Evening star., 1936-12-12
Headline Folk
and What
They Do
Babson Holds Declin.
ing Birth Rate Peril
to Church.
BY LEMUEL r. PARTON.

~ OGER BABSON warns the Fed
~ eral Council of Churches that
the church in general "a en-
a dangered by the declining
birth tate. With his usual visor and
assurance he shores UP his argument
with statistics and urges remedial ac-
tion.
Mr.. BabSon Is 80 prolific and versa
tile-it is doubtful whether he or
Walter B. Pitkin takes in more terri
tory-that it Is hard to keep the
balance brought forward in his
prophecies, analyses, critiques. for
mulas and corrective devices. For in
stance, in July. 1895. he was urging
birth control as one Of three specifics
to cure poverty. Possibly for nom
churchmen only.
Dean Swift proposed to make great
literature by a giant abacus which
would mechanically combine and re-
combine all the words In the language.
BY the Laws Of permutations and COM
binations, great prophecy would issue.
However, not all Of Mr.. Babsor's bulls
eyes can be credited to calculus or
quantity output. His shrewd predic-
tiori OF the 1929 crash was q logical
dissection Of events which turned out
to be the one dependable horoscope
Of that rollicking Summer.
The brisk. dapper soateed sage of
wellesley Hills Is. 30 far as the records
of this department show. the one
major prophet of the business world
who Systematically takes time out for
thinking He devotes each morning
to q thinking session, taking notes
when he gets q good idea. Here are
just few Of the subjects which have
concerned him in the last few years
and which he has carried into the
public forum:
A three-ply cure for poverty: "a
Keep people out of debt. t2) Produce
and distribute more (3) Reduce the
number Of wage earners, possibly by
birth control, so there will be enough
wealth to 90 around.
Self-f1nding golf balls; harnessing
tides; dependable method Of pre-
dieting earthquakes; watches run by
radio; the regulation of sex, height.
weight and other physical character
istics by electric air waves; strict Sun
day observance; changing birch Into
mahogany; practical eugenics; double
deck street cars; q street car, invented
by Mr.. Babson. with no motorman;
hard work and intelligence to pull out
of depreSsions: an automatic translator
of languages; draft workers in time of
war; scientific diet and exercise; fresh
air.
Mr.. Babson thinks it is about fifty
fifty whether we slide into fascisfn,
although he is q loyal believer both in
American institutions and Adam Smith
economies and doesn't want anything
like that to happen.
At his great statistical and research
plant, Babson Park. in Massachusetts,
he brings the whole universe to the
eager focus of mis- rimless spectacles.
He thinks everything probably will
come out all right, If We just behave
ourselves, although he does see q pos
sibly troublesome spell Of imitation Just
ahead.
The medieval scholastics proposed
a roundup Of all known knowledge,
with the belief that when they closed
in on 1t they would find at last the
mustard seed of truth. Mr.. Babson
seems to have the same idea. Years
ago, Parson Uzell provided q literal
application of this method. His pet
rabbit had strayed. He put on a
roundup Of all the rabbits of North
ern Colorado, with hundreds OF men
closing in on four sides Among hun
dreds of thousands Of rabbits, they
finally found the stray. The rabbit
rodeo became an annual affair-to
feed the poor. however, rather than to
find runaways. Even If Mr.. Babson
doesn't find the ultimate truth, there
should be some such useful by
product from his prodisious research.
(Copyrisht. 1861