The Totals

U.S. statisticians tidied up their books for 1945, produced an adding-machine report on the state of the nation.

In twelve months, U.S. citizens tossed off 190,000,000 gallons of whiskey, gin, brandy, rum and cordials, tying 1942's national, post-repeal record for drinking. They had trouble at home--in Reno a record 8,590 divorce suits were filed; in Hamilton County, Tenn., there were five times more marital split-ups than marriages; all across the nation the divorce rate boomed to new levels.

The U.S. also had more crime--in Chicago, barometer of the national mood for larceny and gunplay, the law was broken on 38,533 occasions, 10% oftener than the year before. There were 29,000 traffic deaths, the highest national total since 1941's alltime record of 39,969.

Despite all this, despite jampacked cities and understaffed hospitals, the nation's health was wonderfully good. The death rate ran only 10.5 for each 1,000 of population, below the peacetime average. The birthrate was still high--2,900,000 babies were born and the overall population increased by 1,400,000.

There were more telephone conversations than ever before. Talkative New Yorkers made 3,305,137,000 local calls during the year, 324,141,000 more than in 1944, and set a world's record by taking up the receiver 13,565,760 times on Wednesday, Dec. 19.

It was a big year for hurrying. New York subway guards picked up 7,800 abandoned umbrellas, 54,517 other articles, ranging from roasts of beef to copies of Forever Amber. U.S. airlines carried more passengers and freight, flew more miles than ever before. The railroads broke all records, both for transporting passengers and leaving them behind in stations.

It was a jerky year for business. Despite the lack of new irons, toasters, and washing machines, household use of electricity went up 9%. Life insurance ownership ran to an all-time high of $154,600,000,000. Chicago's cattle supply was bigger than it had been since 1929, but hog deliveries were the lowest since 1872. Sale of snuff rose to a record 44,000,000 Ibs. At year's end 175,000 striking General Motors production workers had suffered an estimated wage loss of $47,000,000.

The Machine Age seemed to have arrived for good--only 777 horse-drawn vehicles were licensed in Chicago; there had been 916 in 1944.

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