The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-11-12
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World

that they are doing is not buried with
, them. knowledge may be transferred
indefinitely from party to party; yet
no party loses, though all may gain.
But all grant that we are advancing
from the standpoint of mentality. The
critics point to the physical man of to-
day and make the claim that he does
not equal the physical man of the past
''One of the best indications of the
strength of a race. all things consid-
cred, is the longevity of its peoples
Recently there have been exhumed
from the ruins of Pompeii a number OF
actuaries' tables. In these the ancient
Italian Insurance agents had worked
out carefully the expectatio of life for
the people with whom they did bust
ness. When the Italian actuaries ia
bles were compared with the actuaries'
tables of the insurance companies now
doing business in the United States. a
remarkable condition was found to OBJ
tain at present. 1t was discovered that
the expectation of life of the American
citizen exceeds by eleven years the ex-
pectation of the ancient Italian.
We Americans Are Long Lived.
I'm this connection it will be of in
terest to many TO know that the aver
age expectation of life in the United,
age expectation of life in England. The
estimates for England exceed. in turn.
the estimates for France, Germany and
Italy and the rest of Europe. taken as
whole, by about two years.
Another Important factor which
must be considered with the question
of the improvement of mankind is that
of stature. 1t is a fact that the aver
age American of today is a taller man
than the average founder of this coun-
try. The average Englishman of to-
day is unable to encase himself in the
armor which his forebears wore on
either side at the battle of Hastings.
By way of comparison it may be re-
marked that the American is an inch
taller than the Englishman. while the
Englishman in turn is an inch taller
than the average Continental"
How does the average white man
compare with the savage in point of
strength was asked.
White Men and Savages.
81 presume that you have in mind the
Indian and his traditional superiority
in point of strength and endurance?'
was the answer. Now, l have lived a
long time among the Indians. If
know anybody fancy that il is the red
man, and I can state positively that the
white man is his superior in every way.
In the first place, the white man has
more of that quality known as bottom.
The white man can lift more run fur
Their and faster. he can work more, can
see more and in the course of time and
practice can beat the Indian at any of
his own games. No, on the face of
the globe the white man has no equal.
Then there is, the question: of ath-
letic records. Never year rolls round
that nun1berless new records are not
established. As a rule the record of
last year is equaled or excelled this
year. We cannot look back to any old
records. They all fall far within those
of the present day. Did not the ath-
letes of the new world in competition
against the Greeks at the Olympian
games at Athens break all of the
records of antiquity?
II remember that when l was boy
an athletic feat of the day caused the
greatest excitement. Some champion
walker accomplished the task of walk
ing 1000 miles in 1000 consecutive
hours. At the time this was the talk
of the country. How many men do
you think there are in this country to-
day who could accomplish this feat?
/ will venture to place the figure be-
tween 10000 and 100, 600.
when Herbert Spencer came to this
country some years since he made the
observation that the American people
stated that he believed that they would
the resultant nervous strain be from