Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-04-26
HIGH-PRESSURE AMERICAN.
In Spite of Incessant Activity He
Lives Longer Than His Fathers.

From American Medicine.
There is hardly week that we do not
see in some journal or newspaper an allu-
sion to the high pressure of American life
1t is taken for granted that the only pace
that kills is our own, that we are shorten
Ing our lives and bringing our early death
by the strain.
We have often been minded to deny the
allegation, but on second thought have not
| done so because of the great difficulty that
exists in getting at scientific dsproof. We
| are as little inclined another to justify
| feVerish commercialism, but we believe
| that these are unwise chiefly because Of
| other reasons than those pertaining to vital
statistics. The fallacy Of the scoffer at
| American high pressure lies doubtless in
| the fact that every one has the virtues Of
| his defects-i e.. that we have other quail
| ties which more than compensate in life
| lengthenng way. The insurance Statisti-
clan. Frederick L. Hoffman. makes a state
| ment which, If true in ali its details, should
! be laid before the echoers of the old charge
against the fast-living American.
1T is then matter of great Importance
| to note that there has been a material in
crease in the number of those who survive
to the age of thirty, forty and fifty in the
United States, and the number will prob
| ably continue to grow as the conditions of
| city life are improved.
expected to survive at the age of fifty
| 5,215 persons out of every 10000 born
against 4,409 survivors out of the same
number in 1856. At the age of eighty the
| number of survivors is 1.266 at present,
| against 1853 half century ago. There
| fore, most valuable lives-valuable because
| of enhanced intelligence and comprehen-
sion-have been saved to the state because
| of the sanitary and other social progress
made during the last fifty years. This
| country is more healthy, with the exception
| of Norway and Sweden, than any part of
| Europe. and the effect of the intense strug-
| gle for success on the part of business
men and women is more than balanced by
our higher standards of living, which tend
| to make our people continue along the
| path of improvement. While it is imposs-
| BILE to arrive at final conclusions on the
| basis of our Industrial ordinary eXpe-
rience, because of the careful medical Sc
lection exercised in insurance practice the
| facts established by other investigations in
dictate that the adult foreign born citizen is
| subject to lower mortality in the United
| States than in his own country, and it may
| be safely assumed that any inherited ten
| dency to early decay will be more than bal
anced by the healthier conditions of life in
our country. A comparative mortality table
shows that close behind Norway, and ahead
of Great Britain, France, Germany and
ahead Of other states in our country, New
| Jersey has the lowest death rate. The
chance of attaining the age of 100 in Massa-
! chusetts is today ten times what it was
| half century ago.
| Certainly the facts are abundant tend
ing to prove that old age is being attained
| by men and women in this country with an
increasing degree of frequency, and, what
is better, to quote the words of an author
ity, 1t Is certain that our American men
at sixty are not broken up as badly as our
fathers were at forty"