The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-11-28

w ASHlNGION, ID. g, NOV. "a
statistical study of persons who lived
for a hundred years or more is to be
one of the undertakings this year of
! the census bureau which is preparing
a report on the ages of persons now
| living in the United States.
1t may be h1Zarded that this will be
| one Of the most popular reports ever
! put out by the bureau, for men have
( always shown an almost morbid in
! terest in the problem of prolOngins
] life. They used to believe that by the
/ discovery of some wonderful eliXer or
! spring they might cheat death forever.
! Science has abolished that hope. Men
| know now that they must die, but they
seem nOne-thelleSS to be eager TO add a
! few years to their lives if possible.
| Every jOt of evidence that average life
is being prolonged is read with eager
! interest.
There is manifestly something I'M
sound in this attitude. The average
human life has been heightened since
! the Middle Ages, but largely by re-
ducing infant mortality and prOlong-
ing the period of senile decay What
we actually get out of life is not meas
| ured by the average number of years
men live, but by the length of the &C
tive period and still more by what
| they do with it, More encouraging
than the frightening of the average
! expectation of human life is the fact
! reported by the census bureau, that
persons Of middle age and past show
constantly increasing range of activity.
More and mora achievements is put
! down every year to the credit of men
and women who are old in years, but
apparently not in vitality. More and
more old persons marry, too, and the
census bureau is especially interested
in these. The active creative period
of life for men is apt to correspond to
the duration Of their virility.
Aged Writers
Literature has shown some striking
examples in late years of productivity
in old men Joseph Friend De Nor
gan, the novelist who recently died,
began his writing career after so and
wrote a series of novels of high merit
Thomas Hardy at 81 is a lyric poet
who produces steadily. He wrote all
Of his novels before he was 20 and
then turned to poetry and made a
great reputation IN that branch of lit
= erature. George Brandes, the Danish
t critic, and the most famous of all
| Danes, is 50 and still an active writer
2 and a man of world influence.
t A study of the ages of men who
+ are attending the Washington con
/ ference would be interesting. II would
t certainly show that men of from 50 tc
q 20 years Of age are guiding the politi
n cal destinies of the world Of course
e statesmen have generally been elderly
q men. Nor are there any any statistics
l. TO prove that old men achieve more
s now than in former years, but there is
5 general impression abroad that they
a do so
i Furthermore, this impression con
S ours with scientific opinion. which
e holds that man should normally live
not the three score and ten of tht
j. Bible, but about twice that long Tht
/ idea seems to have been first advanC
e ed by MetchnikOff. 1t is the under
+ instead of Withdrawing all of it. haC
o begun regular savings account anC
=. still were continuing it. SO the plaI
has been of value to the participant!
and to the general community as wei
- and there is no likelihood of tn
= Christmas Savings club being aban
:. dOned for many years to come. Rich
o. mOnd banks probably will make thei
= annual distribution to members with
u in the next two weeks.
W Did you know that Richmond real
=, ly is the home of roller skates?
y asked a travelling man for a sporting
r. goods house the other day. well, i
is is so considered by men in my line
"a especially those who have been II
o the business some years. l can re
L member when the roller skating fat
i. struck the United States. That wa
90 back in the eighties. There wer
"a skates being made by several cor
~ Germs in the country, but it remaine
r. for a Richmond man to bring out tn
q skate that revouiOnized the bushes
=, and for years this skate was the mos
- famous in the COunty-in fact it prob
~ ably remains so STILL though natural
n the business is not one of such mas
nitude as it once was"
This travelling man was informe
ct that at one time back in the eighties
+, Richmond had more than a dOze
70 skate factories at one time. two c
III them large. the remainder small cor
a Germs. but all selling their wares
~ various parts of the country
70 While the new board of police con
at missioners appointed by Mayor-eleC
al Handley will not get down TO bushes
a. officially until the new administratio
p. takes up the reins of the local go
v eminent on Sunday, January /, it
ar reported that there are many apple;
n lions for jobs as patrolmen. a yea
70 or two ago it was difficult to find me
IN who would accept place on the Pr
10 ice force, but with a letting down {
of the industrial activities, with man
o men thrown out of employment th
nd available talent for police jobs has il
as creased in a measurable degree an
adj in consequence the new police con
1e What One Doctor Saws