4,163 352 133,254 2,659 797 863 3,782,464 Census of Religious Bodies in U. S., 1936 Source: United States Bureau of the Census There were in continental United States in 1936, 256 Religious Bodies with 199,302 organizations and 55,807,366 members, as compared with 213 denominations reporting 232,154 organizations and 54,576,346 members in 1926. Each church was requested to report the number of members according to the definition of membership in that church or organization. In some religious bodies the term member is limited to communicants; in others it includes all baptized persons; and in still others it covers all enrolled persons. Denomination All demoninations. Membership, 1936 At the census of 1938 the total expenditures were $518,953,571, as compared with $817,214,528 in 1926. Under this item are included the amount expended for salaries, repairs, etc.; for payments on church debt; for benevolence, including home and foreign missions; for denominational support; and for all other purposes. The value of church edifices in 1936 was $3,411.875,467, as compared with $3,839,500,610 in 1926. All figures for 1936 are preliminary and subject to correction. Denomination 55,807,366 Churches of Christ in Christian Union of 26,258 General Eldership of the Churches of God in North America General Convention of the New Jerusalem in the United States of America General Church of the New Jerusalem. 148,043 Congregational and Christian Churches.. 3,100 Congregational Holiness Church.. 2,584 Disciples of Christ.. Divine Science Church. 1,329,044 Eastern Orthodox Churches: 2,700,155 Albanian Orthodox Church... (Membership, 1936 Ohio.. Churches of God, Holiness. 3,568 5,872 30,820 1,250 Churches of the Living God: Church of the Living God, Christian Workers for Fellowship.. 4,525 538 Church of the Living God, "The Pillar and Ground of Truth". 4,838 5,099 865 976,388 2,167 1,196,315 4,085 3,137 Catholic Construction and Housing in the United States Source: United States Bureau of Labor Statistics NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF FAMILIES PROVIDED FOR IN NEW DWELLINGS IN 257 IDENTICAL CITIES 1 Includes 1- and 2-family dwellings with stores. 2 Includes multifamily dwellings with stores. ESTIMATED EXPENDITURES FOR BUILDING CONSTRUCTION, FAMILIES PROVIDED FOR AND INDEX NUMBERS THEREOF, IN 257 IDENTICAL CITIES; (1921-100) Total building AVERAGE COST PER FAMILY OF NEW DWELLINGS IN 257 IDENTICAL CITIES (Revised. Year Average cost per new dwelling unit Index numbers of cost per new dwelling unit (1921=100) MultiAll types 1-family 2-family family All types 1-family 2-family family of dwellings dwellings dwellings dwellings dwellings dwellings dwellings dwellings (1) (2) (1) (2) According to the U. S. Bureau of the Census there were in 1939 a total of 6,991 hospitals, of which 5,350 were General, 485 were Tuberculosis, 594 were Nervous and Mental, and 562 were other. Beds numbered 1,186,262 (excluding bassinets); admissions in the year were 9,626,682; total patient days, 355,145,063. Progress in the Fight Against the Venereal Diseases Source: United States Public Health Service Unprecedented advance has been made in the United States in recent years in the attack on the venereal diseases. Among the important indices of progress are the expansion and improvement of diagnostic and treatment facilities, the greater percentage of patients now being treated in the early stages of syphilis, the greater percentage of patients continuing treatment until cured, the increase in the number of States with special divisions of venereal disease control, the increase in salutary legislation, and the increasing number of States providing free distribution of drugs used in the treatment of syphilis. While the venereal diseases include, primarily, syphilis and gonorrhea, the heaviest attack is being directed at syphilis, as that disease is the most damaging. New drugs-sulfathiazol especially-have made an effective attack on gonorrhea possible. On July 1, 1938, there were approximately 1,750 clinics and dispensaries for the treatment of the venereal diseases. These facilities had increased to more than 3,000 by January, 1941. There has been a corresponding increase in the number of laboratories, at present over 2,000, for the detection of venereal disease, and in the number of tests performed. In 1930 only 1,632,000 blood tests were made for syphilis and 605,631 laboratory tests for gonorrhea, whereas in the fiscal year 1940 the respective figures were 10,216,978 and 1,083,086. In 1930 only 880,276 doses of arsphenamine were administered, as compared with 6,895,837 doses distributed in the fiscal year 1940. The serologic tests required to be made by the examining physicians of the local draft boards under the Selective Service Act of 1940 have brought to light many heretofore undisclosed cases of syphilis and gonorrhea. Among the first 1,070.000 men examined between November. 1940, and April, 1941, there were discovered 48,000 cases of syphilis and 15,000 cases of gonorrhea. The syphilis rates varied from a low of 1.4 per 1,000 for white persons, 43.9 per 1,000 for Negroes, in areas where long continued and adequate venereal disease control programs had been in operation, to a high of 53.5 per 1,000 for white persons, 380.4 per 1.000 for Negroes, in economically and socially poorer States which have had no long term pro grams. It is expected that discovery of venereal disease among men of military age will not only result in the treatment of many cases and in the consequent removal of sources of infection, but will stimulate increased venereal disease control activities in State and local health departments. Effective community programs-and it is in the communities where syphilis is controlled-embrace nine points listed by the Public Health Service as essential. These are: 1. A trained public health staff which knows how to deal with syphilis. 2. Regulations requiring reporting and follow-up on all cases of syphilis. 3. Facilities for treatment of all patients-both those who can and who cannot pay. 4. Free laboratory service available to all physicians and clinics. 7. 5. Distribution of free antisyphilitic drugs to all physicians and clinics. 6 Blood tests for all pregnant women, and treatment where required. Blood tests of all persons before marriage. Blood tests in all complete physical examinations. 9. An educational program. 8. All present available evidence indicates that community programs of this nature will substantially affect the statistical picture of syphilis today -a picture which shows that more than 100,000 persons die each year from syphilis; one in 10 cases of insanity is due to syphilis; one in seven cases of blindness is due to syphilis; 25,000 babies die each year from syphilis: 60,000 children are born with syphilis each year: 10,000,000 persons now have or have had syphilis. Money is essential to put into effect in each community programs which will make possible the control of syphilis. The general public and various voluntary and professional organizations, led by the American Social Hygiene Association, began to demand that something be done; in 1938 Congress passed the LaFollette-Bulwinkle Bill. It authorized appropriations to enable the Public Health Service to aid States in the control of the venereal diseases. A sum of $3,000,000 was authorized for the fiscal year 1939, $5,000,000 for 1940, and $7,000,000 for 1941. Appropriations as authorized were made for the fiscal years 1939 and 1940. For the fiscal year 1941 Congress appropriated $6,200,000 and for 1942 $6,250,000. Patients in Hospitals for Mental Disease, Jan. 1, 1940 The figures above show resident patients at the end of 1939-400,017 in public hospitals (including 28,653 under care of the Veterans' Administration) and 11,252 in private institutions. The table above does not include 80,189 mental defectives and 16,286 epileptics in other state institutions. 7,000,000 Enrolled in Non-Profit Hospitalization Source: C. R. Rorem, Director, Hospital Service Plan, American Hospital Association More than 7,000,000 persons in 30 States had placed hospital care in the family budget on July 1. 1941, through community-sponsored non-profit hospital service plans-often referred to as Blue Cross Plans which use the principles of social and private insurance to remove the hazard of hospital bills. The subscribers to such plans represent the employees of more than 100,000 firms, ranging from corner groceries to nation-wide industrial plants. The enrollment as of July 1, 1941: The movement is sponsored by the American Hospital Association, which, through the Hospital Service Plan Commission, approves plans which meet certain standards of public service, community participation, hospital sponsorship, and economic stability. Approved plans are permitted to identify themselves by the use of the seal of the American Hospital Association superimposed upon a blue cross. No two hospital service plans are identical. but they are alike in principle. Each one is a community-sponsored non-profit corporation, the trustees of which serve without pay. The board of directors is selected by or from important groups in the community, including hospitals, medical profession, industry, welfare, and labor. The corporation or "plan" enters into contracts with employed persons who make regular subscriptions of fifty to eighty-five cents a month an individual, or $1.00 to $2.00 a month a family, into a common fund which is used to pay necessary hospital bills. Each employed subscriber and his family dependents are entitled (in general) to three or four weeks of hospital care in a ward or semi-private room, depending upon the subscription agreement in each community. The corporations also enter into contracts with "member-hospitals" in each community, which guarantee to furnish the designated services to subscribers in need of hospital care, for which the institutions receive stated per-diem payments from the Blue Cross plan. Subscribers are enrolled on a group basis through their places of employment. 1941. In Many of the "approved" plans are under the legal control of special "enabling acts" administered by the various state departments of insurance and public welfare. Others are organized in accord with general corporation or insurance laws. every instance, the approved plans replace or supplement other legal requirements for protection of the subscriber with hospital-guaranty contracts by which the member-hospitals agree to furnish the stated services to paid-up subscribers. Blue Cross hospital plan benefits are available in service, not case, but the "service benefits" in member-hospitals are translated into cash allowances in other institutions when a subscriber is absent from the community where he has enrolled. Through the Hospital Service Plan Commission, arrangements were begun in 1941 by which paidup subscribers may transfer from one approved plan to another, also receive service benefits in out-of-town hospitals. The 1941 income of Blue Cross plans was approximately $45.000.000, of which 80 per cent was paid for hospital care, 10 per cent used for promotion and administration, and 10 per cent reserved for epidemics and other emergencies. |