Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-21

INO uldGlCI NIlEblIGI LII. AJoICL CfGI
said 1t or not--he denied it-employers
all over America have gone DIR. Osler
not zone better" but 90 years worse, and
declared that when a man gets so aged
and decrepit and useless as the average
man of 40 years, it would be humane
to Just chloroform him and make room
for a kid.
This is the cage of YOUTH" duly
capitalized dramatically and indus
trially. What is the use of living after
40 years? Nobody wants the earth in
numbered with such venerable age, char
acterized by senility and general in
competence. Who will hire middle
aged" man?
X X X X
OF all the silly deductions Of modern
life, that 40-year limit of industrial
dotage is about the most inane and
absurd, according to President Green
Of the American Federation Of Labor
and j. j. Davis, the United
States Secretary of Labor. Yet it has
become a live issue in labor circles and
in the Department of Labor. At con-
ference in Miami, Fla, this week, Presi-
dent Green denounced the folly, and
declared that before the next meeting
of the American Federation of Labor,
to be held in Washington, opening
May 20, there will have been made a
complete survey of the Nation from the
standpoint Of that 40-year limit, to dis
cover what influences are beguiling en-
ployers into its adoption.
The investigation will not be made
from the standpoint of benevolent toll
erance of "old age" but strictly from
that of sound economics.
In general, it may be claimed that 1t
Is advantageous to employ young men,
for they have fewer dependents to con-
slider, and, therefore, will accept lower
wages. But when were wages fixed by a
"Soulless corporation" on the basis of
how they were to be spent by the wage
Garner, rather than how the recipient
was to make good in earning the
money?
X X X X
Or the employer who is required by
law to maintain block insurance against
accidents and employers liability, finds
that the cost of the insurance is less to
cover young, agile men, than it is when
it is applied on men SO years old-there-
fore too feeble to dodge falling brick
or speeding machine. Yet what percent
age of overhead and pay roll does the to-
tai insurance amount to, and what per-
centage would the difference in insur-
ance rate on the block figure, whether
the beneficiaries or the subjects insured
are in the callow age or in the period
of the man of family?
1t seems inconsistent that the experts
of the medical departments. of big insur-
ance companies point to the fact-and
it is a fact-that married nlen-men of
responsibility and regular occupation
live longer than do bachelors or widow
ers. Is settled responsibility an asset,
as the doctors of insurance statistics
allege, or a liability and coSt-producer,
as some modern expert" accountants
allege? What has created the modern
fad of employing only the inexperienced,
and displacing 1.-The man who knows
how" by reason of years Of apprentice
ship and practice?
X X x X
It is undeniable that the forty-year-
old, If out of job, is facing ire
mendous handicap in seeking new en-
ployment 1t would be tr4te to dig
through literature in seeking examples
of genius whose greatest work was ac--
WIlcIl t1lC WOAhCl woo pGAob
the so, 60 and in some cases 70 years
of age The reply is that most men are
not geniuses, and the average bust
ness is run on the basis of the average
man, and for profit, not sentiment.
There Is an ancient Hebrew proverb
which seems to be ignored in modern
business, yet 1t carries a hint:
IAN old man in a house is a good
sign in a house." Yet to call a man of
40 "old" suggests more modern French
oppression, "C'est rire!" There is the
German saying. IAN old OK makes a
straight furrow." and the more sophisti-
Gated and less respectful, "An old goat
is never the more revered for his beard"
but all must know that knowledge.
gained by experience, is most valuable
asset.
4 X 4
After ALL when is man "old"? A
man is as old as he feels, woman as