Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 January 1914 — KENTUCKY LAW WELL NAMED [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

KENTUCKY LAW WELL NAMED

State Bureau of Vital Statistics Referred to by Editorial Writer as “Big Family Bible." Kentucky is one of the southern states which has recently adopted a modern law for the registration of vital statistics. Put into force a'little over a year ago. it has been on trial. As usual. It encountered opposition. Some people were unable to see why births and deaths should be recorded; others did not like to go to the trouble to make out an orderly record of these occurrences. Because physicians and medical organizations led the way in securing this needed legislation, It was, of course, regarded as something for the benefit of physicians rather them for the public good Shakespeare asked—and so have many philosophers since his tlnje—-

"What’s In a name?" and the wisest of these inquirers have recognized the importance of naming a thing properly, If It is to stand well in the public eye. Evidently this fact Js recogniiied in Kentucky, The leading editorial In an Issue of Kentucky Medical Journal, under "the heading “Name the Babies,” discusses some of the difficulties encountered in putting the new law Into effect. In this connection, the editor philosophically refers to the state bureau of vital statistics as “Kentucky’s Big Family Bible.” A happier name could not well be devised. —Journal of the American Medical Association.