The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-07-27
SCIENCE POSTPONES MATURITY.
Ihe Increased Complexity of Life Re-
q"ires Us to Learn the World More
Slowly and Carefully.


who has thus postponed maturity?
No individual.
Science has done part of it.
BY the invention of power-driven
machines andeby the distribution Of
the compact industries of the home
! through the scattered innumerahl hle
! business enterprises of the comrnuni-
ty, science has given us, in place Of
simple and near world, a compIi-
Gated and distant one. 1t takes us
| longer. to learn it.
simultaneously, by research and al
SO by the use Of the printing press,
the locom otive, and the telegraph
wire (Which speed up the production
as we'll as the dissemination of knowl-
edge), science has brought forth, in
every field of human interest and of
human value, a mass of facts and of
principles so enormous and so i'm
portant that the labors of our pre-
us, and we grow to our full physical
| development long before we have
caught up, in any degree, with the
| previous experience Of the race. And
till we have done that, to some de-
gree, we are not mature.
With this postponement of personal
maturity, there is an even greater
postponement Of what might be call
ed "technicar' maturity. The real
mastery of a real technique takes
longer and longer. The young teach
er, the young doctor, the young engi-
neer, the young architect, the young
specialist Of every sort, finds his per-
iod of preparation steadily extending
before him.
What is left undone by science in
keeping us immature is finally accom-
plished by system.
The world is getting organized. Ex-
cept in some Of the professions (and
often even in them) we most of us
start in on our life work at some
small subdivided job in a large or
ganization Of people. The work of
the organization is so systematized as
to concentrate responsibility and re-
muneration toward the top. In time,
from job to job, up an ascent which
grows longer as the organization
grows bigger, we achieve responsible
ty. Till we do, We discharge minor
duties for minimum pay.
This is just as true of the boy from
middle class" family as il is of the
boy from a working class" family.
There follows, however, a most i'm
portant difference between them. The
middle class" boy will have to work
longer and go father than the work
ing class" boy in order to rise to the
financial standards Of his class. In
this respect the working class" boy
will be man, ready for marriage,
before his middle class" fellow
worker.
1t is among middle class" boys.
then, that the period of infancy is
most prolonged. They get a.. good
deal of schooling. The stores of hu-
man knowledge are put in their
hands, to some extent, and, to some
extent, they catch up with the expert
ence of the race. This takes a longer
and longer effort. particularly II real
mastery of any real technique is at
tempted. Then, on going to work,
they find that system, supplementing
science, has perfected such an organ
ization Of the world of work that they
must stay for quite a while in the
ranks of the organization. They will
not soon be earning what is regarded
among their friends as a marrying in.
come. In money, as well as in mind,
they approach marriage with increas-
ing tardiness. Their prolonged infancy
Is financial. as we'll as mental
They say that college girls marry
late. 1T is true enough. But it isn't
properly stated
The girls in the kind of family
which college girls come from marry
late.
1t can be definitely established by
statistics here considerably omitted
that the age of marriage of college
girls is no later than the age of mar
riage of their non-college sisters and
acquaintances.
College is not a cause. 1t is a symp-
tom.
Out of the prolongation of infancy
in the middle class" has come the
conquest by women of the intellectual
freedom Of the world.
AS the home ceased to provide its