Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-09-11
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atric Clinic at Washington, d. c.: DIR.
| George X. Pratt, assistant director.
National Committee for Mental Hy-
giene.
Other doctors who could not attend
| but consented to write articles are DIR.
| Smith Ely Jelliffe, associate editor Of
| the Psychoanalytic Review and au-
! thor of many books on nervous and
| mental problems; DIR. Menas S. Greg
Dry. professor of psychiatry, New
York University; DR.. Herman Adler,
director of the Institute for Juve-
nile Research, Chicago DIR. Douglas
Singer. professor of psychiatry, Uni
versity Of Illinois College of Medicine,
ard DR.. Frankwood Williams. director
| National Committee for Mental Hy-
giene.
The conference discussed many OF
the mental problems which lead to
success or failure in life; what mental
readjustmentS are necessary for the
rich mans son, the reformer's chill
dren, the children of criminals and of
the poor and obscure how sex preju-
dice leads to business failure; how
man may he made or marred by the
attitude of his wife or his mother:
what makes the buffer, the day
dreamer, the crouch. the hard boiled"
makes the criminal: why women fail
in business. and how they can over
come natural disadvantages.
4 x x
OF course, in speaking of success or
- failure we must always remember
that the terms are relative. Some of
tho greatest successes may look like
failures. The story is told of an Ori-
entail potentate whose son was
plunged into the depths of melan
oholia. Wise men were summoned to
advise what should be done After
long consideration they decided that
he could be cured only if they could
find an absolutely happy man and
transfer the shirt of the happy man
to the patient. Emissaries were dis
patched to all parts of the kingdom,
and finally a really happy man was
found. But, 10. he had no shirt.
The implications of this story are
obvious 1t is not so much in the eX-
ternals that happiness or failure re-
sides, but in us and our attitude !
toward them. Fate may deal ter
rible blow. as it has in the recent
Mississippi flood disaster, and many
will undoubtedly be crushed as re-
suit. but others. who are more hap |
PLY constituted, will pick up the
fragments and carry on with little if |
any injury to their capacity for hap |
piness. We may not be able to con- |
troll circumstances, but we do have |
some control of the effect circum |
stances have on us.
1t is these inner values-our cata- |
logue of assets and liabilities with |
which we tackle the problems of life |
that matter most. The world as it |
is we have to accept for. the most |
part, but our own ways of dealing |
with it may or may not be efficient. |
These ways can be changed if only we
know about them, what they are anc |
how they work. Most persons take |
and their ways of feeling |
and thinking for granted If it were
only possible to take stock of them |
from time to time, just as we are |
learning to take stock of our physical |
selves by regular examinations.
This may not be possible to the
same degree. but it is hoped that this
series of articles may cause many a
reader to give greater consideration
to his inner, real motives and his
ways and means of meeting the days
Ssues, to the end that he may come
% see the signs of futile methods and
oSt motion and take the necessary
teps for improving his efficiency and
his happiness.
For after all. our success is meas
lred by the ability with which we
ire able to bring our passions. feel
ngs, emotions under the control and
guidance of our intelligence, and so
press them into the service of our
deals. Success does not just hap
Zen. 1t must be sought and wooed
Ind deserved, and it is most likely to
oe found if sought intelligently.
\ 4
THE studies that have been made
= during the last few years on tho
actors that enter into character for
nation have been of inestimable value.
They have shown us over again how
md why people have come to be what
hey are, either successes or failures, /