Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-09-21
Statistical ODDS and .Eads,

The United States government has
just issued; wonderful atlas which Is
the delight OF those who reyel In
figures and statistics. All sorts o.
curious things about our country anc
our people can be extracted from .ts
pages. In these columns a few days
ago we gave official Agures from this
book which overturned a popular no
ton, and showed that the males OF tht
country far outnumbered the females
From the same department OF the boob
it is learned that the women of oul
country do not bring forth as many
children as they formerly did. In 1851
the average American family num-
bered five and one-haif persons. 1t Is
now a little more than four and one
half, in the Southern states the families
are the largest. while i'm the New Eng
land states they are the smallest. The
difference is strongly marked. Louisi-
ana has double as many children under
five years of age as Maine, in proper
ton to population.
Thirteen out of every 10000 people ia
the United States are in prison. and II
out OF the same number are insane.
The sexes show an equal per cent of
insanity, but females form q small
proportion of the prison population.
Nineteen out of every 10000 white per-
sons are deranged. while only nine out
of 10000 colored people are SO afflicted.
OF our native whites IA out of every
10000 are crazy. while among the for
eigners the proportion is 80. No at
tempt is made to show the causes
which make SO many foreigners go
madl The tendency to insanity is
greatest among the Irish, and least
among the British and Germans.
Fifteen out of every 10000 people are
idiots. and heAe again the colored
people show a less per cent. The ten
dency toward idiocy appears to be
greatest among those of Hungarian
stock and least among those of Italian
origin. Seven out of every 10000 peo-
pie are deaf and dumb and eight ont
of every 10000 are blind. In idioey.
deafness ard blindness the sexes are
divided in this proportion: Maaes,- IS
per cent; females, As per cent.
Consumption kills II per cent of the
people of the United States, sooner or
later, and the greatest mortality from
it is on the Pacific coast and in the
upper portion of the EASTERN Missis-
sippi valley. Pneumonia is the COM
plant next most fatal, carrying off
nine per cent. of the population, and
its most fatal fields are in the Rocky
Mountain region and in eastern Texas
Diarrheal diseases carry off S.5 per
cent; dllphtheria and Group, per cent,
enteric fever, per cent: cancer and
tumors, "a per cent: malarial fever,
90 per cent; childbirth, 1.3 per cent. !;
measles, IL per cent; whooping cough,
per cent, and scarlet fever, three
fourths of l per cent.
"Diphthera, says the chapter on
disease, sis worst in the Rocky noun
tain region, on the plains and prairies
and near the Great Lakes. Cancer and
n 10 4,
of population, their victims being more
numerous proportionately in New Eng
land and the northern part of the Mis-
sissippi valley than elsewhere. Ma
larial fever is most destructive in
eastern Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas,
southeastern Missouri and the cotton
belt. Measles RACES most persdstently
in the Southern mountain regions, and
whooping cough is particularly fatal in
the Southern Appalachians. The dan
ger from scarlet fever is greatest
among the Rocky mountains and in the
plains region. Heart disease and
dropsy kill most people in the upland
country OF New England and on the
South Atlantic coast
From the causes which lead to death
it is natural to turn to the statistics OF
those who have prepared for death
But 81 per cent. of the Americana people
are church-goe1s, and of these one
third are Roman Catholics. One in five
is a Methodist, one in six q Baptist
one in 16 Presbyterian, one in II q
Lutheran, one in 80 a Congregational.
list, and one in 80 an Episcopalian
New Mexico is the most pious section
Of the Union, with 6S per cent of its
population church communicates
mostly Catholics. Utah has g.. pc,
cent, mostly Mormons. and RHODE
Island, Massa chusetts and Connecticut
are tie with 40 per cent. Vermont
has So per cent, New Hampshire. q
per cent. and Maine less than 25 pei
cent. The far Western states show
less than 10 per cent.
In gathered wealth New York stand.
first with $S.5O0,O0O ,OO0 This is NOR,
than The whole nation in 1850. Til,
states then, come in this order: Penn