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The Commoner.
3
AUGUST 11, 1005
MENDING GOD'S LAW
llwtHipMii'iMll'iNt JfHH "" 'UMJfU'W11! l mvryfa&i
A Baltimore newspaper printed under date of
St Louis, July 24, the following dispatch:
"On the body of L. M. Booth, about 60 years old,
who was found today in Forest Park dead from
chloroform, self-administered, was a slip of paper
containing these words. 'Heartily agree with Dr.
Osier; an old man and a poor man has no busi
ness on earth. I am broke and no one will givo
me work. They look at mo with a smile and say:
"We've got a man." This is no temporary in
sanity on my part.' On another slip of paper the
aged man had scribbled: 'Forest Park, Sunday,
July 22, 7:50 p. m. Tho reason I single out this
park is because it is so far away from a dispen
sary, so that I can be gone before they get mo
to a dispensary. Dr. Osier is all right. I do hope
no one will identify me.' Clutched affectionately
in one of the cold hands was a baby's shoe, which
Booth had evidently carried in his pocket for
years."
This is one of the most pathetic of the sev
eral similar incidents, and all growing out of
Dr. Osier's absurd recommendation. The
Osier recommendation, considered by itself, is not
in the least serious, but when we remember that
tho tendencies of the times seem to bo strictly
in accord with those recommendations, and that
in many instances aged men who have taken
their lives have referred to "the Osier theory"
then that theory becomes of general importance
aad interest to society.
It, would be difficult to Imagine anything
more pathetic than the death of this St. Louis
man. According to his own statement, he was
old and poor anl ho imagined that he "had no
business on earth." Because he was aged no
one would give him work, and when his body
was found in Forest Park we are told that
"clutched affectionately in one of the cold hands
was a baby's. shoe which Booth had evidently
carried in his pocket for years."
Many of us will recognize in that baby's
shoe a link that should have bound this man
to his life until it was claimed by his Maker.
It will be remembered that Dr. William Osier,
a man who himself has passed the point which,
according to his theory, terminates the period
of man's usefulness, was a professor at the Johns
Hopkins University. Although he himself was
aged at the very moment he gave to tho world
his abominable and harmful theory he was then
on his way to Oxford University where he had
accepted a profitable and important professor'
ship.
Dr. Osier is a famous physician. He was chief
among those physicians who attended Senator
Hanna during his last illness. Speaking at the
anniversary exercises of Johns Hopkins University
Dr. Osier declared that men are comparativply
useless when they become forty years of age,
and that they are utterly useless when they reach
their sixtieth year. He suggested tho plan de
scribed by Anthony Trollope's novel, "The Fixed
Period," In which the plot hinges on the scheme
of a college into which, at the age of sixty years,
men retired for a year of contemplation beforo
a peaceful departure by chloroform. Dr. Osier
referred to this as "an" admirable plan." Men
waxed indignant over Dr. Osier's recommendation
according ' to their ages. Those who had but
passed the 40th year pooh-poohed the idea that at
their age a man's usefulness is comparatively at
an end, while those who had passed the sixtieth
year were "mad all through," and naturally so,
because, according to the 03ler program, those
in the 40-year class are simply thrown aside
to wither and die In idleness, wile those who are
in the sixty-year class are to be put to death by
chloroform.
Dr. Osier may think he perpetrated a fine
joke. But the world would have been better had
he never lived at least long enough to be
come responsible by suggestion for many suicides.
Who can blame the sixty-year old boys for
objecting strenuously? Marshall Field, Chicago's
merchant prince, has passed the sixty-year limit;
yet he is a very active and useful citizen. "Uncle
Joe" Cannon Is away beyond that limit; yet he
is one of ,e liveliest men who ever held the
gavel over the national house of representatives.
John Wanamaker, strong in Philadelphia's busi
t ness circles; J. Plerpont Morgan, one of the most
potent factors In financial circles; John D. Rocke
feller, the greatest and busiest monopolist
in the world's history, have all passed the 60
year limit. If Osier ever established his program,
John D.Rockefeller would secure a corner on the
chloroform market quicker than the Baltimore
physician could-bat his eye.
v Cardinal Gibbons, President Elliott of Har
vard, Senator Cullom, Senator Allison, President
Angell of tho University of Michigan, and Senator
John JP. Morgan havo all passed their 70th year;
yet all of theso men aro active and not ovon
"comparatively usoless." Edward Everott Halo,
tho groat preacher, is more than 80 years of ago,
yut his productions aro worthy of careful reading.
Nearly evory nation has had its "grand old
man," and his best work was done after ho had
established his right to that honorablo title.
"Undo Joe" Cannon hit tho nail on tho head
when, commenting upon Dr. Osier's statements,
ho said: "A man is as old as he feels, and I am
37 and frisky every day of tho year."
There is, of course, no danger that Dr. Osier's
chloroform proposition will be adopted, and there
fore the important part of his recommendations
relates to tho 40-year proposition. This is so
because of the growing tendency ,on tho part of
great corporations and other largo employers to
rofise to give employment to men who havo
passed the age of 40 years and to got rid of such
men already in their service as rapidly as pos
sible. If a man is in health there is no reason
why ho should not be at his very best after ho
has passed tho age of 40 years; and there is no
reason why a man should not be in perfect health
at that age, so far as the mere wastes of time
aro concerned.
The disposition to establish tho 40-year limit
upon tho usefulness of men is ouo of tho great
est dangers threatening our civilization. When
ever that limit shall bo generally recognizod
among employers, then it will be quite tho proper
thing, in all seriousness, to advocate tho propo
sition that the man who has passed 40 years shall
be escorted to somo secluded spot and put to
death.
Our civilization is, indeed, a wretched affair
if it has brought us to the conclusion that two
score years shall mark the termination of a man's
life. Our progress must have been rapid If tho
business houses, the professional offices, the work
shops and tho corporation headquarters can best
conduct their affairs without that calm and dis
passionate consideration, that wide experience,
that devotion to duty and that Industry which,
as a rule, is marked among men who havo passed
their 40th year, but which is cften conspicuous
largely because of its absence among less ma
tured men.
Such a rule as the 40-year limit cannot long
stand the test of Intelligence. It Is tho outgrowth
of the peculiar age through which we aro passing,
an age described by some as the "age of gold,"
by others, and without large distinction from the
foregoing definition, as the "age of greed," and by
others as the "trust age." Corporation organiz
ers, greedy to grasp every penny within or with
out their sight, are anxious to put all possible
pressure upon men who: a they employ and obtain
what they believe will bo the highest possiblo
"results. They want not men, but slaves; they
want every ounce of result, even though to obtain
it they wring tho last drop of blood from their
hired man's veins. They are mistaken when they
think they cannot get the very highest results
from the healthy man who has passed his 40th
year. But, as the corporationist closes his eyes
to the fact that by his oppressions of the people
he is laying up serious trouble for himself in the
future, he gives no consideration to the history
of tho human race in all the agc3 and in all the
lands, a history; that serves as a stinging rebuke
to the rule ho now seeks to make against the
lives of men.
Better let prevail the good old rule, "A-man's
a man for a' that and a' that." Better "let evory
tub stand on its own bottom.". Let the man who
is capable of earning a salary be given tho
chance and permitted to draw that salary, as
long as he shall discharge his duty faithfully and
well, regardless of the number of years he shall
have spent in this vale of tears.
If in the average city every man who has
passed the age of 40 were discharged, that city's
business machine would be at a standstill. While
we would, undoubtedly, have a large supply of
"young blood in commerce," pay days would bo
few and far betwejn, and the newspapers If,
indeed, there were any newspapers under those
conditions would be filled with the announce
ments of business failures.
We are told that the old Hindoo saw, in his
dream, the human race led out to Its various
fortunes. First, men were In chains that went
back to an iron hand; then he saw them led by
threads from the brain, which went upward to an
unseen hand. The first was despotism, iron, and
ruling by forco; tho last was civilization, ruling
by ideas.
Idoas that kill hopo nnd destroy life, Ideas
that aro repugnant to God's eternal laws, can
havo no permanent place in a civilization worthy
of tho nitmo. "God nevor mndo his work for
man to mond." Wo hnvo boon told that "ago
docs not dopond upon years, but upon tempora
nient and health; somo men aro born old and
somo nevor grow so." And oxporlonco has Justi
fied tho fino slntcment mado by a distinguished
writer that among many men, ovon when tho
spirit dies out with Increasing age, "tho power
of intellect is unaltered or increased nnd an
orlglnnlly educated Judgment grows broader and
gentler as the river of life wldenB out to tho
everlasting sea."
RICHARD L. METCALFE.
JJJ
MU8T BE OVERLOOKED
Tho deficit for the fiscal year closing June 30,
was $24,000,000.
Washington dispatches say that tho deficit '
for tho first month of tho current fiscal year
shows a deficit of $13,587,860.
During tho month of July tho government
received $49,273,133 and expanded $63,131,000.
Yet wo were promised by tho republican
leaders "a businesslike administration" of public
affairs!
But theso aro somo of tho things to be over
looked when ono yiolds to tho appeal "let well
enough, alone."
JJJ
GOOD WORK
T. W. Norton of Campton, Ky., writes '."En
closed plonse find money order for three dollars
for club of five. J think I was about five minutes
getting up this club, and hope oro long to get
more."
Taking advantnge of tho special subscription
offer, S. C. Hefner, Gem, W. Va., sends ilvo now
subscribers to Tho Commoner. Others send
new subscribers in number as follows: P. H.
KIrwan, St. Paul, Minn., G; Rev. John W. Mc
Laughlin, Dunkerton, Iowa, G; A. P. Clark, Sr.,
Bartlett, Texas, 5; J. H. Board, Mansfield, Texas,
6; Georgo W. Register, Ironton, Mo., 10; N. G.
McDado, Fulton, Ky., G; C. C. Cronbaugh, Belle
Plaine, Iowa, 5; John Lovell, Lake Arthur, La., G;
Benjamin Smith, Bellerivo, 111., 6; G. E. Galnos,
Comanche, Texas, 6; William Blair, Mason, III.,
6; R. M. Brann, Anson, Texas, G; W. W. Porter,
Illramsburg, Ohio, 5; A. J. Gibbons, Edlna, Mo
6; A. C. R. Morgan, Weatherford, Texas, 9; J. H.
Beard, Carthage, Miss., 7; S. S. Bagby, Felicity,
Ohio, 5; N. R. Tucker, rremont, Ohio, G; William
B. Foster, Wytheville, Va., G; N. E. Sharp, Nor
mdn, Okla., 6; W. D. Wheeler, Almyra, Ark., G.
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