The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1892-02-18
Length of Life.
MORE OLD PEOPLE IN NEW ENGLAND
THAN IN OTHER SECTIONS.

come into the world is only about 80 years;
very few live to be over 90, and not more
than / out of 1000 sees his hundredth
birthday. Is this due to original differences
in the babies themselves, or in the way
they are brought up, in the place in which
they live, in the air they breathe, and in
their mode of life after they become full
grown? To answer these questions one
of the first things we want to know is
whether people die equally fast every
where, and if not, where is it that they
die soonest or live longest. The answer
to this is that people die much more
rapidly in some countries than in others;
for instance, they die twice as fast in
Hungary as they do in Sweden. In the
year 1889 out of every 200 persons living
in the following named countries, there
died, in England, 1S; in Norway, II; in
Sweden, Is; in Austria, n; in Hungary,
b; in Germany, %; in France, u: and IN
Italy. -. How many died in the United
States we do not know. because no ac
count of them was kept in the greater
part of the country, but it was probably
II or Is ont of each L. 900. We do know,
however, that they died faster in some
cities than in others For example. out OF
each l. 600 persons there died during the
year ending May 81. 1890. in New York
city. -. in Brooklyn. -: in Boston "A;
in Philadelphia, -: in Chicago, u; in
Detroit 20: in st. Louis. 10, and in Min
neapoliS. -. while in the country districts
the loss was only II OF II out OF each
/. 900 Also, we know that they died
faster in some parts of the same city than
they did III others.
What are the causes of these great differ
| la, ln t1,.I- ,1.A1,AuI II
on the number of little children present
in these different places. The baby 5
grasp for existence is at first feeble; the
little flame of life i'll it tickers and trem-
bles and it does not require much To put
it out altogether. The heavy death rates
occur among the children. Thus in the
fourth ward in Philadelphia, out of each
| 1000 white children under ) years old,
lis died; while in the thirty third ward
only 50 died. which accounts for I; large
| part of the difference in the death rates
of the two wards, and at the same time
| shows that there must be some great
| difference between them in their influence
| on child life. 1t is not quite correct tC
| say that in those places where the fewesl
number per thousand die the people live
| the longest, but it is true in most cases.
| and we may, therefore, say that people
| live longer in small towns that in large
cities, and in the country than they do in
| towns. This is true not only in the
| United States. but all over the world.
| Let us now see where the greatest num-
Der of old persons, IN proportion to the
total population, are to be found living III
the United States. An examination OF
the records of the tenth census shows thai
i'll 1880 this was III New England. Ot
each 100, 600 white persons there Were
| then hving-and over so years old-i1
Connecticut 996: in Maine, Liz; in Mass
achusetts, 500: III New Hampshire, 40
in Rhode Island, S27, and in Vermont.
1.222. These are higher figures than are
| shown for any other State
| From a study of these figures it is very
plain that tile fact that there are more
old people in one State than in another
depends very much on how long the
| State has been settled. In the movement
from the Eastern States to take possession
of the broad prailies, the fertile valleys.
and the gold and silver threaded mountains
of the great West, those who went We're tn,
| Young, the energetic and the strong, leay-
ing behind them the fathers and the
grandfatherS III the old New England
| homes. And that movement has been ST
recent, it has been SO comparatively sho1t
} time in the history ri the nation since
the States west of the Mississippi have
! been filled up and pierced with the rail
roads now necessary to supply large
groups Of people that there has not beer
time for amy large number of @randtathers
and grandmothers TO grow up and 9e1
their hairs properly whitened and their
backs bent TO the curve which belongs to
nn
have gone we may be sure that there will
not be nearly SO great a difference i'll the
number OF old persons in the different
| States but we may also be quite sure that
then, as now. persons will live longest
who live among the wind swept hills OF
the Northern and Middle States OF this
country.
One OF the best means of measuring the
relative length of life in the different
States is that afforded by the experience
of the 30 different life insurance compan-
les of this country previous to 1874. i'll
Guiding the records of over million OF
| lives, insured for over twenty-siX hun
| bred millions of dollars. From these
records we learn that the States where the
loss was greatest and the length of life
least We're: Louisiana 176: Texas, l115
| Arkansas, l72; Florida, 167; Mississippi
| 1854; Tennessee, 1853; Alabama, 1874: and
Maryland. 129. The corresponding fig
ures for some of the other States are
| California, 81; Connecticut. a: Georgia
90: Kentucky, 1O3; Minnesota, 107: Mis-
souri,, Ill; New York. IS; Ohio, 90; Penn
sylvania. %: South Carolina, lis: Virgin
ia 1O4. These figures also show that life
is shorter in the South than in the North
and in flat. low grounds than among hills
and mountains. New York Sun.