The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1894-08-17
VIOLENT DEATHS.

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students and thinkers in proof of high
civilization, some favoring the ratio of
| illiteracy, some the high average of
| the rate of wages. some the surplus
savings appliable to purchases of lux
ury, some the national expenditures
| for education some the volume of mer-
camille transactions, and others, again,
the artistic development of the various
countries But one uniform, supreme,
and Interchangeable test of civilization
is furnished in the estimate put upon
human life, and probably there is,
after all, no better, fairer and more
satisfactory test.
One may take, in their order, sui
cides, homicides, accidents and execu-
tions to arrive at an accurate conclu-
sion on this point In respect of sui
cides, Denmark, among civilized coun-
| tries stands at the head, or more prop
erly at the foot, of the list with an an
nual rate of 25 per 100000 inha bitants.
Australia follows with 21, Switzerland
with 90 France with Is, Germany with
IA, Sweden with s, Belgium with 7, En-
gland with Z, Hungary 5, Scotland 4,
Italy 3, Holland 3, United States 3, Rus
sia ., Ireland 1 and Spain 1.
In the record of homicides the an
nual average is higher in the kingdom
of Italy than elsewhere, being s94 to
| 10000 deaths, a very high figure. Spain
follows with 23S, the United States
with 215, Switzerland with 1873, Ireland
and Australia with SO each, France and
Russia with so each, Sweden with rs,
England with 73 and Germany 64
1t is somewhat interesting fact
that the ratio of suicides to the popula-
ton is highest in those countries in
which murders are few, and lowest in
those countries in which murders are
many. 1t would seem as if those in
clined to take their own lives were re-
luctant to seek the lives of others, and
those who were reckless in their esti-
mate of the value of the lives of others
were scrupulous in protecting and pre-
serving their own.
The extension of machinery for man.
ufacturing purposes and the rapid util-
ization of electricity for motive power
and for purposes of illumination has
largely increased in all progressive
countries the ratio of accidents. At
the present time these are the average
ratios of the number of accidental
deaths to 10000 annual deaths from all
causes in the countries named: En-
gland and Scotland, 80; Ireland, IS;
France, Is; Germany, 16; Russia, 6;
Austria, 10; Italy, 5; Switzerland, 2S;
Spain, T. Denmark, IL, and the United
States, 40
To the number of passengers carried
the ratio of railroad accidents is great
est in the United States, and other
countries thus follow in the order
named: Russia, Italy, Spain, France,
Germany, Belgium, England and
Switzerland.
The accidents attributable to con-
tact, in any form, with the electric
current, are most numerous in the
United States and public experience
in this regard is very similar to what
first followed the introduction of
steam as a power of traction. With
improvements, suggested by the prac-
tical operation of railroads and by
utilizing new agencies as safeguards,
the number of railroad accidents has
been substantially decreased of late
years, just as the present high rate of
accidents from overhead wires will,
probably few years hence, be much
less than it is now.
There is much variance between the
figures of executions officially supplied
by some governments and the actual
number of executions, some govern
ments adding the return of lynchings
and others giving only figures derived
from court martialships.
In the United states capital punish
ment is inflicted in nearly every state
under the authority of the sheriff of
the particular county in which the
crime, for which it is the penalty was
committed. There are four thousand
counties in the United States, and con-
sequently four thousand sheri ifs, ex-
elusive of the self-constituted mobs of
masked individuals who in certain dis
tricts of the south and west usurp,
from time to time, the sheriff's duties
and prerogatives.
The United States government ac-
quires jurisdiction in very few capital
cases, the number including crimes
committed in the District of Columbia
or any of the territories, on the high
seas in American vessels, in military
encampments, or among the Indians.
In several European countries cap
ital punishment has been explicitly re-
pealed by law, and the same is true of
three states in this country. No ac-
curate figures, therefore, can be given
on the subject of executions, except
such as are based upon the number of
murders, punishment for which is high
est in France and England and lowest
in Italy and the United States.
But the fact is not to be forgotten
that the proportion of foreign-born res
idents is greater in the United States
than in any European country, and
that the number of foreign born Grim
inals in the United States is abnormal
ly large, and tends unjustly to augment
in nearly every case the ratio of the
United States
If from the figures given an equation
could be established it would be found
that human life is held in highest es-
innate in France, followed by the east
ern part of the United States, England,
Germany. Holland, Ireland and Nor
way, in the order named.-N. Y. Sun.
Cruel.
ITO Rosamond and her admirer play
ing cribbage, enter Aunt Jane, who
does not approve of the young man,
Aunt Jane-Ah, Rosamond! playing
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