Evening star., 1931-12-29
US. YOUTH SEEN
IN LESSER ROLES
Older People to Dominate
Nation in Future, Says
Scientist.
(Continued From First Page)

venting future depreSSionS like the
present On the other hand, old men
will be slower TO raise wages, shorten
hours and otherwise check production
while giving labor a greater share OF
the profits.
The changing age balance. he point
ed out, is likely to effect many lines
Of industry. Old people require less to
eat Hence there may be a decreased
demand for staple foods and more de-
mand for health foods and tonicS. This
may make the farm problem more
serious. Old people do not wear out
their clothes so fast. They do not care
much for new styles of dress. Elderly
couples prefer life in apartment houses
where they have no furnaces to tend or
walks to clear Of snow. This probably
will mean more apartment houses and
fewer single family dwellings. Hence
the population of cities will be more
concentrated Homes for the aged will
become more numerous, while there
will be less demand fer public appro-
priations for new schools.
Dancing and fast automobiles will be
less in demand while there can be eX-
pected. DR.. Whelpton said, more de-
mand for radios and good books. There
will be a rise in the crude death rate,
accompanied by a decline in the Spe-
cihc sRe group death rates, so the
country will see the paradox Oh more
people dying, yet everybody hVlhg
longer.
Establishment Of a "peacetime army
as an immediate step to relieve unem-
ployment and as permanent mech-
anism for taking up slock in perlodS OF
depression was urged by Prof.. Rlcharo
It. Ely of Harvard University before the
Enn1nTaiRC Association.
Recovery from a depression, Dr. Ely
said necessitates a transfer OF labor
and capital from occupations in which
thev are in excess to new lines OF ac-
tivitv. AS such a transfer takes place
too slowly when left to itself, he pro-
posed a permanent peace-time army OF
$4,000 with a general economic stan AT
the head. This army would be kept at
work all the time in non-competitive
work. such as reforestation, roadside
Identification and elimination OF grade
crossings
But It would be so organized that it
would be expanded indefinitely IN an
emergency, just as can real army IL
time Of war. When depression oc-
Cured the procedure would be to ac-
cent for enlistment those thrown out
of work and keep them engaged In
public works until industry could take
them back again.
The members of this peace time army
would be paid just as are soldiers in the
Regular Army. The general staff would
know the qualifications of the men ana
be ready to transfer them back into
industry as soon as there was place
for them,
Suppose" he said. 'there should be
q return Of prosperity and the United
states Steel Co. should have need Of TO-
600 employees Of various sorts, they could
turn at once to the general, stan ana
workers could be sent TO Pittsburgh or
Chicago or wherever else they might be
needed" He stressed the advantage OF
such a peace time army over the dole
system of unemployment insurance.
Urges Economic Council.
Establishment of q national eco
nornic council, appointed and supported
by industry itself, was advocated as
safeguard against future depressions by
H. J. Hartman, president OF the New
England Power Co., before the Amerl-
can Economic Association.
The natural cure for depressionS OF
the past. increased population to take
up the surplus of goods, no longer Is
operative Mr.. Hartman said. with
the American population rapidly reach
ing its probable limit, he held, the OLD
policy OF extreme individualism must
give way to one of national economy
with cut-throa business tactics ehml-
mated.
He urged as a first step the amend
ment of antitrust legislation making
extensive business combinations possible
under Government regulation Ihen
the economic council would be able 10
deal with industry on national OASIS,
considering such fundamental ques-
tions as the number OF workers neceS-
sarv to keep up basic standard OF liv-
ing for the entire population, the bal
ance between the productive capacity
of industry and the capacity OF the
people to buy, levels of wages, foreign
trade and the relation of agriculture 20
business.
Blames Inferior Land.
One cause Of the present depression,
he said, was the cultivation OF too much
inferior land. He urged that States
take in unproductive farms when taxes
are not paid and turn them into State
forests, SO that many years Will elapSe
before they come into cultivation again.
The history Of the United States, he
said. shows that major depression
has invariably followed about 10 years
after 8 great war or era OF rapid eX-
pansion. There have been about 10
major and minor depreSsionS, ne SAID,
with the great ones of 1878 and 1893
causing more suffering than the
present.
Every additional child cuts in half
the proba bility Of divorce Of the par
ents, Dr. Alfred Cahen, statistician On
consumption habits for the President
Committee on Social Trends, told a
section Of the American Statistical
Association.
The probability Of divorce among all
American marriages, he said, Is ap-
proximately l8 per cent, but more are
secured during the fourth year OF
married life than any other. The great
majority of all divorces are obtained
during the first seven years.
ChildIess Get Divorces.
''Divorce." he said, lis not normal
American family habit, because over
two-thirds of American divorces are
recruited from that comparatively
small group, the childless couples.
Marriages terminate in divorce for only
about 8 per cent Of couples with one
or more children"
Man never will be perfect-without
n policeman around the corner
The concept Of ultimate moral per-
fection of the human race. Prof. I. n.
Carver OF Harvard University told the
American Sociological Association TO-
day. is 70 more likely to be achieved
than a physical condition which would
enable men to go about in Winter
without clothes He will never be per-
feet, doing everything for the good OF
Others and with no thought Of self, be-
cause for the good Of the human race
he never will need to be, Prof. Carver
said.
Environment Controlled.
There is no. absolute reason, he said.
why the. processes Of evolution might
not bring about both physical and
moral perfection. The latter seems to
have been brought about among ants.
But, Prof Carver said, human beings