The Cook County herald., 1902-04-05
FEVERISH ACTIVITY.
The Average American b Always
Under High Pressure.
N01vv11Ao1anAAa9 Which II IL SHOWN
BY InSu1AA0o SAAt10t1os That
Mem A1s Living Longer
Than ThoiT 1atheps D1A


lusion to the high pressure of 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
ican Medicine. In recent number
of the Nineteenth Century and 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
loo otter under the self-imposed strain,
his mental powers break down also;
but the high pressure at which he
works in the maturity of his strength.
intellectual and physical, however bad
for himself in the end, is 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; but their
places are promptly taken by younger
men, animated by the same indefatiga-
bic and unfaltering spirit. The COM
munity is practically made up of men
working at white heat, and it's prog
ress is hastened by the very fact that
this heat is so consuming that before it.
dies out in the average individual it in
jures il it does not destroy him."
We have often been minded to deny
;he allegation, but upon second thought
have not done so. because OF the great
difficulty that exists in getting at sci
entific disproof. It is huge task to
collate and analyze the statistics neces-
sary to make the correction of the error
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 CON-
mercialism, 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 doubt
less in the fact that everyone hos the
virtues of his defects, i. e., that we have
other qualities which more than COM
pensate in life-lengthening way for
the waste or shortening of our strain.
The insurance statistician, Frederick
Il. Hoffman. makes a statement which.
If true in oil its details, should be laid
before the echoers OF the old charge
against the fast-living American.
1T is matter of great Importance
to note that there has been a Material
1ncreasessin the number of those who
survive at the ages OF 30, 40 and 50 in
the United States, and the number will
probably continue to grow, az the con-
ditions of city life are improved.
AT present in Massachusetts there
are expected to survive at the AGE of
49, 3,175 persons out of every 10000
born, against 4, 400 survivors out OF tho
some number in 1855. At the age of 80
the number OF survivors IL 1896 at
present, against 1859 half q century
ego. Therefore most valuable lives.
valuable because Of enhanced intelli-
gence and1comprehension. have been
saved TO TIE state because OF the sap-
'tary and other social progress made
curing the last so years. This country
10 more healthy. with the exception of
Norway and Sweden, than any part of
Europe, and the effect of the intense
struggle for success on the part of our
business men and women is more than
balanced by our higher standards of
living, which tend to make our people
continue along the line Of improve.
ment. While 1t is impossible to arrive
at final conclusions on the ba sis of our
industrial or ordinary experience, be-
cause OF the careful medical selection
exercised in insurarce practice, the
facts established by other investipa-
t'ons indicate that the adult foreien-
born citizen is subject to lower NOR
tahty in the United States than in his
own country. and it may be safely a.
sumed that any inherited tende ncv to
early decay will be more than balanced
by the healthier conditions of life in
our country. A comparative mortality
table shows that close behind Norvav.
and ahead OF Great Britain, France
Germany and ahead Of other states Of
our country, New Jersey has the low
estdeath rate. The chance Of attaining
the age of 100 in Massachusetts is to,
day ten times what it was half a cen
tury ago.: = ''''::" :: -.