The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-11-18
AMERICAN LIFE IS TOO FAST Scientists SupportSecretary Hughes

WASHINGTON. D. G, Nov. 17.--1t is the day of the fleeting vision. Com oentration, thoroughness, the quiet reflection that ripens judgment are more difficult than ever"
 This Is the verdict rendered by Secretary Hughes upon the speed mania in America. In an informal address at the convocation at Brown university he deplored "the relentless need for motion," thus raising these questions:
 Are we moving too fast, too fast for health and too fast for thought? Should we, and how can we, slow down? Can an age of hustle produce a civilization equal to that of an age of serenity? Can pep produce world Ideas?
 Men recognized as authorities in the various fields that touch upon the problem record their agreement with MT. Hughes. Men can adapt themselves, they say; men can learn to do everyday work under condi- some men may even prefer such con ditions, but even in mere material production there is a point beyond which haste is waste.
 "The causes of the speed mania are more psychologic than economic" !" Sdiu GroI IL. InoFnulke, psyCnCloBlsC and professor education at teachers college. Columbia university. '"The young business man, for instance, Is trained in salesmanship to go at his man like a trip p-hammer. It is ar tificial 8 fashion. But even in the business world the two richest men are not of this type. Henry Ford and John D. Rockefeller are no hus- tiers and never were. How bring about a change? Get somebody to sell the business men the idea of calmness
 "The peoples of the past who have led in thought have had peace and solitude. Knowledge can be inter rupted; 1t can be kept away. We have no definite experimental knowl- edge on the effects of rush; 1t is not question of a scientific fact, like the shape of the earth, but the gen eral opinion of psychologists is that snap and pep are detrimental rather unhealthful, not profitable. Peace good for ideas. The crux of 1t all is whether we really work fast and en- ergetically, cutting ice all the way, or just go through the motions. Will liam James, in The Gospel of Re- laxation,' said Americans just jump up and down without getting there. Ideas Require Quietude.
 In a broad way, that of the crea- ton of ideas, Secretary Hughes is right Take Einstein for example: if he had to answer the telephone every half-hour and reply to 25 CT 30 letters a day it might be impos- cedure of thinkers, according to the biographies, Is to soak themselves in an issue, to experiment, to con slider as few irrelevant things as they can. A lawyer planning case acts the same way. Inventors also. picture till 1t is done. There are writers like TrollCpe who turn out their regular 2,0o0 words every day, but one fancies that with them there is a chance for improvement. The general balance of writers Is toward seclusion.
 'There is a higher typs that can classic example. The really success full business man may prefer to work in familiar chatter and hustle under enormous pressure, but it may be doubted that this Is general. Much of 1t Is mannerlsm. The mind will work under all kinds of conditions 1T 1t wants to produce badly enough. Lord Kelvin had little green note book in which he jotted mathe- matical and physical formulae as they occurred to him, wherever he was. even when yachting or at a card party. But Darwin, the great est man of science of 100 years, lived in the country by himself
 For some persons, there Is strain in working slowly. With them slow ness makes resistance. Even with a business executive, however, who has to make decision in five seconds. the main idea is to get the job out of the way. The result is quantity, not quality.
 "The worst waste q all is worry. BedeyiIed By Hurry.
 If we keep up at this rate. we shall .learn how to act reasonably at high speed, but the man who wants to produce ideas will still have to go away by himself. It is not a matter of the races adapting itself to new conditions over long period of time it is a case of adapting individ- uals in a short time. Conditions now are unlike those that the mind was developed to meet. The less speed, the healthier and more eff cient we shall be-especially the able people who are bedeviled by the modern hurry"
 The machine that produces great quantity of newspapers and maga- zines does moro for the spread of ideas than does solitude, according to Professor Thorndike. But the ideas are in such great variety as to be confusing, and the solutions of fered have the fault often of being ready-made. One sees the effect of the machine age iI the very quality of current ideas,
 Secretary Hughes spoke specifi- cally of the effects on education and on public officials of haste, of in- al. ,ofx oil la, acquiring information When he spoke the public mind was still dwell- ing on the share that interruptions had in bringing about the death of President Harding, while but a day or two later President Coolidge limited his calling hours to the morning. The question, however, has