The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-02-03
MUSTER ROLL OF THE MEN WHO SWEAR.

MUSTER ROLL OF THE MEN WHO SWEAR
"Just look at this p exclaimed
the man who bas a weakness for sta.
tistics, pushing to one side big vol
ume of census reports, bulletin from
the Bureau of Education and pile
of copies of a religious publication.
In this country are 2I ,o53, I7o male
persons who swear" /"
How did you figure that out 7"
asked the patient listener.
'It's easy enough" replied the
man of many figures. "All you need
is to be able to read, add, subtract,
divide and multiply.
According to table in this vol
ume, the male population of h e
United States in 1900 was SO, 1885, :
242. From the same source I learn
|;that there are 5I,32o,8I men of vot
Eing age. At leat four-sevenths of
,these / believe from careful observa,
Etion are addicted to the use of pro-
fame language upon occasion. In
other woHds, II, I88. .468 men of 2I or
Older swear, at least occasionally.
"Deducting the number of males
Of voting age from the total male
population, we have left I7,729,423
boys. Very nearly so per cent. of
the schoolboys and fully 100 per cent.
of The Office boys-the whole number
conservatively estimated at 1884,
7II-cuss. Add this figure to that
representing the men who are profane
and We have the grand total I quoted
in the beginning.
IT didn't gather these figures in
any haphazard fashion," he contin-
ued, II travel extensively and OBJ
serve closely, In the last two years
particularly, l have made special
study of men who swear, their envi-
ronment, their habits of life, their gen.
eral character.
I met them on railway trains, in
street cars, in hotel corridors, at
lodge meetings, at public dinners.
In the main, the men / have heard
swear may be regarded as represen-
tative American citizens, men who
have a fair amount of education, who
keep their families we'll and dress
neatly.
"Only tonight as ate my dinner
overheard rather fashionably at
tired man who sat near me say to the
waiter as he gave his order: Rush
that now. I'm in hell of hurry
That was easy.
"On1y few hours before had
heard the boss of street gang cuss
his men and one of the men cussed
back as artistically, if a little broken
ly. That proved to me that swearing
is cosmopolitan habit.
"A couple of days ago I was on a
Broadway surface car, which was
blocked by big truck near Twenty
fourth street. Four men who sat
near me and evidently were in hur-
ry swore in whispers. There were
six other men close to me and four
of them spoke with an emphasis that
excited my suspicion, though not
loud enough for me to detect the
words they used.
''I saw the motorman's lips move,
and l could tell by the way he shook
his fist at the truck driver that his
language wasn't elegant. Finally,
when the car started forward with a
Jump and we passed the vehicle which
had caused the delay, / heard the
driver utter an oath.
Every truckman swears. The
train newsboy swears, no matter
whether he is dilating on the alleged
fine points of his oranges or is admin
istering deserved calldown to the
cheap guy who reads "The James
Bows in Missouri half through and
then returns it unbought,
"The average drummer has taken
the thirty-third degree when it comes
to the artistic use of the word damn.
I sat in the smoking compartment oi
a parlor car coming from Albany the
other day and there were four of them
there. They took turns telling stories,
and the stories which contained the
most profane expressions always got
the biggest hand.
''In the company was quiet in
dividual whose solemn dress suggest
ed that he might be minister. All
of the drummers got off at the same
station, and then l said to the silent
person:
"This swearing habit-it's regret
table, don't you think?'
"It's damnable, he replied.
"And did you ever notice how
quickly foreigners who come to this
country master our vocabulary of cuss
words? They learn profane express
sions before they master any others.
l know Swede who speaks just four
words in our language. They are
'yes,' mo- hell, and damn" Z"
The statistician paused for breath.
"It's deplorable," ventured bis
listener. "And the women-how
about theml"
"God bless 'em. 1 hoped you
would't bring them into this game, "
came the reply.
eyes, I've heard ofthe good d-fellow
girl, but haven't had the nerve to
figure on her as a wielder of cuss
words, and don't know that / evel
will. ~. Y. Sun.
Observation-Disclosures, Mr..