The sun., 1917-08-24
A Doctors Dismal Thoughts.

We fear that a tube Of gloom cul-
ture from the laboratory at Washing.
ton must have found Its way to the
Office Of that usually cheerful New
York physician DR.. JAMES J. WALSH.
In an article on utopia: Where Men
Were Happy" in the American Cdtho.
lie Quarterly Rerieic, he betrays symp-
toms Of profound doldrun,e. This
would not be remarkable In a mere
doctor, but DR.. WALSH Is a historian,
and no historian should be appalled,
by anything. Yet he writes:
Whenever have lectured on The
Thirteenth as the Happiest Of Cen.
turies.' however. I have usually ven.
tured to suggest that probably the very
unhappiest time of human existence Is
our own. For some reason apparently
in the designs OF an inscrutable Provi-
dence we were born into the period
when more human beings in proportion
to the whole number Of those alive are
unhappy than was probably true ever
before. Since the outbreak OF the war
do not find many people who dis
agree with me seriously, but even BE-
fore the war felt that this expression
as to the superlative unhappiness Of
the men Of our time was true. Our in
sanity rate was higher than ever before
and has doubled in the last generation.
Our suicide rate is ever SO much higher
than at any time before. and that. too.
has more than doubled within a sener-
alton. Besides the age at which people
60 insane and commit suicide is get
ting to be ever younger and younger.
for the strain. the struggle for exist
ence and the stress Of the lack Of SYM
pathy around them produces a profound
feeling of discomfort and dissatisfaction
with life"
DR.. WALSH is preferable to Polly
anna, Of course, yet We think he
shares that young lady's fault Of going
to extremes. The theory that every
thing is wrong Is delightful in that
so many things can be shown to be
wrong--including the theory itself
Possibly the rates on insanity and sui
eide appear to be higher now than
ever before, because the statisticians
! of previous generations were lax.
Everything moves, either forward
or backward, or seems to. Novels and
the weather are worse than they were
ten years ago; motor tires and tele.
phone service are better Take the
thirteenth century, accepted by DR.
WALSH as the happiest Of human
cycles: was there no cause for the
megrims then?
1t is easy to fancy King JOHN In
the dumps when the harons crowded
up bearing Magma Charta. What q
century he must have said to him
self; the eleventh for me! More brief
and bitter were the thoughts Of his
contemporary, PHILIP Of Swabia, a'
the moment OTTo Of Wittelsbach slew
him. The people of Pekln surely
were not happy when GENGHIs KHAN
came along. AS LOUIS IX. fell into
the hands Of the Egyptians we canno
imagine him blessing the century. Thu
people of Wales, conquered by Ed
WARD, probably decided that 1t wa!
the worst century that most Of then
had ever lived in. The last Caliph o.
Bagdad, retired from his delightful
business by the Mongols, did not rist
to say that this was the decade o.
decades. MARCO Polo may hav'
started his tour for the purpose O
learning whether things went al
badly in Tartary as in Venice.
The twentieth Is the best centur.
that our readers may have at the pres
ent time. We trust that on the eve
ming Of December 81, A. d. 1000, DR.
WALSH will sit down and write US Z
letter admitting as much