Buchanan's Journal of Man, August 1887: Volume 1, Number 7
Religion
Buchanan's Journal of Man, August 1887: Volume 1, Number 7
Medicine -- Periodicals; Phrenology -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
"The West, like the South, is more free from insanity than the
Northern seaboard States, the average being 1 to every 610 in
the interior States, and 1 to 750 for the Northwestern States.
In the far Western States and Territories it is only 1 out of
1,263, they being settled by a picked population, whose energy
and soundness make them pioneers. It is note-worthy, however,
that insanity is as frequent in the Pacific States as in New
England, the explanation being that vice and indulgence prevail
to an exceptional extent among the population drawn to the
Pacific by the mania for gold. The average in Massachusetts, for
instance, is 1 to 348; in California 1 to 345. It is also
remarkable that the ratio of insanity decreases as we go west
and south of New England, as these averages will show: New
England, 1 to 359; Middle States, 1 to 424; interior States, 1
to 610; Northwestern States, 1 to 750; Southern States 1 to 629.
"The State where the proportion is highest is Vermont, 1 to 327;
and New Hampshire comes next, with 1 to 329. We are at a loss to
understand why insanity is so frequent in the District of
Columbia, the average given being 1 to 189; but perhaps the
large average in Vermont and New Hampshire may, in part, be due
to the circumstance that those States receive the refuse of
Canadian poor-houses, they having a much better organized system
of charitable relief than the Dominion can boast of; and it is
undeniable that some of the very worst of our immigration comes
from over the Canadian border. That immigration, too, is now
great, and there are factory towns in New England where the
population is largely made up of French Canadians."
There is a disturbing element in the influx of a foreign population
reared under very unfavorable social conditions. In 1882 the
immigration was 800,000. On a single day, in May last, nearly ten
thousand arrived in Castle Garden. The steamships are overburdened,
and the Cunard and White Star lines employ extra ships to accommodate
the emigrants. Oppression in Ireland, and oppression all over Europe,
drives the people into emigration; but a large portion of the
emigration consists of a substantial population; yet we have enough of
the turbulent and debased element to make a serious danger in our
large cities, and a formidable competition with native American labor.
The more laborers, and the fewer employers, the worse it is for labor.
But perhaps American wealth and enterprise will find something
satisfactory for all to do.
DEFECTIVE EDUCATION.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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