The Pleasantville press., 1926-04-09
RIPE AGE AND INITIATIVE.

firm" in London, is evidently
disciple of Sir William Osler, who
did not say that men should be
chloroformed at sixty" but who
did say that if the work OF men
under forty were subtracted from
the sum of human achievement
the world would lose its greatest
discoveries and achievements. Sir
William Osler found that the
greatest advances were initiated
by young or comparatively young
men, and he believed that if men
dropped work at sixty the result
would be intellectually beneficial to
the race. Sir William himself was
fifty-six when he said this. He
lived to be seventy, and accom-
plished much important work af-
ter sixty. Sir Woodman Bur-
bridge is not far from the Osler
idea, for the plea he makes Is that
British business is handicapped
by the influence of old men in It,,
and that it ought to be put into
hands of young men. Fifty-three
years old himself, Sir Woodman
proposes to retire at sixty. Per-
haps he will, and perhaps he will
not. Man proposes, but some
times imperative business consid-
erations dispose; and many a
prosperous business, in America
sas we'll as abroad, has been kept
ssup to it's highest point of produc-
ton, or given new life and a wids
-er- SUCCESS. by who have de-
J, clinad to retire at three-score.
Like /Sir William Osler, men may
have their theories, but brains are
brains and enterprise is enter
4 prise, and nature has a habit OF
keeping certain men in effective
mental order and keenly open in
mind and perceptions long after
the age at which they are sup
posed to retire"
There are plenty of men in bus
mess in this country who have by
no means lost their initiative even
though they are far beyond three
score. Possibly they are not SO
clever at devising schemes of de-
velopment, at novelties in method
and in the approach of the public,
as the young men are. They
know, however, where to get nov
elites and how to stimulate
schemes, which is an important
part of any established business.
Mr.. Rockefeller's peculiar sagaci-
ty and resourcefulness far outran
his sixtieth birthday. SO did j..
Pierpont Morgan's; so, too, did
Russell Sage's and Commodore
yanderbilts. If Mr.. Edison has
not invented any monographs or
telephones since he was sixty, he
has nevertheless shown. a hlgh de-
gree of business sagacity. Per-
haps we cannot call Luther Bur-
bank, at seventy-seyen. a business
man, but some of his greatest
plant successes have been achiev-
ed since he was sixty.
1t all depends. 1t is a common
place that some men are old at
thirty and some are young at eigh-
ty. There is no imperative or un-
avoidable reason why the initia-
tive faculties should be outworn
in middle age. If they are kept
in use, and the body is kept fit in
the meantime, there is no reason
why these faculties should not
persist into old age. That state
ment is not only good in theory,
but it is confirmed by many actu
al instances. And there is one
element of the controversy which
Sir Woodman Burbridge seems to
overlook. There are more men
under forty than there are~oyer 1t,
and consequently more of them to
be initiators. And again, the ini-
tiative faculty is sharply stimulat-
ed in the young by necessity. The
young man has to make his way,
and often it is with him case of
initiate or die. Nor does Sir
Woodman take into account the
failures of initiation. Some things
that some young men initiate are
initiated to their own undoing.
Perhaps the old man in business
is to be credited with better dis
erection. 1t is maxim that when
a man is young he does more
work than he is paid for, but
when he is old, if he is any good,
he gets paid for more work than