Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1903-08-26
OUR LTvEs GROWING LONGER.
Ars Lials q Americans Ertendlns
a. Spite 81 Presumably DAM
aging EEeeHaea


II is cheering to discover that the
age limit OF the population OF the
United States is rapidly extending.
According to the results reached by
computing the median instead Of the
average age, the increase of the age
Of the white population has amount
ed to "a years in the last 30 years.
This means, says the Detroit Free
Press, that fve-sixths of q year ia
gained each decade. In this same pc
Rod Of nine decades the colored pop
ulation has been able to prolong its
age with only half the success
achieved by the white population. The
median age in 1902 was 2S.4, in 1900
il was 22.s, and In 1890, 21.s years.
In accounting for this national adj
vance in longevity the census report
says:
"Many complex influences have CO.
operated in producing as q resultant
this steady change in the age compo-
Fition of the population. There may
be mentioned: The rapid progress Of
medical and sanitary science, which
has tended to increase the average
length Of life; the decrease in the
relative number of children born,
which has made the earlier age pc
Rod less preponderant numerically in
the total population, and the influx,
especially since 1910, of great num-
hers Of adult immigrants, increasing
the number in the older age periods.
The difference between the white and
colored population is doubtless due
&c the fact that the influences have
wrought more powerfully upon the
white race than upon the colored
raice."
1t is said that figures cannot lie,
and for that reason Americans have
great cause to rejoice ove the posi-
bility Of in time rivaling Methuselah.
So much is said and written WI
days concerning hygiene, pure food,
physical culture, water contamina-
tion and kindred subjects, that there
is now and then a feeling that this
excessive care in guarding the
health is not productive of material
results.
Science has done such wonders in
the nine decades from which the rec
ords Of the age ensus computations
are made that the conscientious man
Is often inclined to think he would
have no time for work or pleasure If
he lived up to all its requirements.
But Notwithstanding this good record
made recently by the people of the
United States, it is plain there is room
for much improvement. The Amer
ican constitution must be strong, in
6eed, to thrive under existing hab-
its of life, All the knowledge that has
been acquired and all the precautions
that have been taken can accomplish
comparatively little so long as bust
ness men Overwork and society wom-
en- everyday.
Americans have not learned how
TO rest, although the wealthy classes
are now making an attempt to enjoy
outdoor life. But even though the
eight-hour law governed all classes,
even though men and women in
every walk of life realized the adj
vantages of plenty of exercise, the
population would not be able to at
tain the extreme limit of longevity
unless the people learned something
about how and what to eat. There
Is no nation in the world so extrav-
agant in its food as ours. There ID
no people that INDUCES in such dys-
peptic dishes. 1t has been charged
that there is no one who can eat sc
rapidly as an American. If the en-
c%ouraging results announced by the
census bureau have been attained
under present conditions of living, 4
is astonishing to think what nigh.
happen if we lived up to our pos
Eibilities.