The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-10-11
WEDNESDAY. OCT. IL, 1911.
osL1R THEORY DENIED.

a few years ago Or. Osler startle,
the world by a public declaration
which was twisted into the statemen
that all men owe sixty years Of az
should re chlorofnrmed. He did no
say what the press credited him Wit
saving. hut the sun total of his the
ory was that man had served his pur
pose by the time he was sixty an
that from that period to the end o
life he was a mere useless animal
The Osler theory seemed to hav'
caught Il certain portion of the publ
judgment, and everywhere for the las
twenty-five years there has been
demand for "ounE men. Corporation
and other large employers of Labor
both mental and physical. made com
paratiEe youth an essential qualifira.
zion of employment. So grave ha
This tendency; become that old hs'
pensions are no logger looked upoi
as visionary. The corporations es
peciallv have hecn charged with cold
h]loodedness in s%upplanting those VIII
have grown gray iii tleir service will
others with more vigor if less expert
ence.
a few DAYS asn Guy Porter Benton
was inaugurated president of the Uni
ycrsity of Vermont. In his Inaugural
address the nsw president declared
that the hest work today is done a
the age of siX1y-iive. He declared
further that one of the greatest crimes
OF the ago is that of educational in
fantiride. To. quote him:
Those old fathers who wrote
the constitution. were for the
most part. under fifty years of
age. hut the men who are most
highly revered. and who are
our leaders in the councils of
thought today. are those who
have passed in years the three
mark. We have now a pyra-
mid which has heishtened itself
by fifteen years since the begin
ming of the last century. The
apex. instead of marking the age
limit of efficiency 1t fifty years.
now reaches up and records it at
~sixty-five years.
We often hear it said that this
is the ag. of the young man.
The assertion is false. This is
not the age of the young man.
II is the age of the prepared man.
Preparation for largest useful
ness is hindered by pre~rnaturity.
If we can push infancy out fur
Their by continuing longer the
educational period of life. we
shall guarantee a larger measure
of success for the Individual and
a more efficient citizenship. l
hope the day is coming when
students. instead OF beginning
their engineering. or medical. or
other professional and vocational
studies at eighteen years of age.
will not undertake their special
preparation for life until they
have laid broad and strong and
deep the foundation for the rear
ing of a proper superstructure.
There GEMS to he plenty OF logic in
that statement. No matter how bril-
liant, the young man a hardly be
trained for the actual work of life
before he has reached anything like
maturity. The law schools are filled
10 OVERLOOKING with young mel who
are neither hy experience nor train
ing prepared to capahly handle the in
:ricate business problems that are in
rolyed In nearly every important liti-
sation. They blindly grope for law
from books whose printed pages are
olurs because the mind is not suf-
,iently developed to comprehend the
practical application of the principles
involved. The graduates are weeded
,ut in a way. and the capable succeed
while the incapables either fail, be-
some shysters Or enter some other
profession. There is no better mental
raining for any young man than the
..aw. If it is pursued for that purpose
But as a life profession there are toe
many failures for the number of sue
.esses. What is true Of the law is
rue OF every other professional train,
ing. More maturity before entering
upon the work is the reform needed.
DR.. Benton. quoted above. Should
have added one qualification to his
abatement. The man who is not more
useful at sixty-fve than at forty has
failed to improve with his opportu.
mites. If he is not at his best at three
IICOTe anu i've VI sven LiIIcS SUITE ant
len it is because he has not progress.
I'd. True, if he sat down at forty and
remained intellectually at that poin,
for twenty-five years he would be
twenty-five years behind the times
when he reached sixty-fve. That IL
The only reason why he would not be
worth more at sixty-five than forty
tine Of the reasons why the old mer
have been s%upplanted by the younge,
nnes in the last quarter of a centur,
Is because the older ones failed t.
progress. They drifted into groove.
ind failed to get results, and the
younger men with progressive idea.
ind less ability took their places. Thu
older man with his own experience
ind the younger mans progress would
have held his own easily.
All this is Of course dependent upo
The fact that the physical vitality o,
man is not impaired by his sixty-fi fly.
fears. If the body has not beer
Ebused and sickness has not ravishef
It's powers beyond repair, a ma
ihould he hale anc robust at We,
leventy. II his body is sound, hi.
mentality must likewise be sound
IJnder these conditions it is not diff
suit to see that with his ripe expert
Ince. his knowledge broadened by Z
lifetime Of study and thought. hi