Evening star., 1927-10-20

The recent pronouncement by viii
Durant. author of the STORY Oi
Philosophy" 10 the effect that mans
life work is completed at So. meets
with a far from favorable reception
from the press. While some com
mentators feel that Durants re-
marks. like DR.. Osler's some years
ago. are perhaps intended to be taken
with grain of humOr, they never
theIess offer an array of testimony
for the defense of slandered middle
age.
IF the Durant rule had been ap-
piled in the past" it is pointed out
by the San Francisco Bulletin. "the
world would not have had many oil
it's great masterpieces of art, liter
ature and the drama. and might
have been deprived of some OF the
greatest achievements in the sciences.
Durant could certainly have made a
mere pamphlet of his story OF
philosophy" The Bulletin quotes
Walter Johnson's statement that "one's
BODY may be on the down grade after
35 or 40, but ones brain should be
on the upgrade. Some of our great
est men have not reached their zenith
till in the sixties and seventies"
Meanwhile" remarks the New Or
leans Item Tribune. "Dr. Dorland, a
noted surgeon of Chicago. finds that
accomplishments long after 40. often
beyond SO. and hold their highest
levels far beyond so. He bases the
conclusion on the study of 400 ia
nous lives Of our own time. Men
died younger in past times than they
do now, and wore out faster than
they do now before reaching the
stepping-off place" OF the position
taken by Mr.. Durant that paper says.
when he fails to accept the self
evident truth manifested in natural
phenomena. we hardly know what
to do with him."
The Hartford Times quotes the fig.
ures supplied by Dr.. Dorland as to
average production peaks for various
occupations az follows: Chemists and
physicists, ~; dramatists. poets and
inventors, A; novelists, 46; explorers
and soldiers, AZ; musical composers
and actors. 4S: artists and preachers,
so; essayists and reformers, 81; ply
sicians, statesmen and surgeons, 81;
philosophers, 54; astronomers. mathe-
maticians and humorists, Sc; histo-
rians, 81: naturalists and judges. 5S.
The Times adds: with respect to
humble hewers Of wood and drawers
of water in the vast hall of common
workaday livelihood. what the statis-
tics may reveal is an inquiry which
many can wish DIR. Dorland or others
OF scholarly mind may soon address.
Meanwhile. the ancient motto. Keep
plugging is safe and sane and worthy
to be engraved upon the national
currency along with In God We
Trust
AN arbitrary age limit" in the
opinion of the Topeka Daily Capital
runs against the opipion of physiol
ogists and scientists familiar with
human bodily and mental capabilities,
and the enforcement OF such an ar
bitrary judgment must have an unfor-
tunate repercussion upon the question
OF even international relations. in the
matter, for example, of immigration
restriction. II labor is shut off at the
ports of admission to this country and
at the same time is restricted by
age limitation not corresponding to
scientific facts as to capacity for the
job. the employment problem will not
be simplified but aggravated" The
Capital quotes the psychologist to the
effect that the average span of life
in the last generation has been ex-
tended from 35 to Sc years"
According to the 1910 census" ar
Sues the New York Times, 1.-The men
over As engaged in gainful occupations
S5.9 per cent of all men i'm
that age class. In the 1920 census,
the proportion was 81 per cent. EN-.
ployment opportunities for the middle.
aged are apparently increasing. In