The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-01-17
THE EXPECTATION OF LIFE.
Mortality Affected by the Various occu-
pations.
IN. Y. Times. ]

In \. llHcc.I
Life insurance experts and those in
terested in mortality statistics generally,
employ in their business self-explana-
tory term known as ''the expectation of
life.' Under this heading expe fence
has furnished valuable tables, by means
OF which the probability of the duration
of different lives is reduced to a practi-
cally accurate basis-a basis rende ed
doubly reliable by reason of the fact that
the results are sed upon many indie
pendent sets of observation obtai ed
from widely different sources. The
similarity of the statistics thus obtained
is remarkable.
Charles Stevenson, q well known
actuary of Edinburg, has contributed
to the Expectation of life' tables the
most recent information on this subject
in the shape of a little paper on 1.-THE
Effect of Employment on Life and
HEALTH in which many curious facts
are presented concerning the relation of
occupations to MOI tality rates.
The largest mortality rate in the IN
door occupations considered is found
among liquor sellers, a fact which ex-
plains the reluctance of life insurance
companies to write insurance on that
kind of risks. Mr.. Stevenson finds the
average mortality among 1000 liquor
sellers to be 1872. increasing from 1872
between the ages of 20 and 20 to 1928
from age 10 upward. He divides the
libuol sellers into three classeS-licensed
grocers, hotel keepers and bar keepers
and shows the respective motality rates
to be, from 25 years of age upward, 1879,
26.S and 33.4, respectively, which shows
that the life risk of the average bar
keeper is an exceedingly hazardous
quantity
Among the 1000 gardeners the death
rate is found to be 1876; carpenters, ia;
shoemakers, 1874; stone masons, 1858;
tchers, 17.S, and innkeepers, 21.4. This
agrees precisely with the information
collected by American life insurance
companies, which shows the butcher to
be a hazardous risk, second only to the
inn keeper and saloon keeper.
The most curious facts resulting from
this investigation are those concerning
the death rate among the clergy, a class
which the author has divided into three
sections, namely, Church of England
clergy, Nonconformist clergy and Roman
Catholic clergy. One thousand cases in
vestigated in each of these sections shows
the death rate to be lowest in the Church
of England clergy, where the average is
1912, and highest in the Roman Catholic
clergy, where the average is I5.7! These
figures suggest an interesting contribu-
ton to the study of celibacy lin its rela-
ton to the mortality rate.
The value of outdoor exercise, with
abundance of fresh air and a clear con-
science, is amply set forth in compre-
hehsive table showing the number pei
100 of the various occupations that at
tain the age of 10 or more. Again the
clergy tops the list, with AZ out of 100
that attain the age of 70, while the farm
ers came next with 40, and the other
occupations in the following order
Commercial men (drummers), 80; mill
tary men, 33; lawyers, 30; artists, %:
teachers, ~, and physicians, "a.
The apparently anomalous feature OF
these figures is that military men, whose
occupation seems to be most hazardous
from the layman's point of view, in re-
ality attain a greater longevity than
their less warlike brothers of the sciences
and arts. This favorable position of the
military man, considered from life in
surance standpoint, has come to be rec
ognized in recent years to such an ex-
tent that one of the largest life com
panies has recently waived all restrictions
in the matter of military risks, it's ex-
perience tables showing the loss of but
one risk during the last three South
American revolutions.