The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-07

From the Washington Herald
 This is a statistical age and no argu- ment or presentation of a cause is com plete without the figures for proof. We revel in figures and no man need be at a loss to find figures to support any fad or fancy, for added to the regular reports of the decennial census, we have special reports on many important subjects, the reports of the seIf-constituted efficiency experts. the newspaper almanacs, the statistics compiled by this. that and the other uplift society, and bargain-counter eyclopedias of figures. Statistics are val uable, but they are also variable, accord ing to the statisticians and their employ ment. Figures won't lie but there are false statistics
 A distinguished member of Congress re- gently delivered temperance address in which he applied the rules of exact sci ence" to every statement and quoted stat istics to show that more men are killed by Demon Rum in the United States every year than have been killed in all the wars of the world from the Mace donian wars, 300 years before the Chris tian era began. down to the present time. The victims of Demon Rum were. there- fore, 2,50O, GOO every year. These were the statistics presented under the rule of ex- act scientific investigation, and the audi ence, composed of intelligent men and women, accepted the statement in help less and hopeless horror over the rav- ages of the Demon Rum.
 The census statistics do not profess to T., .t,. are official and supposed to be as reliable as any figures that can be collected by | thousands of agents in every township, town and village in the United States, and compiled by adding machines which do not appear to make mistakes. The | mortality statistics gathered by the cen
 sus office for the year 1912. made the | deaths from all causes. In the registered
 area of the United States, s3S,2 ,25i. This ! egistered area included that in which
 two-thirds of the population is found, and
 if the same ratio held good for the other
 third, the total number of deaths from
 all causes were 1,257,3l5, or about one-halt
 the victims of Demon Rum. Then. there
 are mass of figures to show that more l than 200,O00 of these deaths were of chil-
 dren under five years old, and 142,G10 oi
 men and women who had passed the age I of 6; that more than 5000 were from 1 tuberculosis, 46, ,0oO from cancer, S6,0oo from heart disease, 5000 from accidents, and
 3l,ss3 from alcohol.
 l This does not, of course, fully disprovs the statistics of Captain Hobson, as tc | the ravages of Demon Rum, for by tho 1 exact science of his investigation, We dc
 not know but the demon dragged millions ] to Lis dungeon and devoured them with | out permitting the census taker to ever | count the bones.
 | The contrast between the statistics o | office shows our fascination for statistics and the ability of clever marshals of fig
 ures to build romances as delightful a | that of Jack, the Giant Killer, and as Ju | venile. Captain Hobson is not the onl.
 statstician who is deighting and horri flying intelligent people by hurliDs
 them battalions. divisions and whole arm
 corps 1f figures, and hynotizing then
 with the spectacle of goblins and giant
 devouring humanity.
 Dealing in statistics and manufacturiD
 them is a trade and the latest aid to TO
 nance. It touches every part of govern nient and every fad and fancy or the peo pie. Every efficiency expert and ever | preacher of reform, from the revision c : 1 church creeds to the reform of the law , of nature, has his especial set of statis
 tics, and they are all presented as the las word in exact science but made to f
 the demand.