It is often claimed that the Negro is affected by climatic changes. Transferred suddenly into a northern climate, and compelled to live in all sorts of dwellings, often with no ventilation and light and in congested quarters, he may easily succumb to disease. Unaccustomed as he is to the heavy labor and pace-setting of the Pittsburgh industries, it can readily be seen how rapidly his health is undermined through excessive and hard labor. The fact that there has been no increase in tuberculosis is in accord with the expressed opinion of many colored physicians interviewed, who claimed that this disease is mainly a city product, and that the newcomers, especially those coming from isolated southern districts, are apt to be relatively free from this disease for a considerable period after their arrival in Pittsburgh. _TABLE NUMBER XXII_ _Record of Negro Morbidity for a Period of Six Months Before the Migration, as Compared with an Equal Period during the Migration in the West Penn Mercy and St. Francis Hospitals._ +--------------------------+-------+-------+ | CAUSES | 1915 | 1917 | +--------------------------+-------+-------+ | Digestive System | 24 | 29 | | Respiratory and Throat | 54 | 76 | | Heart and Kidney | 16 | 10 | | Brain and Nervous System | 9 | 5 | | Urogenital Diseases | 35 | 44 | | | ---- | ---- | | | 138 | 164 | +--------------------------+-------+-------+ Table number XXII was ascertained from a study of the records of three of the largest hospitals in Pittsburgh, as to the treatment of Negro patients in these Institutions for a period of six months before the migration and an equal period during the migration. Although this table proved interesting, as showing the amount, kind and extent of the hospital morbidity among the colored people, it is not at all conclusive. That the hospital records give no clue to the sickness among the Negroes is apparent from the following: Eighty to ninety percent of the hospital cases examined were ward patients. Very few Negroes can afford private rooms, and almost every colored physician complained of the difficulty he had in securing places for his patients. It is only fair to state however, that one of the largest hospitals in the city, had no such charge lodged against it.