The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-05-01


as fast from govt. three and half times
as fast from, diabetes, three and three
quarters times as fast from diseases or the
iiver, ana more than twice as fast from
phthEs rheumatic fever and suicide- :"
There is food TOR reflection. / take IL, in
these figures
Sfersymen live L0ngest.
A, the lower end Of the tabs of phihisss
the favorable end are found c.ergymen.
who seem 10 get par, Of their reward for
right living in the fo-mNpf fortified health.
Not only in phthisis. but in pneumonia
and other diseases Of the respiratory or
munity shared by no other class.
Next TO clergymen in power OF
resisting these diseases come farm
ers and sc1loolmasters Physicians
are better fottiffed than ether men against
diseases Of The lungs ard in this they
resemble coal miners, railroad men and
hosiery manufacturers. On the o,her hand
phthis.s and Pneumonia work nearly twice
Their average havoc among general labor
ers IN the industrial districts and among
tin miners and copper miners. the sts-
ceptfbility OF copper miners here being the
more remarkable that they have the best
pace in sevsra. other lists notably those
OF influenza. diabetes. alcoholism and dis
eases or the nervous system. To be a cop
per miner, then. is to have an exceIlen.
chance OF long life. unless something
goes wrong with the lungs And perhaps
this also may be fairly deducted, that for
one born with tendency to lung trouble.
the choice of occupations should lie be-
tween preaching. tilling the soil. manufac.
turing hosiery and coai mining.
Looking over other lists l find that
chimney sweeps have nearly four times
the tendency OF ordinary men to contract
cancer, that general laoorers are the most
fortunate In escaping govt: lead workers
and hie makers die about three times fast
CT imam the ordinary citizen from Bright's
1isease. which Is almost never contracted
oy taiiow soap manufacturers there we
have the mystery OF soap making again.
mat ccal miners and lace makers show
only half the general Liability 10 liver DIS
ease that seven ordinary men die from
accidents for every schoolnaster who so
dies: that paper manufacturers are prac-
sicaily free from rheumatic fever. although
oookbinders suffer from 1t cruelty: tina,
coal neavers. porters and metal workers
seldom die from diabetes, although that
disease carries or three times as MANY
glass manufacturers and four times as
many lawyers as the average calls for.
Ihsse facts and hundreds Ike them come
iorin sereneiy from the figures and sta
1assIcs. let who will account for them.
lne hangers Of Special CalliMgs.
Some conclusions drawn by the stats
tician as 10 the diseases which threaten
most in this or that occupation are worthy
or attention. The clergy" he says, sex
perience more than double the average
mortality from diabetes. and one and one
half times the average from rheumatic
fever 1t is true, however. tina, ..in no
other occupation in The list IS ne NOR
tally figure OF the whole body of men
employed so low as in that of clergymen''
But the gardeners and farmers come close
after them.
Of the legal profession he SAYS: Law
yers suffer exceptionally from influenza.
cancer. nervous diseases diseases of the
liver Bright's disease and diabetes: their
mortality from the malady last named
being four times the average" On the 9TH
er hand lawyers suffer less severely than
do occupied males IN the aggregate from
phthis.s. heart diseases and lung diseases"
OF the medical profession he says: "-rhe
records Of 1S9O-S2 confirm these OF ls73-se
as to the comparative immunity enjoyed
by medical men from phthisis, respirator,
diseases and accident. Their specia! LA.
b-iiiy is TO death by govt, diabetes uri-
nary diseases and suicide . The
tendency TO the commission of suicide has
notably increased among medical men
since the earlier period" There surely is
sonnet thing for the sociologst 10 ponder
Next We find that the mortality figiir.
OF school teachers is oue-third less than
the average for other occupations ..At
ages under 81 II Is below even that of
Cas- rgymen but at ages from 30 to So years
school teachers die more rapidly than do
the clergy. In common with other pro-
fessional men schoolmasters and teachers
suffer much more severely from diseases
of the heart than they do from diseases Of
the respiratory system; but, whereas
among other professions 1t is heart dis
ease which Is numerically the most preva-
lent cause OF death, among schoolmasters
phth.s.s is rather more fatal than heart
disease"
OF artists engravers, architects. ETC.
he says: THE comparative mortality IN
this group is considerably lower than the
average, although they suffer more Sc
vereiy than the average from diseases OF
the liver. They die more than twice as
fast as do occupied males lin the aggre-
gste) from diabetes, but more slowly from
phthisis and also more slowly from dis
eases OF the c.rcuiatory and respiratory
systems"
The Victims of Alcoholism.
Our friend. the statisticfan, has a poor
idea OF musicians. whom he finds sadly
addicted TO intenperance" They die more
than twice as rapidly as ordinary men
from alcoholism, nearly twice as rapidly
from phthisis. and very much more rapidly
from nervous diseases. liver diseases and
suicide
Commercial travellers show high NOR
tally, considering the large amoun, of
time they spend in the open air. Alcohol
ism and liver diseases are the chief GAUSS
OF this heightened death rate. which in
creases as they pass middle Efe. Com
mercial travellers die from diabetes almost
as fas, again as the average, and from
cancer faster than the average by AZ per
cent: they also suffer exceptionally from
Bright's disease Their mortality from
phthisis and from diseases OF the respira-
tory system is. however. below the aver
age"
So The record goes on over many pages
with considerations in detail of not less
than 100 different occupations. or those
engaged In agriculture Ii may be said that
their death rate Is far below the othe-a
To al, diseases save one-infuenza-~they
show less liability than ordinary men
And there is no foundation in statistics for
the thsory that there Ia an excess Of sui
eide among dwe,ters on farms On the
contrary, figures show % per cent fewer
suicides for the whole agricultural class
than the average would call for
ha aH