Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1890-10-03
social IMPROVEMENT.
How to Overcome tho Evils OF "s"
pressure In American Life.

Nov 20 Overcome tho Evils OF Hign
pressure In American Life.
There is ITO more cheering sign OF tne
desire for social improvement anu :,
needed relief from the burdens imposeu
bv our high-pressure civilization shan
nc eaoerness with which men ana
women now look forward 10 an increase
OF holidays, and the willingness WIN
which individual business nrms anu
great manufacturing corporations nave
lessened the aggregate yearly amouheo'
,ndividual labor. For many years inc
Saturday half-holiday has been general
In the business centers OF Ehrope' pu'
It is only OF late that 1t mas pecon'o
widely recognized here as ahordinB
martial solution of the great problem OF
overstrained, overweight life. Wheh
She idea was first suggested persons
who are always looking on the lower
side OF human nature were reaoy WIN
arguments to show that It's operation
would lead TO business denomination
and social abuses; but the result, on the
contrary, has evidenced that leisure
does not necessarily produce either iazi-
ness or inertia. In comparing the NE
OF a business or professional man IN
Europe with that of types OF the same
class in our own country marked ali
ference Is observed. There is no hour
here In which men appear to be unem-
ployed. From early morn till dewy eve
| there Is constant rush and hustle. Inc
drive and excitement OF business continue
often far into the night. Upon leaving
his Office the lawyer merely transfers
his work to the quieter surroundings oil
his home; the merchant burns the mid
night oil over his day-books and ledgers
and when half the world is asleep the
financier Is planning fresh schemes or
| studying the fluctuations OF shares ana
bonds. Even the rest and silence OF
Sunday are interrupted by the necessity
for keeping pace with the quick march
of Western civilization. We travel by
lightning express, correspond by tele-
graph, talk by telephone; and II a new
universal language should be invented
IL would be one that would shorten the
time that is now wasted in oral commu
nication. To all protests against this
mischievous pressure the answer is thai
the needs of the world demand it; ane
yet the people of older countries, WHIT
move more slowly succeed in keeping
. abreast OF art, invention and discovery
besides often furnishing us with new
ideas and contributing to our industrial
and intellectual forces. Nor is 1T alone
among brain-workers that the effects
this constant pressure are disclosed Il
) the shape of diseases and ailment
! which are certain to follow an undu
I waste of vital energy. The Unite
I States census statistics of 1880 show a
: excessive death rate among farmers
0 laborers and mechanics the thre
classes of all others most important
: the material prosperity of common
n wealth-thus implying not only vast
|. of life, but concurrent waste of tim
and energy. With diminished pres
v sure upon the mind and bod
: there would be increased vitalit.
!, and, consequently, less tempuatio
o to forms of excess injurious
S health and happiness. This forcin
% process has, unfortunately, also foun
d its way into our educational system.
l. ought to be recognized as fundament'
r principle that education should procee'
& according to the laws of nature, in sue
ia a way as to fit the child for it's static
in life, and that nothing could be mo-
pernicious than the undue cultivate
! which advances the mind at the expen
y, of the body and the natural affection
"a The system in vogue in our publ
q schools not only tends to blunt the
a. tellectual faculties, but develops an u
"a healthy emulation which ends in phys
"A cal deterioration. 1T may be true th
i 1t is easier to point out these evils thi
N to suggest practical remedy; yet Il
10 application of common-sense principl
a to business, industry, and educate
4 would tend to lessen the strain. Clos
N attention to the laws of hygiene, mum
m ipal watchfulness over sanitary CONF
tions, and an abandonment of the fe,
., ing that man has made failure VIII
y, only successful in working out mode
- ate living on the level at which he sta
Is ed, would do much toward solving
=. problem that so largely affects both
~ dividual and national life.-Philad
T. phia Record