The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1907-06-27
RESERVE POWER.

RESERVE FOWENs
In the feverish life of to-day the ten
dencv is to make exhaustive efforts IN
every direction of human activity, disre-
gardine the advantages of keeping some
power in reserve. This is very noticeable
in the mechanical world. New works may
be started with reserve machinery, to be
put in service only in case OF an accident
or break down, but as business increases
the reserve is called into daily use until
ultimately it becomes a part OF the regular
plant and work is carried on at high pres
sure until the collapse comes and then the
need Of a reserve is sadly felt. Locomotives
are built to do certain amount OF work,
with reserve power to be exerted in making
up lost time. But the weight of trains is
increased and the schedule quickened until
there is no longer any reserve, and delays
and accidents compel the adoption of new
class of engines of greater power. whose
reserve is similarly used up by the devel-
opment of railway demands. Men use
themselves with as little judgment. They
undertake work which leaves them time
and reserve power to spend in recreation
and in personal care of their families. But
the demands of business lead them un-
wisely to encroach upon their hours OF
leisure. They exhaust themselves by
their labors, and when sickness or accident
befalls them they have no reserve power
with which to recover. The tendency OF
the times is to push everything and every
body to the uttermost limit of endurance.
Men are admired for what is recogni zedas
their reserve power, that is to say, for MAX
ing no greater exertion than is necessary for
the accomplishment Of a reasonable pur-
pose, and yetvery few people takethe lesson
home to themselves and endeavor to govern
their own conduct in the same way, while
some in the effort to do so mistake Incidence
for rest and degenerate into slothfulness.
1t is much easier to estimate the power and
capacity of machine built of iron and
steel than OF one constructed OF muscles
and nerves, yet the safe limit of work even
AoA q heai Sdil W Pl0ety dOSuAe1cOA uScSA
mined-the limit beyond which he should
not go. His power beyond that would be a
reserve power, at command in an emer-
gency or furnishing the nucleus for gaining
new strength when he should be stricken
down by illness or accident. He should
guard it carefully, instead of drawing upon
it daily as SO many do who become fever
ishly anxious for success in some under
taking, whether of money-making or of
social or political advancement. The sue
cessful athlete carefully measures his re-
sources and, If his career is to be long
one, nurses his reserve powers. II he
engages in a race he does not overexert
himself at the start, but so regulates his
expenditure of energy that he shall have
an abundance left for the finish. That is
precisely what men should do who are en-
gagged in a similar contest daily extending
over long period OF years. Every man,
high or low, who labors daily is engaged in
long race which is in large part test of
endurance. He should so measure his
paw do W nave always dt COIuuldIlU SOIu0
reserve power for a squirt. He should not
undertake to do more than he can do reg
ularly without undue fatigue, and then he
will be able to do more, for short time at
least. when occasion requires the extra
exertion. just as we see the swift runner
exhausted before the race is half over and
beaten by his slower but more enduring
competitor, SO we see men in business and
in public life overtaxing their powers when
young and growing old and feeble, while
their more steady going rivals maintain
their freshness until they become old in
years. It is the reserve power that tells in
prolonged contests-the reserve power of
muscle, of spirit, of money, it may be-
for he who exhausts himself in any kind of
effort is unable to withstand the slightest
added burden and succumbs to force he
might easily have resisted if he had kept
his resources we'll in hand.
Government ownership of railroads has
not worked we'll in Canada. The control