Pocahontas star herald., 1924-12-11
subscription, sl5O A Year In Advance.
An Insane Age

Modern efficiency and specding-up
are driving this generation mad. cry
the alarmists. our asylums are over
crowded, our jails are full, we can't
build hospitals fast enough to care
for the mental and physical wrecks
Of this speed-mad civilization.
We pay too heavily for our scien-
tihc improvements and high-pressure
methods. Civilization is like run
away engine, making fast time but
bound for destruction.
Jazz mania, sex abnormalities, mob
hysterias, and the flouting Of all the
conventions are the inevitable conse-
quence, we are told. The only hope
for the race is to go back to the sim
plicity, yes, even the crudeness and
discomfort, Of the life of our fathers.
But, wait a minute, let MS examine
the actual conditions little more
closely. Travel at sixty miles an hour
never put any man in the asylum, and
there is no more immortality in flying
through the air than In running along
the surface of the earth. Exposed
plumbing is not vicious, electric lights
are not demoralizimg, and sermon
heard over the radio may be just as
uplifting as though heard in a church.
The automobile, In itself, is not a con-
trivance of the devil, and the travel
Ing crane or pneumatic hammer are
not tools of diabolism.
1t is rather interesting to note that
every advance In human power and
comfort has been met with this kind
of complaint. In 1892 group of
men in Lancaster, Ohio, asked the
school board for the use of the school
house in which TO hold a meeting to
promote a railroad in the vicinity.
The board answered by letter as fol-
lows:
You are at liberty to use the school
house to hold meetings for all proper
purposes. But railroad and telegraphs
are impossible and rank infidelity. If
God had intended His intelligent crea-
lures should travel at the frightful
speed of sixteen miles an hour He
would have clearly foretold il in the
Holy Prophets. II is device Of Satan
TO lead immortal souls down to Hell.
What are facts concerning modern
life?
A fair days work never hurt any
normal man. The fact that a man by
the use of machinery can move "A hun
dred tons Of pig iron where in times
past he could only move ten, does not
produce a deleterious effect upon his
mind or morals. The fact that bust
ness manager by use of telephones,
telegraphs, pneumatic tubes, dicta-
phones, typewriters and calculating
machines can accomplish more in one
day than his father could in a week,
does not wear his nerves to frazzle.
The truth is. that the creeping men
tai and moral paralysis that is threat
ening our civilization is due more ia
bootleg whiskey, all-night bridge, mid
night jazz, over-indulgence in rich and
highly spiced foods, mventilated rooms
sheer avarice and cupidity. inordinatC
ambition. and an overwhelming desire
TO outshine our neighbors. than to all
the speed and efficiency the world has
known.
Here is where our schools have d
significant work TO do, by teaching
our children that the prizes of life are
not money and power and place, MOI
are its satisfactions found in excite
ment, nervous stimulus and hysteria
that things purchased at the cost OF
health and honor are too dear; and
that true satisfaction consists in health
of body. peace to heart, sincerity OF
spirit. mind well stored with lofty
sentiments and unselfish thoughts, a
soul made strong by faith and love
whereby n man is beloved of children,
honored by the aged, Is master of him
self i'm any company, Is at home in the
woods or by the sea, finds companion
ship i'm n good book and is happy alone
under the stars, counts his wealth not
in dollars but In the affection of his
employees and associates and the con-
sciousness of clean life well lived,
whose heart beats true, whose nerves
vibrate with life whose sleep is as deep
and wholesome as a little child's, and
who looks levelly into the eyes of every
man. A simple. wholesome, normal,
natural existance.
So to live, is Life.--New Age Maya
zine
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