The Red Cloud chief., 1902-07-11
FEVERISH ACTIVITY,
The Average American 10 Always
Under High Pressure.
Not ,vitbstanding which II IL shown
by Insurance Statistics Thot
Men Are Living Lonser
Than Their Fathers Dfd.

There is harry a week that we do not
see IN some journal or newspaper nm al
fusion to the high pressure ~ american
life. 1t is taken for granted that the
only pace that kills is our own. and We
are shortening our lives and bringing
on early death by the strain, says Amer.
lean Medicine. In recent number
of the Nineteenth Century aud After
for instance, a writer, plainly one of
those self-destroying Americans,
writes as follows:
THE average American In every
branch Of business wears out his phys.
ical powers before his time; and only
too often under the self-impossd strain,
his mental power break down also:
but the high pressure 81 which he
works in the maturity OF his strength,
intellectual and physical. however bad
for himself In the end, 10 very good for
the community in which he lives.
Thousands and tens OF thousands fall
in their tracks, like soldiers In the
Are and smoke Of battle, victims Of their
own overstimulated energies; out their
places are promptly taken by younger
men, animated by the same indefatiga-
BILE and unfalterinx spirit. The com
munity is practically made up OF men
working At a white heat. and its prog
ress is fastened by the very fact that
this heat is so consuming that before ii
dies out in the average individual it in
jures IL il does not destroy him"
We have often been minded to deny
the allegation, but upon second thought
have not done SO. because 81 the great
difficulty hat exists in getting At sci
entific diSproof. 1t is n huge task to
collatc and analyze the statistics neces.
sary to make the correction Of the erro
anything more than an error itself
mere assertion without basic fact. We
are as little inclined as another to jus.
tify the overstrain and feverish com.
mercialism, but We believe that these
are unwise, chiefly because OF other
reasons than those pertaining to vital
statistics. The fallacy 81 the scoffer
at American high pressure lies doubt.
less in the fact that everyone has the
virtues of his defects. i. e.. that We have
other qualities which more than com
pensate in "A life-lengthening way for
the waste or shortening of our strain
The insurance statistician. Frederick
l.. Hoffman, makes a statement which
il true in all its details, should be laid
before the echoers OF the old charge
against the fast-living American.
ut is a matter OF great Importance
10 note that there has been a materia'
increase in the number of those who
survive At the ages Of 30, 20 and 50 In
the United States. and the number will
probably continue to grow, as the con.
ditions of city life are improved.
AT present in Massachusetts there
are expected TO survive az the age o,
so. 5.?75 persons out OF every 1000
born. against 400 survivors out Of the
same number in 1883. At the age OF 81
the number OF survivors is l,266 a,
present, against 1859 half a century
ago Therefore most valuable lives
valuable because of enhanced intelli
gence and comprehension, have beer
saved Ia the state because 81 the san
itlry and other socia! progress mad,
during the last so years. This countr,
is more haalthy. with the exception al
Norway and Sweden. than any part o
Europe. and the effect Of the intens,
struggle for success on the part OF oul
business men and women il more thar
balanced by our higher standards O
living, which tend TO make our peopl,
continue along the line OF Improve
ment. While II is impossible 10 ar CIV,
at final oo~Gsoa0sions on the basis u ou'
industrial or ordinary experience, bs
cause Il the careful medical sskctioI
exercised 10 insurance practice, tn,
facts established by Ah~r in~estiga
tions indicate that the 0dult koreign
born citizsN 10 subject to q lower mon
tahty in the United StAtes than IN hi
own country. and it may bs safely o
sumsOi that any inherited tendency !
early decay viii he more than tnlaDce,
by the healthier conditions Of Me i
our country, comparative mortalit
table shows that close behind Norway
and ahead Of Great Britain. France
Germany and ahead Of other states a
our country, New Jersey has the low
~estdsath rate. The chance of attainin
the age of 100 in Massachusetts is to
day ten times what il was half a Ger
fury ago
"~Ccrtaiuly the facts are abuudan
tending to prove that old z is hcin
attained by men and ONE in thi
country with an increasing degree q
frequency, and, what is better, to quot
an authority: 1t is certain that ou
American men at 60 are not broken u
rs badly as our fathers were at 4O.'
First-Atd Lighthouse.
In nnllalnI ,aa In a.nn Da-A 4. A Il