The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-04-20
Span Of Life For
Americans Lengthens
Death Rate Of 1868 Would Be Regarded as "Calanl.
itOus" Today; Great Improvement Noted

The average length OF life In
America increased by about % years
between the post-Civll War period
and the beginning Of the second
World War, according TO the statis-
tieians Of the Metropolitan Life
Insurance Company In o review OF
health progress since the company'S
founding In 1858, shortly after the
close OF the Civil War, Even great
er gains have been made by insured
wage-earners whose average length
Of life has increased BY about 80
years since 1870, II Is notable, the
statisticians point out, that nearly
one half Of this gain In the average
length Of life was achieved between
the beginning of the first World
War and the present conflict,
THE death rate that prevailed In
1858, the year In which the Metro
politan was chartered, would BY
present standards appear ealRmit-
GUS" say the statisticians, I'm
American cities, death rates exceed
ing 80 per 1000 persons were com.
mon, and In the Stun area OF the
cities, they were even higher, Un-
bellevably bad health conditions ex-
listed In city slums all over this
country and abroad, As o result,
high rates Of sickness and deatl,
were the rule, especially from the
infectious diseases, Children were
the chief victims,
About the time Of the company's
founding, however, great medical
discoveries were laying the basis fol
significant advances In health
Among the most important dlscov.
cries were Pasteur's germ theory OF
disease, established In the l070'S, and
the Identification, In succeeding
years, Of the causes Of many dis.
eases, such as tuberculosis, typhoid
fever, diphtheria and pneumonia
Public health organization was be-
ginning TO put into use these revo-
lutionary discoveries,
"Gains were naturally slow al
first, but early In the twentieth cen
fury, they became increasingly large
The extraordinary progress In
health and longevity during recent
decades Is well illustrated by the
experience among Metropolitan In.
dustrial policyholders since 1911
For, in the past third Of o century
the death rate has been reduced BY
over one-half. In terms Of longeV-
ity, the expectation Of life among
these policyholders has Increased
v.nora THAN ~ x,aaNe eavaNA 101H n
is now 60 years or about the same
as in the general population.
"By far, the greatest gains have
been accomplished by reductions in
infant mortality, the communicable
diseases of childhood, respiratory
diseases and tuberculosis" the sta
tisticians explain. THE improve
ment in infant mortality has been
spectacular. In the childhood ages
from l to II, there has likewise
been an extraordinary improvement
in mortality--a reduction by no less
than four-fifths among the COM
pany'S plolcyholders since 1911. Out
standing has been the conquest Of
diphtheria.
The reduction in tuberculosis Is
q notable triumph Of modern medi.
cine and public health organiza-
tion," the statisticians say. This
disease was the leading cause of
death among insured wage-earners
in 1911, with a death rate Of more
than 200 per 100000 persons. Today,
this figure is reduced to little more
than 20, and tuberculosis is down to
seventh place In the list of causes
Of death. Victory over this disease
is particularly significant because
so many Of its victims were men