Omaha daily bee., 1903-03-15
BRIEF FOR TIE BACHELORS
Bunch OF Lovely Bouquets Thrown at the
Lonesomes BY a Woman.
SINGLE BlEsSEDNEsS THE IDEAL LIFE
Married Men Likencd TO Galley
Slaves and children IA source of
Troublesome Remarkable
tutemcnts

Troublesome Remarkable
A great deal Of discussion has been going
on lately relative to the decrease in the
number Of marriages in this country. A
bill to tax bachelors has even been intro
duced in one state legislature.
Women writer's for some time have
been deploring the fact that the really
desirable men remain single, and the
writer's make 1t very evident that Peggotty
is "willin' IL Barkis is not. They can
not see the raison d'etre for mans exist
ence II he is not the financial promoter OF
woman's happiness. And it is a deplorable
fact that as soon as a man is married In
many instances he ceases to be an object
Of interest, except to the bill collector.
Social requirements are so much more
e~xacting than they were fifty years ago,
and twentieth century notions have run
riot through our domestic ideals" in such
a manner that tho intelligent young man
stops to think before undertaking a task
to which the futile efforts OF Sysyphus
rolling his stone would be a pleasant
pastime.
A man may have a good paying business
that viii! allow him to support his family
comfortably by strict attention and hard
work. AS years pass on, he may double,
treble or quadruple his income. Yet IL
he is a kind husband and father, which
means that he must crafty the wishes OF
his family as far as he is able, he will
find that his expenses have increased at
the same ratio as his income, and when
old age comes on, instead of an acquired
competence that will allow a well-earned
-. - A. L. - ~
ness, and all he has for a lifetime of drudg-
cry is his board, clothes and tobacco.
1t is unjust TO censure a man of intelli-
gence because he does not wish to ex-
change a life of ease and freedom, OBJ
tanned from a salary sufficient for his in
diyidual needs, to one of anxiety and
bondage, where he will have to live on
love and short rations, with the prospect
OF having only the short rations in time,
and where every additional mouth to Ill
means a division Of the food that is al
ready scant enough.
Critics Criticised.
The newspaper cuts of the prince Of Siam
and his trail OF sins evidently awoke
President Eliot to the deficiency OF the
Harvard graduates output in population,
and he suggests that the curriculum OF our
colleges be shortened. so that our young
men can finish earlier, marry younger and
raise larger families.
Public Opinion OF February 10 accredits
President Roosevelt with saying that the
man who deliberately avoids marriage and
has a heart so cold as to know no passion
and a brain so shallow and selfish as to
dislike having children is In effect a Grim
inal againLt the race, and should be an
object Of ~contemptuous adherence by all
Healthy people"
Both Of these gentlemen seem to think
that the old command TO increase and
multiply the Garth that was given to a
drowned world is still in compelling force.
1t is not the shallow Drained and selfish
( men who avoid matrimony and the drudgery
OF supporting a family. but thoughtful men,
who know what the struggle for existence
means, and are too conscientious TO launch
into the maelstrom Of life human beings
who would have to contend with the pro-
ducts of Five Points for the means OF salts
flying hunger. Their advent would only
make the struggle for existence all the
fercer, the weakest would go to the wall,
and in nine cases out of ten 1t would be
the children Of cultured parents, who from
their very environment are unable to cope
with P class bounded by savage necessity.
Hemstreet, in the February Arena, says:
TAllnOuBn III Clllth inc mdJoIiNg dI0 Com-
fortably employed and enjoy life. yet it is
with a strain that is almost a fight, for
there are always more hands than work.
more mouths than food. Only the average
city person knows the crushed feeling Of
being sacked. Then, one is face 70 face
with eternity, and where one commits sui
eide a thousand think II, and thousands
each year kill themselves from discourage
ment and want"
why Men Hesitate.
In the face Of these social conditions is
it any wonder men hesitate to take on
responsibilities? For what is sadder than
a man who feels himself a failure in the
sharp competition for place and has a
family depending upon him for every neces-
sity Of existence. and knows that 1t is only
a question OF time until he and his loved
ones will become a part Of the hotsam
and ietsam Of society.
The chief cause of the struggle for ex-
istence today is over-population. Nature
has no regard whatever for the needs OF
society, and SO long as the natural man is
true to the primordial law OF his being,
like the rabbits Of Australia, and increase
and multiply without restraint, so long
will the struggle for existence in time OF
peace be as sharp and merciless, as in time
of war.
The world is already threatened with
oyer-production, for with our improved
sanitation and scientific pathology the
birth rate exceeds the death rate by 2,0O0,-
900 a year. And bachelors who are not sup
posed to have any raison d'etre for exis.-
ence, because they are not swelling the
census returns, deserve to be commended
for not marrying and increasing an already
overstocked human market.
Exercising Intellect.
Man must use his reason and intellect
and the adjustment Of the reproduction OF
his species to existing conditions Of So
ciety is an excellent way to display his
superiority TO the brute creation. And IL
a man remains single and prefers to be
guided by his brains instead OF his passions
1t does not necessarily imply that he is a
criminal against the race. President Roose-
welt TO the contrary.
Cycles OF time may change the face of
physical nature. mountain may become tho
bed of the ocean and oceans roll where
stately forests stand, hills become valleys
and rushing waters food the deserts sand,
but human nature never changes. Love,
hope, Joy and sorrow sway. the heart today
as in the earliest ages. Mans love OF
home, and all the tender relations that the
name implies. Is as fdealigtic as ever hut