Evening star., 1925-12-06

IT X. AVERAGE AMERICAN,
III much quoted and abused in
w dividual the focus and end
of columns of statistics and
the mysterious person SO
often used as a measure of compari-
son on the manifold problems affect
ing his living, is quite different
person from the gentleman his propa-
gandists picture. He has been much
distorted, twisted around until only
a semblance remains of the happy
go-lucky individual he actually is.
He has been made the possessor or
a fair-siZed bank account, the owner
of a home, an automobile, radio set
and the other little luxuries the ordi-
nary American citizen is supposed 10
own.
AS a matter Of fact he has none
of these things. Furthermore, he is
"A dumb bell" to use the popular
phrase describing one who has not
had the supposed requisite amount
of academic training. For your aver
age American has had but six years
of school work even though he may
provide q comfortable living for his
family. He can take his schooling
or leave it alone. \The Bureau OF
Education says he leaves it pretty
much alone beyond the sixth grade.
Cold Figures Prove Otherwise.
Insurance statisticians would have
us believe he carries considerable in
surance on his life; real estate pro-
moters would spread the glad tdlngs
he owns his own home; radio dealers
broadcast the news he owns coast
forecast set and bankers make it
plain he is "a thrifty individual, who
has tidy nest egg laid aside for
rainy day. All this makes very
handsome picture, holding up the
gentleman in question as rather
prosperous individual. 1t is really too
bad to puncture the rosy picture, but
cold figures prove him otherwise.
Actually he is not thrifty. He has
little available cash and he is lucky
to own a change of clothes. He lives
virtually from hand to mouth, and,
although the Treasury says he should
have $42.19 of Uncle Sans popular
currency, experts doubt if he has even
that much. OF course, he is worried
about the coal strike and praying for
a settlement. but the figures haven't
gone that far yet. He is the genesis
of the much-referred-to public senti-
| ment, which in the matter of this
threatened fuelless Winter is supposed
| to bring otherwise recalcitrant miners
and operators together as comrades in
| a continued industrial peace.
What is the makeup of this gentle
man-Mr. Average American? He
has been described many times, but
the indefinite analyses made do not
reveal him as he is.
OF course, his condition has been
much improved in the last three dec.
ades-financially and even physically
for figures show that Americans are
growing taller and generally larger.
Our average American is somewhat
below his commonly accepted height,
! for he is just feet inches tall, and
| he weighs 146 pounds, several pounds
under the weights given in volumi-
nous tables which health experts have
us believe we should weigh. Mrs.
Average American is feet inches in
| height and tips the scales at l24
pounds. He is a dark eyed, medium
skinned individual, with a large head
| and a fair for quiet dressing. Sc
| much for his physical characteristics
/ He is the father of a family of three
| children (4.9 are the exact figures fol-
| the size of the average American fam
| ily) and he is just past the age of o
years. If he is a native born white
| man he is 22.4 years of age, and il
! foreign born white he is just 40 years
| old. The higher average for the
foreign born is said by the Census
Bureau TO be due TO the generally
higher age average of immigrants
coming to the United States. Mrs.
Average American is just a little
younger than the head of the family.
She is "a years of age.
Scattered through the 2.973,714
square miles of the continental United
States there live some 5,710,620
average Americans according to the
1920 census. although this figure is
now somewhat larger as the popula-
ton of the Nation increases every
year. Fancy could picture the aver
| age American Of these physical char.
acteriStics reduced to an absolute
standard until reason steps in and
points out how much better it is that
there are individual standards as tu
height, weight, facial characteristics
and general appearance. He lives in a
country which occupies approximately
| 6.7 per cent of the worlds land areas
and his total number embraces about
| 60 per cent of world population.
Healthiest Man Alive.
| Mr. Average American is the
/ healthiest person in the world. Ever
| though he has had. before reaching
manhood. the usual children's diseas ses
they may have been chicken-poX
measles or whoopins cough-he sur
vived their attacks and having grown
! to manhood has a life expectancy OF
| 56l2 years. longer than the nationals
/ of most other nations. He thinks il
| is a pretty good country to live il
| and fight for, as some 1000 900 OF
his number showed during the late