The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-11-19
Herbert Spencer's Mistaken Warning,

Herbert Spencer's Mistaken Warning.
Mr.. HERBERT SPENCER has returned to
England apparently little benefited in health
by his brief visit to America. He is a victim
to slceplessncss, which is both the result and
the cause of extreme nervous exhaustion,
and is probably paying the penalty Of over
work OF the most concentrated kind per-
formed in defiance of the laws of health.
1t was this tired man who warned us against
overwork in a speech made at the public dim
ner given him shortly before his departure.
He assumed that Americans were wearing
themselves out with almost ceaselcss labor,
and said he had found among those of
them he met very many who had grown pre-
maturcly cid on that account. 1t is all work
and no play with US, according to Mr. HER
BERT SPENCER. Both for our own sakes and
for the welfare of coming generations, he
therefore babe us to be more moderate in
our ercrtions, to give more time to enjoy
ment and to go into pleasure with more zest;
for he imagined that even when We took re-
taxation, we did not abandon ourselves to it
In q way to get the best effects from the play.
Il is not at all remarkable that Mr.. HER.
BERT SPENCER took this view OF US, and that
be made it the subject of the only speech he
delivered while in the United States. Him
self suffering from the lack OF rest, he was
naturally disposed to discover symptoms of
the same trouble among the men in the
strange country u which Re had come On an
unavaiiing search for rcposc. He had found
in his American travels Eany nervous suf
ferers who could sympathize with him, just
as every victim OF a chronic malady, no mat
ter how seemingly pecuiiar to himself, is
sure to meet Others who are more or less in
the same state His disease is naturally
foremost in his thoughts, and his CONVERSE
tions are likely to lead Up to it, SO that ho
gets in the way OF hearing of similar cases
There Is strong sympathy which brings to-
sethcr invnlhls Of like kinds. They like to
compare symptoms.
Mr.. SPENCER, as matter OF course, heard
great deal about nervous exhaustion when
he WAS with Us. People told him Of the irrep-
arabic dainagc ovcrwurk had done them,
and, his own mind being directed to tho sub
ject 10y his Individual physical conhition. he
was on the lockout for Indications Of the dis
order which vnbarrasscs his own plans for
labor. And what he locked for Ike found.
just as an Unbalanced specialist in medicine
is always discovering the symptoms for
which he seeks. Everybody seemed to him
tired out, overcome with work, and Inca pahle
of enjoyment. His Inference was that the
thing we needed most to be instructed upon
was our duty to save ourselves from. physi-
cal and nervous exhaustion, and the thing
we needed most to be warned against was
our mania for work.
Mr.. SPENCER, it must be remembered also
had few opportunities for obtaining correct
hot
spect during his very brief stay and lis: re-
! markedly secluded life here as an invalid in
search of health. The truth is, we ar. ilot
an especially Woodworking people. The
average run of lnborors do not work az in
!, dustrious!y here as they do in England
They arc not obliged to work SO hard to gain
their living, end competition is not yet 80
active in the Dew country Us in the old. The
merchants aud professional men of New
York in the same relative positions are nel
SO steadily ut work as those OF London
They do not give 80 many hours to business,
and they take mere recreation, travel more
and indulge thom selves in more. ease. The
shop is not SO all-absorLing here as It is there.
Mr.. SPENCER is foD! Of such statistics. Let
him get from an average collection OF
American lawyers, physicians merchants,
hours they give to labor and the number in
which they rest during year, and then
compare the figures with like statistics OBJ
tanned in England. We are confident that,
having done thst, he would find his theory
OF our ovcrwork so completely upset That he
would be astonishcd.
The trouble with us, indeed, is that our
people do not work thoroughly enoeyh.
They are apt to neglect what they have 10
do, aud 10 hunt for employmcnts where they
can thrive without constant industry. 1t il
| on that account that recently arrived for
cigners are getting possession OF whole
branches Of trade, and in New England are
even driving out the farmers OF the native
stock. The rough manual labor Is now chiefly.
in fact almost entirely. done by Foreigners,
and large share If not tho largest
share, Of skilled labor is done by men
who have come to the republic within the
them, and they are in all the villages, rapidly
pushing ahead because Of their superior in
! dustry and devotion 10 work
1t may be true that our climate Is not so
well suited to work as that OF England.
The transitions from heat to cold are too
great and TOO sudden. Our complcyions are
less ruddy than those of moist England.
And perhaps nervous disorders are more
frequent here because Of physical and social
| conditions peculiar to US. There may be
| more fret and worry about money making,
| due to the haste to get rich aud the greater