Pueblo chieftain., 1921-04-25
By Frederic ]. Haskin

Washington, d. c., April A-Ihe
manners of Americans, and especially
of the younger generation Of them,
are rapidly deteriorating, according to
Dr. Charles W. Eliot, president eTeT'-
tus of Harvard, who is \ sort OF pro
fessional representative of the last
century.
He protests against the informality
of greetings, against tho 1act tna'
men smoke in the presence OF women:
that boys and girls touch. tap and
shove each other. and that they talk
about things. events, processes anu
subjects" which the young men anu
women of his day never mentioned az
all. BY this latter circumlocution, inc
learned doctor is trying to tell us,
without making himself blush, ti.at
men and women now frankly discuss
matters of sex.
This plant against the deterioration
of our manners has been heard so
often of late that the subject seems
to require study. What are COOL man.
ners and what purpose do they serve!
Arc our manners really deteriorAtins
or merely changing?
After consulting a number OF the
greatest authorities, living and dead
on the subject. We arc unable to an
swcr these questions, but can pass
on to the reader some of the intor-
nation acquired and let him try to
answer them for himself
The scientists seem agreed that the
manners of eociety are rooted TO
great extent in fear-the fear that IN
dividuals have OF each other. and that
the individual has for society as "a a
whole. This point is emphasized by
Mrs. Elsie Clswes Parsons. an able
American woman anthropolosist.
In support o! this view 1t may De
shown that manners havc always
been most formal and perfect where
both these fears werc wcil-ground-d.
In the South before the Civil war, for
example. it was tho custom for men
to fight duels over small matters.
soma' imcs mere dtscourteSics. Rud''
treatment of women WAS also cause
for bloodshed. At the Same time, OBJ
servers assure US that public opinion
was tyrannical.
Here was a land where bad man
ners or careless words might cost
man his life, and the result was
code of manners OF great fofmaiity
and beauty. They were renbafSaoi oiy
similar TO the manners OF EliLabethaH
England when every gentleman wore
n sword and was always ready to
skewer other gentlemen for impoltte-
ness 1t may also be pointed out that
manners are now most perfect in for
NAL society, whore each Is wholly de-
pendent for preferment upon the
favor OF others rather than upon his
own abilities.
The valse or Formally
Manners. then. are probably ground
cd partly In fear. But that A moth
ing against them. Most cf our vir-
tues arc based on fear. according to
the scientists. And. whatever their
origin. manners undoubtedly add casc
and grace TO life They luhricatc per
sonal contacts. saving friction. and At
the same time lending dignity to thc
.arkMl IL natural that
DIR. Eliot and his contemporaries
should rssent the passing OF FORMAL
manners from no much of our ltfe
They arc In some respects = genuine
loss.
. At the sams time. there = sons
thing gained. We arc less formal
with each other In part because we
are less afraid Of each other. Hence.
IL there Is less Of formal grace IN
our intercourse. there is more Of spon-
tancity and genuincness- II Ii easier
to get At a man. to mako = friend
women to get along with each othcr.
Surely the frank discussions which
take place between them nowadays
arc more conducive to rsAi under
standing than the empty exchanges OF
rhetorical broadsides which took place
the novelistA-
Fear no longer plays such a large
part in social relations. but fear Is
not the only motive in manners. A
feeling of kindness and amia hility also
finds exprHsion in them. IL 1 this
which gives them spirit, rs fear gives
them form. Now the form Is gone, |
but the spirit has not been abolished. |
Wc all know people whose natural
3 ct ness makes their manners
charming altho they are anything but
Tho trouble is that VULGAR
ity. bad taste, brutality also have free
play where tho formalisms have been |
abandoned. In country such as
Inrly Victorian England or our own
an.e-bellum South, children were
taught = code of manners as rigid as
the rules of chess. on certain occa-
sions they must how in certain ways.
There were set forms for saying md
doing everything. The cad and tho
dolt could thus be gwen n scmblancc
Of courtesy. They would lack the