The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-01-14
LOOKING FAR AHEAD.


 Discussing on The American of the Future" The Portland oregonian says:
 By degrees. slow but sure the hu- or fabied period of longevity. for the Methusaieh has stood for many centu- one of the directors of the St. Louis Wifi be the san AneEcan ri of the if Sr manity. in physical strength and in bodily. development. and incidentally he VII live longer than the American of statement that the average length of human life has increased within half a century from twenty-seven to twen- span of life. calculated upon this basis. was from twenty-four to twen- ty-five years We leave to those whose probiems pps are @ stimulated into Abnormal activity by such questions as How oid is Ann?' the question of how long II will take this rate Of progress to get back to. the span of life which 1t is recorded was allotted to the Jewish pa- triarchs.
 We are quite willing to take Dr. length of human life is increasing, and are more than willing to believe that the American of the future will be larger man in inches, in intellect ana nf today. Most people are ready to be- lieve statements that please their van ity as individuals. as race or as nation, and, where all Is speculation, why not believe that which IS the most pleasing ard self satisfying? The world has come. in large measure Why not extend It throughout the do- main of speculativ belief? Thus Tar. therefore, we are with Dr. McGee. me W. ild Is getting better every year, tfe n li,a Is increasing. mas increased. between fcur and i've years in a century; the race of the future VIII show g'ea; improNement m me, msn. and in all Of this grand march or lm- arcvement ,tmeiicanS will lead the van.
 That is all very comforting for those who may occupy our places some thou sands of years hence. Whether the time is ever to come when human life will get back to the span of those who lived before the flood. and will rival Goliah in size and Samson in strength we may we'll doubt. If men and wo- men should live for centuries. like Me thuselah and his contemporaries, and respond to the length of days. it would take but few generations to bring about the conditions predicted by Malthus. and there would be no room on earth for all the people.
 Nevertheless it seems to be a well established fact that the span of hu- man life is lengthening. The increase is very gradual. as the most reliable statistics prove. Perhaps 1t will re- quire millions of years for us to get back to Methuselah. Goliah and Sam son, but what is time to the scientist? If he can look forward a thousand centuries and see something he Is as complacent as though 1t might be ex- pected next week.
 But Dr. McGee makes one prediction that Is bound to cause most of us to protest. That is when he selects John D. Rockefeller as the type of Ameri- can of that wonderful future of which he prophecies. We here and now reg ister a robust kick. True, we do not feel that we have any personal in terest in American citizenship of thou sands or millions of years hence but we are nottwilling to believe that our descendants will all be bald-headed billionaires. That is entirely too much and we here and now repudiate this predictor.