The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1854-08-29
From the London News.
THE BRITISH CENSUS REPORT.

THE BRITISH CENSUS REPORT,
John Bull is myth, signifying-iaking tho
Interpretation afforded by the census of 1851
IAN aggregation of moro than $1,000, 900 of
human bongs. If we look at the peculiar dis
tribution of the elements composing this myth
ic total. we shall arrive at some curious results
as to the way in which John Bull economies
his resouces. The manner ir which the work
necessary to maintain John in health and Dig
nity and to insure his bodily and spiritual
growth, is shared among the various forces
which he has at his disposal. is told to US so
satisfactorily in the census table just published
that few facts from them cannot fail to be a.
musing and instructive.
In tho first place, John is sensible Of the val
ue Of government, and he sets aside the servi-
ces of7l ,l9l men of twenty years and upward
for the general or local government of tho
whole, this may seem large number, but II we
consider that this is only thirteen out evey
thousand of the men in the country, and that
this detachment governs mere or loss efficiently
the whole of the remaining men, women and
children of the twenty.one millions, it is not
perhaps. a very large proportion. In 1851,
John Bull, to protect himself. set aside 1885,
255 men, at the age of twenty and upwards,
to form an army and navy. A portion of these,
however, were on half-pay. The active force
amounted to nearly twenty-five in every thou
sand men, andthese were sufficient for the de-
fence of the whole remaining men, women and
children. 1t results from this that one in one
hundred and ffty-eight of tie whole popula-
tion, was sufficient for its defence in 1851
John is now, however, at war, and must, there
fore, have the services of an extra number OF
men for defence. If we look back at period
OF some four or five hundred years, we shall
find that instead Of state Of things where
twenty-five able bodied men were sufficient
for the defence of ono thousand, or one for the
defence of forty-seven men, the great body OF
tho nation were soldiers, or liable to be called
upon to act as such. being trained to arms FOR
the purpose. In savage state, overy man is
actually soldier If he cannot defend himself
no onc else will. We may measure the dis
tance of John Bull from the state of q savage,
by the little expenditure which Is sufficient to
project him from violence Taking thirteen
out of every thousand of the men for the pur-
pose of government. and about twenty-two out
of every thousand for the purpose of defence.
John Bull has the remainder of every thousand
whom he may Sc, to work for the purpose OF
enriching him and ministering to his comfort
and delectation. Dropping tho metaphor, IL
We take 35 out of evey loo men in the coun-
try f,r the civil and military service, there will
be 965 left to devote themselves to the moral
and material aggrandzement of the whole
country. But ia this, there remain the whole
of tho women and children above Ave oil six
years OF age, vino are all capable of doing some.
thing more or less in the service of the State.
This fact aono is sufficient to account for a
great portion of The prosperity which has fallen
to our lot. While less civilized nations OK
pend the greater portion of their resources in
the necessary works of civil government and
defence, we can obtain the same effects by the
application of mere fraction of our enormous
powers, reserving the remainder for purposes
of civilization and development. The "l hrco
Black Sisters" Law. Physic and Divinity re-
qure the services of ITO, 73o persons out of the
whole population. 'In point of numbers" says
the report, ''they would be out-voted by the
tslors Of the kingdom" 1t is hoped that this
is not said in depreciation Of tho taiors-who
number ythe-by, l52672 Most people wod
be glad to see the necessity for lawyers and
doctors at least, diminishing, and the demand
for iailors increasing.
We arc rather economical in the matter oi
tho Fine Arts. Ofauthors and literary men We
are content with the services of 2,866. We
arc little more extravagant in the matter OF
artists, who number 5000; but as 4,9l4 oi
these are painters and drawing masters, the
highest number cannot be taken as n measure
of our demand for works of art. There are
2,97l architects, the greater number OF whom
are builders. five were to take the building
away, however, the remainder would give us q
number of architects which. when divided a.
mongst the number of really good modern bull.
dings, would give about two or three hundred
Of the former to ono of the latter. Small as
the number of architects is tho country would
Al. L..
degrees and beautifully less" A similar OBJ
servation applies to teachers, of whom there
are 34,37S mon and II 1896 women. Hero !:
an army of instructors sufficient. If they knew
their duty, to do battle with and utterly extir
pate ignorance for ever from tho midst Of oui
population. Take the whole number of chill
drcn in the kingdom between the ages of {
and Is, make no deduction for illness or any
other cause, and yet, if they were divided a
mong these l06,2i4 teachers, there would b.
one teacher to every forty children. The fac
is, however that only half the total number oil
children 20 to school. so that the average
number to each teacher would be diminished
by one half. Certainly this plethora Of teach
ers, compared with the quality and the quaint
tv Of the education of Great Britain, is one o
tho least pleasing features Of tho census.
The sixth class into which this report divides
the people according TO their occupations, IN
cludes those who are principally engaged in
lodging, entertaining. attending, or providing
articles of dress. We have seen at how com
paritively small an expenditure Of human ma
terial we are governed, defended doctored ant
taught-we are now coming to tho number o
2S,sSl, clearinghouse keepers to the numbe
of 23,0l5. and coffeo-house keepers to th
number of 3057, look after the wants of th
wanderers abroad. The homes require the at
| tendance of the immense number of ,03S, 10
domestic servants. The undertakers, ,strangel
enough. i'm virtue OF their finding garment
and graves for the dead. are enumerated il
this class. We who require such armies t
attend to our various wants while alive. ar,
satisfied with sadly diminished attendance
on tho way to the grave 1850 undertaken
have no difficulty in burying this cnormou
population which, alive, requires the service
Of l,O3s,79l domestic servants. This sixtl
class. including the divisions above mentioned
comprises 2,I20,l73 persons.
| The carrying class is one which marks tn
progress of the nation moro decidedly, thar
any other. Persons of middle age can re
member tho difficulty which existed in thei
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