War is not the answer."U.S. Population to surpass 300 million" (SAT: 10/7/06, p. 238) concludes with the interesting fact that the only annual drop in U.S. population during the past century "occurred between July 1917 and July 1918, when the country was at war," implying a military cause for the decline. Indeed, the honored dead of the First World War did total 116,708. However, you missed the far-more-serious cause of death responsible for the population anomaly Abnormality or deviation. Pronounced "uh-nom-uh-lee," it is a favorite word among computer people when complex systems produce output that is inexplicable. See software conflict and anomaly detection. : the great influenza influenza or flu, acute, highly contagious disease caused by a virus; formerly known as the grippe. There are three types of the virus, designated A, B, and C, but only types A and B cause more serious contagious infections. , which killed 675,000 Americans, mostly in 1918. JOHN BERNHART, NEW TRIPOLI Tripoli, city, Lebanon Tripoli (trĭp`əlē) or Tarabulus (täräb`  l , PA. Both events certainly contributed to the population decline during the year ending July 1, 1918. However, the flu caused most of its mortality in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. during the fall of 1918 and the spring of 1919. Interestingly, the U.S. population rose by 1.3 million between July 1, 1918, and July 1, 1919. --B. HARDER |
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