The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-10-04

TENS may gradually be introduced
through the public schools as they are
absolutely necessary II men and women
are 10 be developed along scientific lines.
For practical purposes, however, only
existing official figures can now be used
for estimating T., such as the death
rate and statistics on illiteracy manu-
featuring, horse power, ship tonnage.
bushels raised per acre. miles OF rail-
road new building, &c, per thousand
acres Of land. Enough figures already
exist to provide valuable data, and
many more could readily be collected II
census returns We're compiled along
standard lines.
theoretical method of estimating +
at present Is TO combine the official sta
tistics OF nations on neurology. illiteracy
and wages.
Every nation has its official death
rate per thousand, the remaining number
being the survival rate per thousand,
which could be used as one OF the three
factors. Certainly this is an available
official figure for showing the health of
the nation, and for comparing its hy-
genic conditions with those of other
nations.
Every nation should have proper sta
/ llStlCS on l.lltTd'y anu uttenllpuS, IN
Guiding inmates OF prisons, jails, work
houses, insane asylums, &c. Here again
the remaining number per thousand
would be an official Government figure.
and very good index of the character
of the nation. OF course this would not
be a perfect index, but 1t would be off,
cial and good for comparative purposes.
Moreover the more It Is considered the
Q will ha CnnVpHnl nf 20 Inc
as n barometer.
The third barometer which can at
once be used in determining +, might be
based on the weekly average wages paid
TO the workers OF n nation. For compar-
alive purposes, however this wage
should perhaps he figured in the terms
OF commodities rather than in terms OF
money Whether OF not the people oi
a nation should be paid less because
they are willing TO live on less IL open
10 argument. on the other hand the fig
ures OF a nation IN which the wages oi
the workers are bolstered up by a high
tariff should be corrected for compare
} tive purposes IN accordance with tho
prices of commodities in that country
II is believed by many that the money
paid out 10 workers would be a SUN
cient barometer of the nations pros
perlty.
Personally I should like TO add an
} other which would measure the con
structive Improvement and materia
development of the nation more direct
". For instance, ] can well imagine
/ the workers of two different nations re
ceivinE the same pay, while the peopl
, of one nation wasted the money ant
: those Of tho other economical and use'
, ton of permanent improvements. A
every nation now assesses property 10
the purpose of taxation, and should b
g interested in doing everything possibl
= to perfect these assessment figures,
= should he n simple matter To obtain sta
tistlcs thereon which would be valu
| able FOR comparative purposes.
@ This would give us four factors 4
l determining Coefiicient to use for /
= For example assume that given ma
h ton has death rate OF twenty pc
!, thousand, an illiteracy and detention
= rate of eighty per thousand, its worker
4 receive In weekly wages an equivalen
n of 500 pounds in standard commodities
s and the annual increase in assesse
y valuation shows that about one hundre
8 dollars of every thousand earned
q saved. tunder such latter cond
4 tons the increase in assessed valu
i alton would he 10 per cent. of tn
e total annual charges, or some oths
d figure used to indicate the total volum