The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-03-03
They Should Be Full Five Score, but
They Are Less Than Two
Score.
Natural Life Five Times the Period
4
Required to Get Full
Growth.
Death Ratio Greatest In Huncnry-varies
in Cities and in Sections Of
the Country.

which it ctM live; 1t 1s like q machine col
structed to yum 80 long and no longer. FL
most animals this time is about five tim,
that required for the animal to obtain j
full growth and developments, which IN mn
occurs when he il from 20 to % years OLE
SO that he ought to live from 100 to II
years. As a matter of fact. the averaa
life of all the babies that come into til
world is only about 3S years: very few liv
to be over 30. and not more than ono ont @
1000 sees his Tooth birthday. Is this due t
original differences in the babies themselve
or in the way they arc brought up. in tn
places in which they live, in tha air the,
breathe and in their mode of life after the.
become full grown? To answer these ques'
tons one Of the first things we want tt
know is whether people die equally faa'
everywhere. and, if not, where is it tina
they die soonest or live longest. The answer
to this is that people die much more
rapidly in some countries han in others
gary as they do In Sweden. In the yea
1889 ont of cvsry 1000 persons living in thu
following Countries tisre died: In England
Is; in Norway. II; in Sweden, Is; in Aus
tria, 81; in Hungary, 80; in Germany, 23;i in
Franco, q, and in Italy, %. How many
disd in the United States we do not know,
because no account of them was kept in the
greater part of the country; but it was
probably IL or is out of each 1000 living.
We do know. however, that they died
faster in some cities than in others. For
example, out of each 1000 people living
there died during the year ending May 81,
1890. in New York City. 27; in Brooklyn, 25;
in Boston, "a; in Philadelphia, 22;. in
Chicago. 81; III Detroit. 20; in st. Louis, 10,
and in Minneapolis, Is, while in the coun-
try districts the loss was only II or II out
of each 1000.
Also, We know that they died faster in
others; thus, the death ratio per 1000 in
Boston in the Eighth ward was thirty
three, while in the Twenty-fourth ward it
wes eighteen, In Brooklyn in the Fifth
ward it was thirty-thtee, and in the
Twenty-fourth ward eighteen; and in Phil
adelphia it was thirty-four in ward Four,
and fourteen in ward Thirty-three. What
are the causes OF these great differences?
In the first placs. they depend upon the
number of little children present at these
different PLACES. The baby's gasp of ex-
istence is at first feeble; tho little flame of
life in it fuckers and trsmbles, and it does
not require much to put 1t out altogether.
The heavy death rates occur among the
children. Thus, in the Fourth ward in
Philadelphia out Of each LOCO white chill
dren under five years old, l15 died; while
in the Thirty-third ward only fifty-thrae
died; which accounts for a 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 be-
tween them in their influence on child life.
It is not quite correct to say that in those
places where the fewest number per LOCO
die the psopls live the longest, but it is
true in most cases, and We may. therefore,
say that people live longer in small towns
than in large cities. This is true not
only in the United States, but all over the
world.
Let us now see where the greatest number
of old people, in proportion to the total
population. are to be found living in tho
United States. An examination of the
records of the tenth census shows that in
1880 this was in New England. OF each
100000 white persons there we're then living
and over so years old-in Connecticut, 1886;
in Maine, LAT; in Massachusetts,, 500; in
New Hampshire, 1,476; in Rhode Island,
1927, and in Vermont, 1922. These are
higher figures than are shown in any other
state. In New York the corresponding pro-
Maryland, 3f7, and in Delaware, 400. In
Ohio it was Alp; in Indiana, 261; in Ilinoia,
215: in Iowa, 2l8; in Michigan, 3l9: in
Minnesota, 139; in Kentucky, 1928; in len
nessee, 347: in Virginia, SOL; in North
Carolina, 507; in South Carolina, AL; in
Florida, 204: in Georgia, 40l: in Alabama,
BAL; in Mississippi, 245; in Louisiana, 1Gl;
and i'll Texas, III. In Montana it was only
u; in Nevada, 36: in Wyoming, 35; in Idaho,
40; in Dakota, 81; in Arizona, %, and in
Colorado, 81.
From a study of these figures it is very
plain that the fact that there are more old
people i'll one state than in another depends
very much Oh now long the state mas been
settled.
In the movement from the eastern states
to take possession of the broad prairies. the
fertile valleys and the gold and silver
threaded mountains Of ths great west, those
who went were the young, the energetic and
the strong, leaving behind them the fathers
and the grandfathers in the old New Eng
land homes, And this movement has been
SO recent, 1t has baen SO comparatively
short q time in the history of the nation
since the states west of the Missjssinui
have been filled up and pierced with the
railroads now necessary to supply LARGE
groups of people, that there has not been
time tor any large number of grandfathers
ana to grow up and get their
halr properly whitened and their backs
cent to the curve which belongs to 80 wears
of age.
When another hundred years have gone
We may be sure that there will not be nearly
go great Il difference III tho number of old
P'eopto Il GHo ulIlSlGib atalds, DuG we NAV
also be quite sure that then, as now, those
people will live the longest who live among
the wlnd-swept hills of the northern and
Hlddle states OF this country.
Perhaps l ought to say not people" but
".whlte peopls," for the negro lives longer
In tire south than he does in the north.
one OF the best means of measuring the
relative length of life i'll the different stanes
IL that afforded bv the experience of the
thirty principal life Insurance commands
OF tins country previous to 1874, inciuding
the records of over 1.0OO. 600 of lives. in,
suled tor over $500, 900, 900.
FROM these records We learn that tho
States and territories III which the insur-
Hnce companies had the least loss by bein,
compelled to lay the money thew hai
agreed to pay in case of the death of tho
persons insured IN them, or, in other World
where healthy. full grown white men anI
women, sufficiently we'll off TO paw
insurance premiums lived, the long
est were the following: Nebraska. II.
Iowa., i6; Wisconsin. II: Vermont, so; West
Virginia, 81; Maine. SO; Massachusetts. Sc:
Kansas. 81; Oregon, sc; Illinois. 81; Colo.
rado, 81; Delaware, 80; New Hampshire. 80.
Rhode Island, 50. and Michigan, SO. In this
list the iGutes following the names of the
states snow the proportion of the loss NV
death, II the average loss is considered to be
100, so that the smaller the figure tho
greater is the average length of life indi-
Gated.
On the other hand, stated in the sauna
way, the states where the loss was preatest
and the length of life least. were. Ionic.