The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1903-07-02
THE AVERAGE AMERICAN.
Data Concerning Age, Occupa-
ton, Aspirations, Etc.

These many years newspapers, ora
tors, political economists, party man
ayers, pulpiteers and others have been
pointing arguments at 1.-The average
man" and the average American"
We have been informed by the know
ing ones how the average man and
American" would view divers questions
and what he would do under any given
set of circumstances, says the San
Francisco Bulletin. The average man
is a national parsonage in the coun-
try. He is supposed to be typical of
the whole American nation. This gov
eminent is conducted for what our
more or less wise rulers deem to be the
benefit of the average man. The
greatest good of the greatest number
Is held to be the greatest good of the
average man.
But this government of the average
man, by the average man, for the av-
erage man, has been embarrassed
mite type or model of the average man.
We have our standards of weight and
measure preserved in glass cases at
Washington to- prevent the pound
from losing or gaining weight and
the foot from losing or gaining length,
but we have no average man in a
glass case by comparison with whom
we may determine our irrespective places
in relation to the average and whose
opinions we may consult as those of
the people.
One looks in vain through the alb
stract of the twelfth census, lately
published by the government, for an
official determination, description and
analysis of the average man. 1t is
astonishing that the census bureau
has neglected to deduce from its mass
of statistics the figure, personality and
condition of the average man. That task
has been left to private enterprise and
is here given for what it is worth.
The average man in this country is
first of all a male, for the males are
Sill per cent. and the females 4S.9 per
cent. of the population. The blood in
his veins is $40 per cent. white, 11.6
per cent. negro, 0.3 Indian and o.
Mongolian. This blood is AT per cent.
foreign, and the foreign blood, out of
a total of 1924 parts, is 2.66 parts Ger
man, 1.61 parts Irish, rs parts Can
adam, 81 parts Swedish and 4.72 parts
of all other nationalities Although
the average man has so strong a strain
of mixed blood in his veins, both his
parents were born in this country.
This is determined by the fact that
both parents of 65.8 per cent. of the
native population were also natives.
To fix the age of the average man
was work of some difficulty and intri-
cate calculation. He is, however, about
40 years old, if we take into account
the entire population, male and fe-
. male, infants and adults, but if we
take the average of only the native
white adult males, of which class we
know the average man to be, he is AS
years old. 1t seems preferable, how
ever, to base our calculation on the
most general average.
sex the average man must be a voter.
The census shows also that he is able
to read and write. He is married, for
sos per cent. of the native white
males, 40 years of age, both of whose
parents were born in this country, are
married. He is engaged in agriculture,
for the agricultural class is the most
numerous, being 35.7 per cent. of the
male population and the most widely
scattered. Moreover, he is not mere
laborer, but is an Independent farm
er, planter or overseer, for that sub
class is the largest division of the
agricultural class.
Since he is a farmer, the average
man owns his home free of incum-
brances. Only the class of farm fam
lilies, however, has a majority that
own their homes. The majority of
other families live in hired houses
The average man may live anywhere
in the land except in the towns. His
farm contains 1862 acres, of which so 6
per cent is unimproved. 1t yields him
Aiohi %'oo " Pi'oOo " year III prouuce
not fed to live stock. His principal in
come is from hay and grain.
This is as close an account of the
average man as rough and ready COM
putation can dig out of the abstract.
Henceforth, editors, preachers. politi-
clans and other exhorters of "the av-
erage man" may know the sort of per-
sons of whom and to whom they dis
course.