Omaha daily bee., 1922-05-25
The Middle Aged
Flapper

A correspondent finds in middle
aged flaPpeFism a trait which dis,
liHsuishes America from the Old
World, The nsaeh-bloom cheeks OF
youth may be Fougei and i.s petal
lips ineaTnsdiRsi, "bul," writes
Mary Churchill Humphrey. when
one looks into young eyes one sees
drifting dawn mlsls, while in their
shadows twinkle nallng stars" Far
otherwise the mladleraged flappsr,
Aet life hut movement IL what she
sacks, ''it Is she who does over the
old house or builds new one
shsfs her husband is deposited
while she goes out in search OF
culture As result OF so much
movement and So little living. our
nlatufef folk lack the inner re-
sources OF affection and Of mind
which give Old World culture a
soothing background. a mlddle-dis-
tahee that al once stimulates and
satisfies, This difference is set
down largely 10 our early marriages
and the prominence OF youth in sa-
take the center Of the stage even
ANhuhA tHNAF pRENHlN fhW hk6Al NtAk
Them at tennis,
diagnosis is not unfamiliar, dating
back 20 "tfnleayened Bread" and
Indeed 10 Daisy Miller" The dis
auieting fact today is that not only
eultuferehasing women. but business
men and reputed statesmen flap
along the surface. yainiy imagining
a. ftlatas shat atAakF.s yhA
Time WAS when economic failacy
and political nostrum affected only
the embattied farmer and the aspir-
Ing trade unionist. From sreenback-
lsm 10 the single tax. political flap
rrrism was a phenomenon dcrislble.
Then Bryan emerged. To his stand
multitude. but politicians. econom-
ISIS and educators. No candidate
was ever so often defeated or so
indestruetible. Today his economic
doctrine. In form only slightly dif-
ferent. is espoused by Henry Ford
aud Thomas a. Edison-both far
from flappers when they are on
their own beat. Darwinism also has
felt the pressure OF web feet. the
boating OF ambitious wings. and
there are wide regions I'm this coun-
Try where those who stand true to
Adam and Eve are barely short OF
majority. In local elections the
flupper is your only bird. Mayor
IIylan has blood brothers in Curley
nf Boston. Schwab OF Buffalo. Koh-
Ter OF Cleveland. oles OF Youngs-
town. Lew Shank OF Indianapolis,
Thimpson of Chicago. When Honest
John preens himself as a presiden-
tial candidate II is not he alone who
has reason to look foolish.
The time is at hand when we shall
have to consider whether we are
nation OF flappers. The army intel
ligence tests showed that only 1871
per cent Of the drafted men were
capable OF a college education" OF
whom only AZ per cent were Of the
"first-rate college material" Such
statistics as we have indicate that.
go Jew are the children of gradu-
ates. our leading institutions would
be obliged to close their doors in
six generations, except for access
sions from the ranks of the hitherto
uncducated. At Princeton less than
one-half of the students are from
families In which either parent is
graduate. From all sides comes the
report that, though numbers are
Increasing, quality is on the decline.
II there were an ineXhaustible
source Of new life in our popula-
ton, the case would not be so bad.
but the same army tests indicated
that Alb per cent OF our population
are what is technically described as
m orons, being OF the mental age"
of'12.,
The tests were of necessity made
In great haste and under unfavorable
conditions. Prof. T. S. Baker. acting
president of Carnegie Institute of
Technology, says that he cannot be-
lieve nearly one-half Of our fellow
citizens are morons." Yet he ad-
mits that tests lately made in de-
partment stores and industrial
plants "tend to confirm" the army
tests. Europe has not even the be-
ginning of mental census, but no
less an observer than Viscount Bryce
has noted falling off in political
Intelligence. and especially in politi-
cal leadership, precisely similar to
that from which we are suffering.
Cntil we have new and complete
mental census, giving the nation an
intelligence quotient considerably
higher, there is little encouragement
to resort to abstruse social analysis
TO explain the middle-aged flapper.