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The Year 1909

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Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jan 18, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 3.

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The Year 1909

By Editor

THE best temporary record given of the events of the year is always found in the Chicago Daily Tribune of January 1. We note some of the statistics given for the year. They are truly signs of the times:
1. Disasters at Home and Abroad.—The loss of life resulting from disasters of various kinds reported by telegraph and in the public press are as follows: drownings, 3,835; fire, 2,197; mines, 1,342; cyclones and storms, 758; explosions, 532; killed by electricity, 220; by lightning, 198; asphyxiation, 186; elevators, 79.
2. Suicides in the United States.—There is, we are glad to report, a slight decrease over 1908, the total number being 10,230, as compared with 10,852 in the former year. Of these, 7,201 were males and 3,029 females; which seems to indicate, as in former years, that women bear up under trouble better than men. One of the great reasons perhaps is that they are more temperate. Among professional men, physicians still head the list, 27; 10 prominent attorneys, 9 clergymen, 7 college professors, 6 journalists, and 4 artists. One of the reasons for the decrease seems to have been in the greater prosperity of the past year. In 1908 there were over 600 who committed suicide because of despondency arising from business losses; last year but 81. The general causes, almost impossible to classify, are given as follows: despondency, 4,760; unknown, 1,487; insanity, 559; ill health, 936; domestic troubles, 834; disappointment in love, 243. Only 130 are ascribed to liquor-drinking; doubtless a great many of the others were the fruits of intemperance. It is a fearful showing. Think of a city of 10,230 completely giving itself up to self-destruction!
3. Fires in the United States.—The fire loss of last year was fearful, being $19,000,000 more than the year before, and $41,000,000 more than in 1907. The total amount of loss as recorded in the press amounts to $191,000,000. Between 375 and 400 fires occurred in which the loss of each equaled or exceeded $100,000.
4. Marine Disasters.—Loss of life by disaster upon the ocean during 1909 was 1,743, and upon the Great Lakes and other inland waters, 200.
5. Epidemics.—It is a cause for gratitude that some of the great epidemic diseases have been stayed by more effective sanitary agencies during the last year. The ravages of plague and cholera have been principally confined to Russia and China; the number of victims being a little over 5,000, as compared with 50,000 last year.
6. Wars.—While there have been no great wars in 1909, the casualties in the field have been larger than in 1908. One can hardly believe it; but 68,239 deaths are recorded as against 22,179 last year. More than half of these were in Asiatic Turkey—37,000; 10,000 in Morocco; 7,212 in Persia; 6,019 in Turkey proper; 3,879 in Spain; 1,962 in Nicaragua. Other smaller losses are reported from China, Albania, Russia, Africa, Philippines, Armenia, and Peru.
7. Homicides in the United States.—The number of deaths in this country by all kinds of personal violence, as reported by telegraph and recorded in the various states and territories, shows a falling off from 1908, as does the suicide list. For 1908 the number was 8,952; last year, 8,103. Some of the principal causes are given as follows: quarrels, 4,252; liquor, 689; by highwaymen, 897; jealousy, 572; infanticide, 335; highwaymen killed, 108. The Tribune points out that a significant feature of these figures is the increase of murders by highwaymen and thugs, being 185 more than in 1908.
8. Executions in the United States.—The number of legal executions are 107 as against 92 in 1908; 43 of these were in Northern states, and 64 in the Southern. And in these cases, 55 were Negroes, 48 whites, 3 Chinamen, and one Indian. The crimes for which they were executed were, murder, 99; rape, 82. Louisiana leads the fearful list with 19; Pennsylvania comes next with 12; New York and Virginia 10 each.
9. Lynchings.—There were 13 less lynchings in 1909 than in 1908—a gratifying showing, but still 87 mob murders in all. In 1908 there were 100. The highest record in 25 years was in 1892, when 235 were lynched. Georgia heads the list with 16 to her credit, or discredit; Mississippi 11; Louisiana and Texas each 10; Florida and Alabama each 7; Arkansas and Oklahoma each 5. Of the total number lynched, 73 were Negroes, 14 whites. The crimes alleged were as follows: murder, 47; rape, 14; attempted rape, 6; complicity to murder, 5; unnamed causes, 4; murderous assaults, 4; insults, 2; quarrels, barn-burning, burglary, window-peeping, and bringing suit against a white man, each 1. The only Northern state which indulged in mob murder was Illinois, in which 2 were lynched. Surely every normal, thinking person must feel that the crime, suicide, and lynching records are awful. Think of a civilized state in which so many meet death in an illegal way!
10. The embezzlemenst in 1909 amounted to $8,160,525.
11. The agricultural yields of the country were indeed colossal. The estimated worth of 6 cereals, namely, corn, wheat, oats, barley, rye, buckwheat, amounted to $2,921,010,000, a gain over the previous year of nearly $150,000,000. The value of the agricultural products, including flaxseed, potatoes, hay, tobacco, rice, and cotton, amounts to $8,760,000,000.
12. The bank clearings for 1909 amounted to $164,000,000,000. The statisticians tell us that the year to come will be more prosperous still.
13. The gifts and bequests during the year by Americans amounted to the total sum of $147,641,253; a little less than one half of which represented gifts; the balance bequests. Over $67,000,000 of this goes to charity; the larger part of the balance to educational institutions. Very much of this was given by men who have gathered their millions upon millions from the country. It is certainly less than common justice that they should pay a small portion of it back where it will benefit humanity.