Plagues

Cancer, black plague of modern civilization, grows in the U. S.; tuberculosis dwindles. Thus reported the Census Bureau last week, tabling medical returns for 1923. In a registration area containing 87.6% of the total population of the U. S., there were reported 86,754 deaths from cancer last year, an increase of 5,816 deaths over 1922. Tuberculosis deaths in the same area decreased from 97 to 93 per 100,000 population.