The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-07-17


class, sailors. Hotel and boarding house
Keepers take their own lives more often
than saloon keepers, bar tenders, billiard
and pool saloon keepers and restaurant
teurs, all comprising the entertainment
class. The great excess of suicides for
boarding house keepers indicates that
they as well as their boarders, have
troubles. Laborers, moreover, are found
to commit suicide more often than SER
wants. AS far as the women S occupations
are considered, the highest suicide rate is
found among servants, and the lowest
among teachers. ?,
INSURANCE companies will find the stat
istics relating to occupations and accl-
dental death Of particular interest and
value, and may employ them in their es-
Inmates of the expectation of life. Har-
ness and saddlemakers-a particularly
unfortunate class, it appears-are shown
to suffer the greatest per cent. OF deaths
from injuries from machinery. Engi-
neers and firemen, not employed on loco
dredths of the same rate, and hat and
cap makers are close third. In almost
all other occupations considered the death
rate from injuries by machinery is rela-
lively low. Strange to say, those of the
laboring and servant class have a higher
death rate from injuries inflicted by ma
chinery than the manufacturing and me-
chanical class
People appear to die oftener from burns
and scalds than from injuries caused by
machinery. Taking the individuals of all
classes, engineers and firemen (not loco
motive) have the highest death rate from
these causes, coopers ranking second, iron
and steel workers third, and laborers
fourth.
The relative dangers attending all oc-
equations can be best judged from aver
ages of death from all accidental causes.
OF all occupied males in the United
States, sailors run the greatest risk of &C.
cidental death, as might be expected.
Out of every POS sailors one was killed by
accident within year. Steam railroad
employees come next, being killed OFF at
the rate of about one in 240 per year.
Laborers come third, miners fourth, and
after these the averages drop almost to
nsigniticance, in comparison. OF all
employed Individuals, bankers, brokers
and officials of companies appear to enjoy
the greatest immunity from accidental
death, being killed at a rate of only about
twenty-nine per 100, 900, commercial tray
elers ranking next above them, and cabi-
net makers next. Other low averages fol-
lowing in order of least danger are for
plumbers gas and steam filters, teachers,
bakers and confectioners, cigar makers
and tobacco workers, merchants and
dealers, accountants and bookkeepers,
copyists. Considered in classes, the high
est death rate from accidental causes oc-
ours among laborers and servants, and
the lowest among the mercantile class.
Among the employed women, nurses and
midwives have the highest accidental death
rate, servants coming second and teachers
last.
The healthfulness of an occupation may
be judged by its rank in the list of aver
ages of deaths from all causes. In this
list are represented employed men in
the prime of life, between twenty five and
sixty five years of age. The greatest num-
Der of deaths in any community, of
course, occurs among infants, children
and aged persons, very few of which have
occupations. The laboring and servant
classes show the highest general death
rate, and following in order come person
al service, police and military, entertain
ment. professional, mercantile and ira
ding, clerical and official, and outdoor
occupations Outdoor occupations are
thus shown to be most productive of
health as well as happiness. The laborers
and servants, who have the highest rate,
represent the lowest classes, who are ILL
fed, ill-clad and ill-housed
The statistics further show that news
paper carriers have the slimmest chances
for long life of all occupied individuals
considered in detail, their death rate be-
Ing OVER UnTe0 UlIuSS Ull6 dF6IdSS, ClOCk
and watchmakers, jewellers and Opti-
clans, soldiers, sailors and marines of the
United States, sailors outside the navy,
laborers, hat and cap makers, boatmen
and canalmen, actors, cigar makers and
tobacco workers ranking next in order,
all high above the average.
Others above the average, in order, are
artificial flower and paper box makers,
gunsmiths, locksmiths and bell hangers,
wine and liquor dealers, servants, plas-
terers, whitewashers, launderers, bakers
and confectioners, apothecaries, pharma-
cists, drug and chemical dealers, butch
ers, journalists, BARRIERS and hairdress erS
and others
The most healthful occupation seems to
be that of brick and tile makers or terra
Gotta workers, and following this class,
bankers, brokers and off Gals of compa--
Mes Farmers, planters, overseers and
farm laborers are third from bottom as
to death rate between the ages specified,
quarTymen fourth, fishermen and OYSTER
men fifth, and paper mill operatives
sixth.
1t is an interesting fact that the highest
death rate among those considered in de-
tail in the professional class occurred
among physicians and surgeons. COun-
try doctors die off faster than city doc
tors. Although consumption is the most
frequent cause of death among occupied
persons as a whole, professional men are
carried off by diseases of the respiratory
system in greater numbers than by any
other cause. In the order of their num-
Der of victims among professional men,
diseases of the nervous system rank sec
ond, consumption third, and heart dis
ease fourth. The death rate from ner-.
vous diseases is much higher than the
average for all classes, which fact seems
to corroborate theorists who believe that
nervousness is usual accompaniment of
intellectually. The death rate from con-
sumption is lower than the average
among professional men. Clergymen die
mostly from diseases of the respiratory or
breathing organs, lawyers and doctors
from nervous diseases, and teachers from
consumption. The clerical and official
class die mostly from consumption, but
bankers, brokers and officials of companies
are most frequently carried off by respira-
tory diseases, such as pneumonia for in
stance. The death rate from dropsy and
diabetes is above the average for this
class. Respiratory diseases are the most
frequent causes of death also among the
mercantile and trading class, farmers,
miners, policemen, flour and grist mill
operatives. Consumption is the chief
cause of death among hucksters and ped
IL 81 L.