The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1900-08-18
COMPARATIVE MORTALITY,


tol Hill physician to a WasAangfou
Star reporter, recently consulted me
as to choice of occupation. He is a
young man, not in robust health, and
desired to embark in calling which
would insure him long lease of life.
Il advised him to become a clergy
man, because some recently compiled
figures by high medical authority,
on comparative mortality, show that
the men engaged in spiritual callings
live longer than other men, and, con.
sequently, must have an inferentially
easier time and a steadier life.
Taking clergy1nen as a standard
an incentages of comparative mortali-
ty, let us begin with the outdoor oc-
cupations which are popularity consid-
cred to be the healthiest. The young
man thought that preaching the Cos
pei would prove too confning and sed-
entary, and suggested driving a cab,
for, while cabmen may not get rich,
they certainly get plenty of fresh air.
"Of all the different occupations,
however, cab and omnibus driving is
among the hardest and deadliest. the
percentage of death as against the
clergymen being r67. Hucksters and
licensed venders are reputed to be
long-lived because of being almost
continually in the open air, but their
percentage is very high-338. It's
the exposure and hard life in all
weathers. The Cornish miners lot
is considered hard one, but he goes
the last-named calling seven numbers
to the good in 331. The builders,
mason's and brick1ayer's trades are
better, the percentage being but ia,
while the naughty plumber overtops
this figure by 9.
I'm the Northern States there are
many stone and slate quarries, and
the percentage of this class of workers
is 2o3. To every 100 clergymen who
die there are 100 coal miners in Penn
sylvania who succumb. Glass work.
ers are popularity supposed to die
quickly and often, and while the per-
centage in their calling is high-214
it is exceeded by earthenware work.
ers at 3I4, the latter being one of the
most deadly of the trades. New Jer-
sey furnishes the largest number of
this class. The fle-cutters trot a
close second in 900; cutters, 22o
painters and GLACIERS, 2I6; bookbind-
ers, 2Io; butchers, 2Ir; brewers,
$40 tailors, 1S9; storekeepers, gen
orally, I5S, and paper workers, I5o.
I'm the big factories in New Eng
land the operators in the cotton mills
go off at the rate of 1o6 as against 186
in the woolen mills. Cabinetmakers
and upholsterers weigh in evenly at
I72. machinists and. boilerinakers.
SnoemaKerS, 100; bakers, III fish,
ermen. I43; carpenters, I48; gro
GERS, I3o.
1T will surprise many people to
know that hotel or inn keeping is the
most deadly of the occupations, the
percentage being 3o6. Liquor deal
ers follow with 274. The reason for
this high mortality in these two call
ings is ascribed to the fact that those
therein drink more or less,
and in valuable compilations of this
nature the percentage always appears
against the class of subjects who are
known to be drinkers.
Next to clergymen, the lowest
percentage is held by gardeners, be-
ing 1903. Farming is considered the
healthiest of all occupations, but the
percentage is ia, with agricultural
Iaborers at I56. The legal profession
IS good one on the point 1 am dis
the percentage being COM
paratively low-I52. Drummers 90
at about double the pace of the clergy
men in III, while the percentage of
clerks in commercial pursuits is I7o.
We physicians work harder than our
legal brethern, as we die at the rate
Of 2o2. l don't think it would be
fair to class Government clerks with
them, however. No figures are COM
piled as to the percentage of mortali-
ty among Government clerks, but as
there is saying in Washington they
never die or resign, perhaps their per-
centage would be below that of clergy
men. Neither has the comparative
percentage of newspaper men yet been
computed.
"These figures prove that the sed-
entary occupations compare favora-
bly, with those Of the outdoor trades,
and it will be we'll for writers to bear
that in mind"