The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-04-16
The Cash Value of Boys.

A New York correspondent with view
| to estimating the cost ef every victim OF
intemperance, has been calculating the
value of an average youth of 10 to society,
the State and the country. OF course the
| cost of such persons varies according 10
the class of society in which they are rails
| ed. In the country it is far less than in
| the city, and among the poorer classes less
| than among the wealthier. Taking the
son of a well-tO-dO mechanic in a family
of five, occupying three rooms in tene-
ment house, the actual cost of the youth
| is computed as follows:
Board seven years at 81, and five years at
share Of rent at sl4 month in family of
Clothing, SO for ten years, $50 for five
wears ............- $50
sf9SeI SiseeIlaSsoas GS9ss sickness etc in ali s
Total. s3,167
This is the cost of the boy to his pa
rents. The expense of the State in his be-
| half is set down as follows:
Schooling six years .......................S s 81
TaXes--State, fifteen years. ................. lbs
TaXes-cOunty, fifteen years ................ l23
Taxes for national expenses, fifteen years. 1876
| The total expense attending the devel-
Opment of such person is thus estimated
at S3,7I3, and this is supposed to be the
| cash value of every young man and wO-
man 10 years of age. Assuming that
nearly One-half the population die before
reaching the above age, it is plain that the
cost of every city-bred man or woman
cannot be less than $1,000.
The first thought that rises to a persons
mind on contemplating this flctis, that not
one in a dozen is worth a quarter of the
sum. But it should be remembered that
the country would be nothing without
population and as this is aprime necessity,
the value of men and women can only be
limited by the demand which exists for
them. The writer referred to places the
cost of raising and educating children in
the country at One-half the above, but we
are satisfied that in both cases his estimates
are entirely too high. n large majority of
boys and girls in the country, and gOOdly
number of them in the cities, fairly earn
their living by the time they are ten years
of age, and sometimes earlier. 1t is not
proper to count them as totally unprOduc-
tive after they reach the age of ten years.
This would take off, say, third of the
cost, and then it would be high enough.
The report of the Massachusetts Bureau of
Statistics shows that there were l4,075
children under 10 employed in that State
last year. Their average actual earnings
were S15076, while the average actual cost
of living for youths and adults was but
Sl32.33. As the expenses of the adults
were of course greater than those of chill
dren, it will be seen that the latter were
large promoters of wealth. Of course the
number given only embraced those regu-
larly employed in factories or in some 9TH
er steady occupation, and therefore by no
means states the full number who partially
or wholly supported themselves.
The average value of each immigrant
arriving in this country has been frequent
ly estimated by writers on political ecOnO-
my, but no two of them agree on this
question. This value varies from $50, ac-
cOrding to the lowest estimate. to about
; 800 in the highest; but in either case it
is evident that in more restricted material
sense it is cheaper to import our pOpula-
ton than it is to produce it ourselves. As
suming each child of fifteen to have cost
81 600, and that the money thus expended
would have been otherwise saved, we find
that the man who has raised family of
five children and remained poor, might
have accumulated sum sufficient for the
wants of old age had he not been subject
ed to this expense. On the other hand, he
has given that which he would have saved,
to the general welfare, for he has furnished
the country five adults worth. at the low
est calculation, 5000, and at the highest,
S25, 900. The money which he has ex-
pended for their food, clothing. education,
ETC., has gone out into the world, and be-
come part of the general wealth of the
country; aud to this extent he is payer
of extra taxes and public benefactOr. In
this view of the case that was no idle re-
mark of Napoleon's, that the greatest
woman iii France was the mother Of the
largest number of children.-H1ter-Ocean