Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-10-18
THE CURSE OF OVERWORK.
How Americans Abuse Themselves in tho
Wear and Tear of Life.


Wear and Tear of Life.
We have heard great deal about the
nervous wear and tear of American life,
and. every one is familiar with the warn.
ing that we are living too fast and must
pay serious penalty. Yet we continue
to "go the pace, and the visiting foreign
amazement at the breathless rapidity of
American life. Scientists lay the blame
largely to our dry, bracing atmosphere,
powerful effects Of alcohol here than in
England. Sociologists talk of our material
conditions, of the development of a new
country, and the necessity of confronting
pressing material problems which stimu
late the race for fortune-a race offering
such free competition and SO many i'm
mense prizes not. restricted by class or
caste. that participation is almost un-
avoidable. Although every American is
''as good as" any other, yet every Ameri-
can is stimulated by a burning desire to
show himself little better-to win special
success in his chosen field. The result is
a hand to hand competition, fiercer, prob
ably, than in any other country in the
world. Americans have not yet learned
drop out exhausted from the professions
or from business while yet in the prime of
life. Often this attracts no attention.
But we have recently had some concrete
illustrations of the evils of the terrible
tension of American life in certain phases
which ought not to pass unnoticed
These are examples of self abuse in a
field of work where excess is peculiarly
oc+n, = af
try, with its great natural opportunities,
and its sudden changes and Developments,
offers peculiar invitations to speculation,
and the colossal fortunes made within the
last twenty years are ever before the eyes
of men as a stimulus. There is specula-
ton everywhere; but Americans have
been called, not without reason, nation
of spectators. New York and Chicago
are the centers, and in intensity the hot,
feverish life of their exchanges is not
eqnaled in the bourses of Paris, Berlin
or Vienna, or the Stock Exchange of Lon
don. Now and then fortunes collapse,
and the public wonder; but of the men
who fall exhausted in the race the public
as a rule hear little.
Yet it is worth while to consider the
moral of three recent cases. In Chicago
a wealthy speculator began to show signs
of excessive mental strain. All his
thoughts, dreams and speech were Of the
market. His actions became strange; he
made wild offers in the Exchange; he
threw away his money in disastrous ven-
lures; and finally the. truth was discovered
-'insane from overwofk." Here in New
Y York, not long since, we were told that
even Jay Gould was obliged to seek. rest
upon his yacht in order to avert the con-
Of mental over exertion and
Within the fortnight two
of the Stock Exchange have
fallen out Of the ranks. Of one Of them,
DOW in an insane asylum, his brother
said "He has overworked himself. The
physicians call it q form of brain paralysis,
accompanied by emotional insanity and
occasional paroxysms. He knew that he |
vas overtaxing himself. yet he persisted
zn coming to business. 1t was a case Of |
IN pnintentiona1 course towards insanity |
or suicide" OF the other broker, his
physician says: cit was a case of over
work and consequent nervous prostra-
iion." Yet this man was already mil
ionaire
1t is surely not necessary to insist upon
he moral of such abreaking. down of men
n the prime oflife. Such practical warn
ngs should have some effect, yet it will
>e long time before the lesson is learned.
And it will be a long, time, too, before
americans learn to understand the evil in
luence of the present system of specula-
ion. 1t is gambling, and nothing else,
n which lives are often staked and lost.
Frank Leslie's