The Washington herald., 1912-04-07
EDUCATIONAL INFANTICIDE' is CHARGED
AGAINST THE PRESENT INDUSTRIAL AGE
DR.. Guy Potter Benton. of the University of
Vermont Says Power Still Goes Only
to Middle Age

look man, however He needs conserva-
ton TO meet the wear and tear OF body,
nerves. and brain. And the conserva-
ton should begin In childhood, so that
the boy or girl may do full days work
and a good days work when grown to
manhood or womanhood. The prepared
man, as l would have him prepared, is
the conserved man, with no false ideas
and no useless motions. We heaEs much
about the needless motions of workmen.
By cutting out the unnecessary gymnas-
tics of a handler of pig iron at the fur
naces of the Bethlehem Steel Company
IL was learned that his daily task in
tons could be increased amazingly. That
was a great discovery in industry. Even
so, but how much more important is IL
to omit the needless motions of mans
mental processes?
The unframed or unprepared man
cutters up his head with the rubbish of
worthless thinking. He gropes around
in the dark, stumbling over this and that
skinning his arms and legs, and finally
finding the door that is to lead HIM
into the light. Meanwhile the prepared
man has walked uprightly and safely
into the achievement of his purposes. 1t
should be remembered, however, that
requires work and time.
boy who is ready at the age of twenty
eight or thirty to take up the work Of
his life will live longer and accomplish
more than the boy who hurries into his
profession at the age of twenty-five.
Old Men Are In Command.
Theoretically. therefore, this is not
the era when youth triumphs over ma
turity; nor practically. The witnesses
we see on every hand show us that the
old mem of the world are still doing
the heavy and important work. II al
ways has been so, and IL always viii be
so. Youth, bright-eyed and hopeful, Is
beautiful to contemplate, but II Is inefii-
cient A young tree will not bear as
much fruit as an older one. We cannot
dispute nature, either with respect 10
man or vegetables. But we are senu-
mental toward youth and kindly. and our
feelings sometimes lead us away from
the truth. We observe a pushing young
man, but we fail to understand, perhaps, |
that he is following the plans handed
him by an unnoticed captain, the hair |
on whose temples is growing white
DO you know" DIR. Benton asked ,
that some Of the vital organs OF man
are not fully matured until he reaches
the age of forty? Here at home, and |
right in the present, consider the age OF |
Chief Justice White, Of the Supreme
Court He is sixty-siX years old. and L
venture to say was never stronger mentally
Or physically than at this very minute.
Mr. Justice Harlan, who died not long
ago in his seventy-ninth year, was grad
Iated from college at seventeen and be-
gan practicing law at twenty-one. Child
hood has its rights. One of them is time
and opportunity in which to grow. Mr..
Justice Harlan was robbed in his youth,
and that which was taken away from
lim then had to be recovered on the golf
inks after he had reached the middle Of
his life.
There is a buoyancy with youth, nat
lrally, and IL II is deadened by hard
work, worry, or responsibility, 1t must
De revived later in one way or another
4 there is 10 be a well-balanced, normal, Z
and fruitful maturity. Look at the little
Hizened boys who are employed around
,Oal mines and in mills and factories.
They have developed into men far ahead
# their time. Their bodies show II. and
10 do their faces and their eyes. They
irudge from infancy almost, and at nifty.
f they live so long, look like very old
nen.
Lincoln, Webster, and Others.
Abnormal maturity is exactly as bad
or human beings as for plants Early
,ut of the ground, as with tulips and wild
-ioIets. means an early seed time and an
.arly death. / would prolong youth and
hus lengthen life. / would plant deeply
md we'll and not too soon, and thus
void frost and gather bountiful har-
'est. l.
But We were speaking OF old men,
Dr.. Benton went on to say. John Bige-
ow, Just dead at the age Of ninety-four,
wed nationally, using his high speed only
hen climbing steep hills, writing many
ooks and gaining distinction in diplo-
macy. BENJAMIN Franklin was seventy
Vhen he signed the Declaration Of In
dependence. and sevetty-seven when,
With Adams and Jay, he wrote his name
o the treaty of Paris. Lincoln, as years
re counted now, was not a young man
rhen he was elected President of the
Tnited States. Daniel Webster was forty
light at the time he answered Hayne.
railroads now would turn him away
Tere he alive and forty-eight and look
ng for a job. So would manufactures
nd banks. But 1 observe with salts
action that old engineers are still run
ing our limited trains. If age is COM
etent in locomotive cabs II ought to
old its own where the pace is not near
Y so swift or dangerous.
I'VE know that Gladstone and Bismarck |
i'd their greatest work after they ceased
D be young men. Bismarck was fifty-six
hen he united the German states into
n empire and Gladstone led the Liberal |
aTty at the age Of eighty-three. Jules
ambon, of France, who is said to be
he foremost diplomatist in the world and
'ho negotiated the delicate bargain be-
ween his country and France over Mo-
Deco. is past seventy. Lord Palmers-
IN, at eighty-two and then in office,
aid that man was in his prime at sew
nty-nine. Michael Angelo painted when
e was eighty-nine, and Titan painted
hen he was ninety.
Old Men and Railroads.
Likewise let me melton Xenophan.
-ant, Goethe. and Sir Isaac Newton.
-ho lived and wrought as octogenarians
nd left behind them work that still in
uences the generations. Carnegie.
and Morgan We know about.
Iarvin Hughitt, seventy-four, is man
ging the Chicago and Northwestern
ailroad. Roswell Miller, still supreme
all the business and operations of the
hicago, Milwaukee and st. Paul system,
sixty-eight. The ever active and mas
.rful James ]. Hill is seventy-three
when we make preachments about |
ne power and the accomplishments of
I us, however. are guilty Of a misuse
I words. What We really mean are the
otentialities of youth. So we chatter
} the modern music of turning wheels
nd roaring machinery and rush boys
Ut into the world before they have found
lemeslves. Finding ones self is the
ne supreme matter of material life.
ow 1 ask IL a boy can find himself
the age of eighteen? That question
rings up our manuel training, or poly
,chnical high schools. In the first place