The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-10-25
ION AGE THAT ] ANN WAS.
Symposium on the Greatest.
Question of Times.
DIRE THINGS THREATENED
Big DaiIies Treat of the Many
Sided Problem. L

The North American has stood ever
ready oiend its columns to the spread
Of human knowledge. If. as the result Of
its efforts for the benefit OF the race,
the race neglects business to pursue in
formation, we submit that we cannot be
held. responsible. Such a. human tendency
may be unfortunate-from- certain stand
points-bnt this newspaper must be alb
solved Of blame.
Two motives actuated us in giving to
the public the trouble of Mr.. Perkin
Warbeck. of Newark, ". ]. First, it was
hoped that hts evident sufferings might
| be relieved. Second. it was believed that
the public would be made happier by
being placed in position to alleviate the
pain of a fellow being. Both motives
are in strict accord with the steady pot
ic yof the North American.
Hence we repudiate the appeals of
manufacturers, merchants, bankers, and
others to stop it," We would not if
we could. 1t is useless for them to send
their legal representatives to this Office
demanding that we compensate them for
the loss of time by their employees en-
gagged in strenuous efforts TO determine
the age of Ann: Mr.. Warbeels wants to
know. Thousands of others want to
know. Who are these business men that
they should attempt to balk them?
Everybody knows that Mary is "a 1t
is manifestiy unfair. that her age should
be the sport Of q million tongues and
that of Ann kept concealed The North
American viii be no party to such sup
preston. How old is Ann?-Philadelphia
North American. October Il.
Wherever it may have originated, and
this is itself matter of controversy, the
problem concerning the ages of Ann and
Mary has caught the eountry's fancy as
few such things have since Pigs in
Clover" Philadelphia appears TO be
practically mad over it, dozen other
cities are wild-eyed and even PARKWAY,
leisurely New Orleans is joining in the
pastime. 4.-.
1t is far from the present purpose TO I
beguile and one into ciphering on the
problem but for the benefit of the few
who may have been confined to the house
with brain fever, here it is;
Mary is "a years old. Mary is twice as
old as Ann was when Mary was as old /
as Ann is now. How old is Ann?
1t is perplexing only because it sounds /
simple, but is really stated confusedly
For itself it deserves the waste basket.
but it has a secondary interest by reason |
of the light it throws on the mental pro- +
cesses of human things. The answer
gives AIMS age as anywhere from 10 q
years. As for reasons, they are as plenty
as blackberries. Dozens of people declare
;olemnly that Mary and Ann are twins,
hough the slightest attempt-to prove
MS shows does not fulfill the condi-
ions of the problem. A man from the
United States geological survey who de-
Toted most OF his letter to the very sim
Die demonstration that the two young
women are no twins. adopts himself an
answer, 16, for AIMS age, which works
tut no better.
About Mary and Ann think they are
years old says woman. disregarding
he first words of the question, which n
tate that mary is q.
Here is another general law, laid down
" newspaper reader: If Mary was at
my time in her life twice as old as Ann.
he will always continue to be twice as
Id. 1t is very well, except that one
titles the poor girl of four, wit ha two
who is doomed to be 4S
Then her sister is "a. The curious fact
5 that all these hundreds of people
fter having arrived at wrong answers.
ack them UP to their last decimal with
ut ever going hack to see If the answer
works. New York Evening Post.
Constant Reader: Ann is c. years Of
ge. Obviously, Annis as old now as
larry was when Mary was half as old as
er present age less the age of Ann at |