Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-06-09
YOUTHS BIG JOB

YOUTH, said Or. NJ. Carey Thomas in
i her notable valedictory at Bryn Mawr
yesterday, must save the world. There 10 In
the assertion an Implication that maturity
and age have failed. And the frequency
with which the responsibility for world sal.
walton 10 being put BY inference and sus.
sestion on the shoulders Of the young OF
these times Is suggestive Of something very
like despair at the heart Of older genera.
tions. At any rate, It is good to find In.
formed people believing that there 10 some
good in the young after all and that youth
may be depended on to do more than jaxI
itself and its world into black confusion.
Every one who makes a public address
nowadays seems to feel that the world needs
to be saved. But no one is clear about the
thing or things that II must be saved from.
War? Yes. War, as the more anxious
publicists seem to see it. Is earth's crowning
amiction. Yet war In itself Is not a dis.
ease. but a symptom Of deeper Ills about
which the diplomatic doctors are unable to
agree. The elder statesmen Of whom Miss
Thomas spoke bitterly are, In fact. a trial
rather than q help to Europe and to other
parts OF the world nearer home. They are
the doctors, and when doctors cannot meet
In a sickroom without flying at each others
throats there cannot be much hope for the
potASuSs A>c~ OOCCOES OuBut u UV CuLcu
In. So Miss Thomas would summon the
genius and courage and generosity Of youth
to task that science and scholarship seem
unable to perform.
The doctors themselves are indeed sriev.
ously sick with greed and pride and incur.
able selfshness. They are fevered and ir.
rational. And yet 1t isn't quite safe to
suppose that the world can get along about
Its affairs without assistance from those
who acquire knowledge through experience.
Amateur statesmen are always getting
themselves and others into trouble. Rus.
sla Is pretty clear proof Of what win follow
upon experiments In what you might call
instructive government. Youth. therefore,
can greatly influence government for the
better. But It cannot govern. Youth can.
know many valuable and beautiful things
that age has q habit Of forgetting.
What the world seems to need, therefore,
Is Society for the Better Education Of
Mature and Elderly Gentlemen and Ladies'.
1t might be said with great deal Of truth
that deficient education is the first cause Of
all the afiictions and woes Of modern So
ciety. In truly educated world, war, for
example. would be impossible. Poverty
would not be permitted to exist. Hatred
would be OUTLAY and Its sources Quaran.
tined as carefully and risidly as a small.
pox area. No one In such an age would
believe that money and material possessions
could ever be the measures Of success or as.
surances Of anything approximating happi.
ness. But education Is still in a primitive
state. 1t still tends to over. develop the in.
dividual ego and to expand and fx purely
selfish ambitions. 1t Is too often a stimu.
liant to futile and even violent pride, In
Germany 1t was used as a process of dehu.
manization.
II youth would save the world II must.
therefore. force something Of its natural
good will and Its bright instructive wisdom
into the educational system. 1t could make
a good beginning by acclaiming men like
William James-when, occasionally. such
geniuses happen along. 1t should not let
any Journalist assume to put blinders upon
the eyes Of its soul. And 1t should remem.
Der one gallant hope expressed by Miss
Thomas herself-a hope for an everlasting
freedom OF speech and thought and criti.
cism In universities and out Of them. with.
out that sort Of freedom no other freedom
could continue for a generation. The pae IL
the first weapon of every tyrant. II makes
the use OF all other weapons Of political and
social oppression safe and easy