The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1909-01-02
CURE FOR
LAZINESS

man needed in the factories and
stores then will be a strong willed
and husky man who will patrol the
premises to see that no man works
too hard. Periods Of enforced rest
probably will be provided for: Fiji
teen minutes every four hours, 1t is
thought, win be sufficient to have
the men knock off from their la
bors and spend the time tin social
converse.
With everybody working as long
and as hard as hei can there will
not be enough work to do TO go
round, and tits entirely within the
limits of possibility that society, to
protect itself, will be obliged to
produce class of drones. Rich
men, or trust magnates, may be
punished by depriving them of
work. Instead of fining the John
d. Rockefeller of the future $780,
900, 10000, the Judge then will SEN
proved to be as efficacious as he
thinks, it will be only in the next
generation that it's full results will
be felt. BY that time there will
not be lazy man or woman left
in the world. Little children, when
they start to school. will have to be
made immune against the fatigue
toxin. On the day the term opens
the school physicians will make
the round, and every pupil who
cannot show a certificate that he
Has been vaccinated with the lazi-
ness antitoxin will be taken
promptly in hand by the school
doctor.
Then little Johnny never wip
pretend to have sore toe when 1t
comes time to go to school in the
morning. He will never play
hockey in order to visit the old
swimming hole. Teachers principal
duty will be to see that the chill
dren do not study too hard.
The economic possibilities of a
world where everybody loves to
work are things to consider. There
will probably sc law that a man
who laps up money in excess of a
certain reasonable sum will not be
permitted to work to earn more.
The immediate effect would be to
abolish riches. for when a man saw
his wealth mounting up to the dan
ger point he would hurry up and
get rid of the surplus.
DR.. Burnham believes his lazi-
ness antitoxin would apply to
mental as well as physical fatigue.
Every novelist in the future might
be expected to write more books
than Cyrus Townsend Brady. He
would always be in the mood for
work and would not have to wait
until the inspiration seized him or
the wife needed new dress be-
fore he could drag his reluctant
fingers to the typewriting machine.
There would be no vacations. of
course. What would be the sense
in prying the shoemaker away
from his last for two weeks IN the
midsummer just when he wanted
to work hardest to forget the heat?
Or, at the worst, vacations might
be kept as punishment for the
unfair workman who tried to shirk
his legitimate hours of rest. II he
tried to sneak in after office hours
and work while the rest of the
boys were at home, or If he in
sisted on taking some of his work
home with him in his pockets and
doing 1t out Of hours, they might
compel him to take a two weeks
vacation.
The vagrancy laws in the future
will punish man not for being
idle without visible means Of sup
port, but for such crimes as hold
ing two jobs at once or working a
second shift under an assumed
name for another firm. All the
stock notices about industry will
be thrown in the discard. and the
butterfly fly instead of the busy bee
will be held up as pattern for the
youth of the land. Minister'S will
beseech their Pensioners to take
life easier an dnOt work so much.
Men will not need moral coaching
or the spur of ambition to render
them ambitious. They will have
an absolute passion for work.