickness
reported during the preceding month. These cases were largely
bronchial pneumonia, and the deaths resulting from this malady
numbered ninety-four. The report attributed the cause of this increase
in pneumonia to the severe weather and to the increasing number of
Negro laborers from the South, who, unaccustomed to the harsh climate
of the North, easily became victims to this disease.[157] In
Philadelphia, in the early spring of 1917, the lack of housing
accommodations for the Negro influx caused women and children to be
stranded in railroad stations overnight; and this soon brought on a
public health problem. As was the case in Newark, in this place, too,
there was an increase in pneumonia cases due to the sudden rush of
Negroes to the North before the cold period was passed.[158]

The health conditions were so serious in Cincinnati that the city
health officer suggested the establishment of a community health
center in order to improve the h