The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-08-22
Les.on ns from yItnI slalistLes.


Some of the vital and social statistics
presented by the recent State census in
New York are quite interesting, al
though they do not appear to be as ac-
curate as such tables should be. In the
city of New York there are lSl, ,S6S mar
ried couples and 4O,53s widows and wild
overs, making in all III ,sOl, while the
number of Jdmii,cS reported is but l4s,-
6S3. To accommodate all these families
there are but 49, ,S44 dwellings in the en-
tire city. This feature of New York
life, viz: but one dwelling on the aver
age for every three or four families, is
yery different from our social economy
in Philadelphia, and 1t accounts at
glance for a great deal of the excess of
disease, mortality, vice and crime in
that city, above whRt is shown in our
vital and social statistics. There can be
no doubt that with population in 1865
Just about equal TO that reported ior
New York in the same year. we had
fully twice as many dwelling houses.
II is no wonder, therefore, that
widows and orphans, and child
less parents are made so ra-
pidly in New York. These figures also
account for some of the extraordinary
Developments in the New York NOR
tality statistics besides those shown in
the fearful proportion of deaths among
infant children. The deaths among
married people were in the proportion
of S72 men to 405 women, and among
the unmarried, the proportion OF young
men to young women was still greater.
This comes from the unfortunate cir
cumstance that II large portion of the
married men OF New York have no
homes such as we have in Philadelphia
that is to say, they have no houses to
themselves. They are therefore COM
PEELED to live either in a semi-public
manner, in large boarding houses, ho-
tells or tenement houses, or else they are
tempted to be a great deal of the time
away from such homes as they have.
All this leads to bad habits OF every
kind, dissipation, late hours, gambling
and questionable company, instead OF
the comPanionship of the family. Part
of the excessive mortality among
young men, above referred to, is due
also to the fast habits of "Young New
York." where they take to the excesses
of life with extraordinary precocity,
because SO many of their parents have
no "homes," properly so-called, for
their children, and they are therefore
unable, even if they were so disposed,
to keep parental watchfulnees over
their conduct.
Among the other extraordinary
things in these statistics is the fact that
among the married people there We're
no less than l5I who were but 10 years
and under that, at the time of mar
riage. Orthese there were 15i girls and
three boys. Ofthe age of l6 there were
392 married girls and IL married boys;
and of married boys between the ages
of 10 and II there was no less than AZ,
while of married girls under lG there
were no less than 5l6. These must have
been clRndestine marriages for the most
part, for it is difficult to imagine that
parents would encourage or permit
such things. But this is but another
outcropping of the great social evil of
New York, the absence of homes for
children and the compulsory living of
families so much IN public.
In the city of New York there are
2S.0S4 more females than males, while
in all the rest orthe State the excess of
females over males is 81, ,5l2. In the
whole State there are 49,, 1854 widows,
which is an excess over the widowers
of 9S, lS0. A large part of this excess is
doubtless due to the lateswar, but still
the excess is very striking.