The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1907-08-23
INSANITY EVER
ON THE INCREASE
Five Million Paupers and De-
pendent Afflicted Crooks
of Various Kinds, Not In
GLIDING Political Grafters,
Cost Us 100000, 900
Annually.

Washington.-When Prof. Charles
J. Bushnell, Phi D., of this city, made
his recent statement that the Ameri
can public was on the verge of bank
ruptcy because it expended $6,000000,-
900 year on the criminal, pauper and
vicious classes, while the annual in
crease of wealth aggregated only
$4,000, 100000, he called down upon
his head a storm of adverse criti-
cism. But Prof. Bushnell is not to be
frightened from his line of attack on
what he calls the social ills of the
country through adverse criticism, and
he reiterates the accuracy of his fig
ures and the logic of his conclusions.
1T was to be expected" he said,
chat some of my statements would
arouse incredulity in the minds Of
those who do not realize the public
ignorance and widespread unfortunate
concealment of facts vital to the well
fare and happiness of the whole peo-
pie Any honest, faithful study Of the
authorities and sources to which l re-
fer will convince the most skeptical
that my statements are surely in the
main sound and even conservative"
Lose More Than We Gain.
Dr. Bushnell submitted a set Of
tables upon which his arguments are
based These are the figures, he says,
which show positively that the nation
is drifting into bankruptcy:
If said DIR. Bushnell, I'VE COM
pare Table B with Table A it appears
that as nation we are losing more
wealth every year through distress
ing conditions of social disorder than
we are annually saving. This is the
main conspicuous fact of the situation.
By unscientifically disjoined and bel
ligerent methods of business and at
tendant vicious social habits we are
producing as a nation less than half
of what we ought now to be producing
with our present methods Of scientific
technology. Surely this is too great
price to pay for our Wanted COM
mercial supremacy.
Poverty on the Increase.
Ten millions of our people, one
eighth of the population, are now con-
stantly in such poverty that they are
unable to maintain themselves in
physical efficiency; and 100000 OF
them are public paupers. In 1899, one
of our prosperous years, Is per cent,
or nearly one-fifth of all the people
of New York state, had to apply for
charitable relief in 1908 IA per cent.
of all the families of Manhattan were
evicted, and every year about ten per
cent. of all who die there have pauper
burials. The average wage of I'M
skilled workmen throughout the coun-
try is less than the scientific minimum
necessary for maintaining the average
workingman's family in physical eff
ficiency.
1.-THE last three United States cen
suses, also, show that the insane in
this country have increased faster
than the population. We now have in
the United States in continuous char
table care probably 100000 abnor-
NAL dependents, including paupers, in
sane, blind, deaf and dumb INDECENT
and discouraged-rep a dead
loss to the nation every year equal to
the total wealth we have invested in
all the colleges. universities and tech
biological schools of the whole country.
If we could abolish this one item of
abnormal expense we could double
the facilities of all our institutions of
higher education every year, and do it
with no extra effort at ALL
Industrial Accidents.
zone large source of this abnormal
dependence is our vast aggregate OF
unnecessary industrial accidents. Few
people begin to realize our annual ma
tional loss from this source. At con-
servative figure 100000 workers in
the United States every year are killed
or injured in industry by accidents, of
which three-quarters are proven by
European experience to be wholly I'M
necessary. and which cost the nation
annually in lost earning capacity and
damage suits at the lowest estimate
an amount equal to the whole wage
income Of all the mine workers or all
the farm laborers of the entire coun-
try. Josiah Strong says the least pos
sible estimate Of our annual industrial
casualties is about $4,000.
Taking the fact at this lowest fig
ure 1t appears that in our present in
dustrial warfare we are killing and
injuring more people every year than
ali tie average annual casualties Of
our civil gar, our Philippine war and
The RussiarJapanese war combined
Thlnk Of o. carrying on three such