The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-12-09
TIE LENGTH OF HUMAN LIFE
Interesting Facts.

DIR. Edward Jarvis continues in the Atlantic
Monthly for December his instructive papers Oh
THE Increase OF Human Life" with special at.
tention to the amelioration wrought by the pro-
gress OF the arts in the condition Of worklngmen.
The facts he presents-some Of them new, but
mest Of them long familiar in other connections
have peculiar interest In the point OF View from
which he considers them, as anording substan.
tial and cheering answer to the question, "What
Is Civilization :"
The hardest work human hands used to do, he
shows, is now done mainly by machinery. Labor
Is more productive, aud Ii therefore better re-
warded. Less than three hundred years age
good mechanic In England had TO work more
than nine days to earn bushel OF Wneat. lWo
hundred and fifty years ago ne could earn !. 10
little more than i've days; and fifty years ago IN
fraction more than one day. But in the United
States in the summer or 1858, such man earned
q bushel OF wheat in half day. Thus the me-
chanic's day, which produced three ana null null
quarts OF wheat in 1868, now produces Bixty'Ioor
quarts, eighteen times as mucn.
The difference reckoned In clothing Is az least as
great. TWO hundred years ago, mechanic could
earn seventeen cents day IN silver money, ana
the coarsest shirt cost sixty-two cents, or three
and half days. work. Reckoned IN animal
food the Improvement Is, OF course, greater Sill;
such food having been rare luxury among DAY
laborers, and even mechanics, until quite recent
times.
The following comparison, which Mr. jarvis
draws between "the good Old tlInes OF queen
Bess - as tradition calls them, and the present.
.Tn the days of Queen Elizabeth. the pride OF
English history, when national prosperity and
personal comfort were supposed 10 nave attalnea
their highest point the average wages ol good
mechanics were i've shillings, about one dollar
and twenty five cents, week. Wheat was then
1855 to 1S99-lye shillings and ten pence per
bushel; the mechanic could then earn oushei OF
wheat in seven days, coarse linen (doWlaSl snlrt
In Ave days and half, common Waistcoat Ia
seven days and four-nfths, o pair Of strong shoes
In eight days and four-tenths, stun gown FOR
his wife In seven days and folr-hfths hnsey
woolsey petticoat In i've days ana Two
ffths, check apron In TWO days and hail,
pair Of shoes in four days and half and pair OF
stockings In one day and four-nfths. Compar-
ing these wages OF the workman with the COST OF
clothing and other obtainable necessaries Oh lie,
IL is easy to see how small an amount OF the COM
forts they could obtain, how meagre must nave
been the sustenanCe Ol their families, and how
slight an opportunity they enjoyed OF developing
sound constitution ana OF sustaining sneui-
selves against the causes OF disease. AT the pre-
sent time q good mechanic earns three or four
times the cost OF his BOARD. and has three or Tour
times as large proper tonate surplus for the sup
port OF his family, or for investment for future
use; and labor, In al. lts varied FORMS receives
much larger reward IN sustenance, in comfort, IN
means OF health and vlgor, at the present, tnan
was paid in any OF the former ages OF the world"
These changes have had an almost inconceiv-
able effect on the character and life OF the peo-
pie. There are fewer adventurers, fewer pau
pers, fewer criminals. There Is less Sickness not
only because OF better knowledge OF the laws OF
health, but because wellfed population ressts
disease OF every kind when one that is poorly fed
would be swept away by 1t. Moreover. abun-
dance Is accompanied by leisure, culture, tasse
and the kindly influences OF home life and OF soce-
ty. The power OF brute force and OF selfish cum
ming has diminished. Senstiveness and sympa-
thy with others suffering have grown, and have
destroyed or driven into dsrepute the passion for
brutal shows The awful famines and wlde-wast
ing pestilences Of the middle ages have become
impossible. The value OF human life and that OF
human enjoyment, as they are now esteemed, are
truly modern ideas ln the general mind.