Evening star., 1927-11-20
nv HERMAN ADLER. MD.

01rector Institute for Juvenile Research.
Chicago.
~@HE failure of men in business
can be accounted for by num-
ber of causes, ranging from
Il general panic or world war
=. to insanity or drunkenness.
Somewhere in this long list come the
men whose failure is direct result OF
the family situations in which they
have grown up. These cases of fail
tre engage our attention the more
strikingly because we feel that they
could be avoided. Whereas we ac-
cent as inevitable the effect of a gen.
eral panic or of insanity in a man,
we are bound to feel that real un-
derstanding of fcmily situations and
relations could often bring about sue
cess and happiness where otherwise
there would have been failure and un-
happiness.
Sons of prominent people, sons of
rich men, sons of influential men. OF
preachers and reformers, sons of Grim
inals, of the poor and obscure, chill
dren of broken down aristocracy-
all these have particular difficulties
and complications which may prevent
their leading normal lives with that
degree of success to which their actual
abilities entitle them.
The illustrations which follow are
taken from life. They have been Sc
lected on the basis of whether or not
they are types of failure and not
isolated instances. and in each case
I have tried to point out the reasons
for the difficulty and the way it might
have been avoided.
We are all familiar with the type of
father, highly successful in his own
business or profession, who, conscious
iy or unconsciously, urges his son to
follow in his footsteps without regard
70 the boys particular abilities. Or.
perhaps, the initiative lies with the
son, whose admiration for his father
arouses in him a desire to initiate
whereas his own talents may lie in
quite another direction. For the sons
of famous or prominent men the way
10 doubiy hard. Whether they choose
the same career as their fathers or
some other. their course is charged
with difficulties. for they can hardly
escape comparison with their fathers,
and IL they are in any degree less
brilliant, they constantly suffer from
q sense of inferiority.
X "
TAKE the case OF Philip X. After
Il being graduated with honors in
biology from an Eastern university
he came back to the Middle Western
citv in which his father. as the prin
cipal of the leading boys school. had
been for years a prominent and be
loved figure. Half the important men
OF the city had grown up under his
care. and every one in the town was
familiar with old DIR. RS wisdom
and integrity in civic matters and
with the beauty of his character.
Philip, settling down to teach
biology in his fathers school was
snly too aware of his fathers dis
finction, and day by day more over
~helmed and depressed by the fact
that never, never would he be his
fathers equal: never would he have
the same compelling influence on the
character of his students; never could
he become the same power in the
community. He struggled on at his
teaching. howcver-after all, it was
his chosen profession-getting what
fomfort to his dwindling selfrespecl
he could out of the biological expert
ments which he carried on after
schooI hours in a little laboratory hi
fad fitted UP for himself.
Then old DR.. r. died. Though thii