St. Louis Post-Dispatch
March 15, 1914

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Sign the Bridge Petition Today See List of Drug Stores Where Petitions May Be Signed, Page 2 of Main News Section (Part 3) of This Paper: — SOCIETY W CABLE ¥ s SST Sates f ~s es ete s UNDAY mae apie b= Dia te emacs SHEP TBO Lin ty: f PepTeS orm apts Se ae Ses eo seate ards = of Spc SE eer ee eer ee ar: “VOL. 66. NO. 207. _ST. LOUIS, | SUNDAY MORNIN G, ‘MARCH 15, 1914, "PRICE FIVE CENTS, So A RP RE “How to Keep Our Men From _=- —— Se Dying Between 40 and 60 (Their Most ii itaae Years) Our Greatest Hygienic Problem,” Says ‘Biological Expert a serts Prof. Sedgwick. Cry of ‘Save the Babies’’ May Appea! More to Sentirhent and Pity, but Preventing Those Who Have Reached Manhood and Womanhood From Succumbing to the Diseases That Are Yearly Striking More of Them Down When They Are at Their Best in Doing ‘the Work of the World Is of Vastly Greater Importance, As- Moreover, “To Whatever Extent the Community Fails to Con- serve the Health of Its Adalts, |] to That Extent Has It Wasted Whatever Effort Was Ex- pended in Bringing Its Chil- dren to the Adult Stage.” there was any likelihood of their making any original contribution to human advancement. Adolescent Age Is Non-Creative. ad | T is clear that extreme youth cannot cre- ate anything,” he continued, “for it is the period of growth, education and training. The only thing we need consider about this stage of life is that we must bring through it as large of time, energy and money in producing its adult population. “2. In return for this expenditure along the lines of home training, medical care and ed- ucation the community has as an asset the mass of its adult citizens. , “3. To secure the best possible service and for the longest possible period of the largest possible number of those adults is seeking to obtain the highest possible return on its in- vestment. | “4. There can be no doubt that whatever other elements may enter into the situation, the health of the adult must be the chief factor which determines the quality and quan- tity of his usefulness. “6. And from the above consideration it is plainly to be seen that to whatever extent the community fails to conserve the health of its adults, to that extent it has wasted whatever effort was expended in bringing its children By ALLEYNE IRELAND, HE) wisdom of ages is compressed into the recent times that the prevention of disease has outrank the healing art. liam T. Sedgwick, professor of biology and pub- scientific safeguarding of public health had scarce- in a science of hygiene. address ..delivered.,.vecentiy before the National sideration should be given to the problem of re- “One of the most curious things about prevent- or indifference toward it which until very recently “It is more than thirty years ago that Dr.{ @ number of human beings as possible, so that Billings of New York and Dr. Stephen Smith, “It has not been difficult to secure support cf out that as between medical men there was a wide) death rate amongst infants. agreement on all the essential principles of pre- alter the fact that the conservation of infant life bounded confidence in drugs and an utter indif- breeding human beings for qualities of genius was in doubt and was not ready to believe where ciency in the world will bear a fixed relation to more adults we can rear the larger will be the oT HIS condition of mind still prevails to population, it is clear that we are confronted with “If you want to compress the whole “1. The community has spent a great deal means of a short and easily understood ctan, but that if you wish to prevent di- ‘tying life to extreme old age that the most im- a life of a hundred years, of which the last thirty rather than Increased the sum of human happi- but the lengthening of that period of life wath sider is that of extending the USEFUL PERIOD\ to the adult stage. years, viewed from the standpoint of the general NI OW, it is most important to note that, Jer’s statement about people over 40. It is ‘on that men and women ceased to be useful when({ be more efficient at 30 than at 50, because his which he expressed had { may very well be more useful at 50 than at 30, be- — they might be tillea off so far as\ “When you come to consider the higher ranges A Special Correspondent of the Post-Dispatch. proverb: “Prevention is better - than obtained recognition as a definite profession One of the most distinguished soldiers in the lic health in the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- ly risen in this country above the standing of a The present interview had its origin in a state- Association of Life Insurance Presidents to the ducing the death rate amongst men and: women ive medicine, to use a loose but convenient term,” prevailed even amongst people of very fair intel- Frank P. Hamilton, professor in the Bellevue) W€ May raise to manhood and to womanhood as also of New York, was a prominent figure tr the ®!1 kinds for undertakings of every character difference of opinion as to the relative value of “That such support has had {ts roots in senti- yentive medicine, and that side by side with this has a high degree of practical importancerfor so- ference to hygiene; that, in other words, the and efficiency as we now breed horses for speed ecience had left all doubt behind. the number of children born who are carried amount of genius and efficiency at any time. a great extent, and one of the chief safeguarding the public health is that of switching certain definite and important facts whose sig- matter into a single phrase—and that motto—-you might say that tf you wish to seare you must educate the people. portant advartage to human society is to be were to be spent in a condition of physica] and ness and achievement. We must constantly bear ee to be useful to society. OF LIFE. And the answer must depend upon welfare of humanity. broadly speaking, the higher the grade come his period of greatest usefulness, within hey had passed 40 years of age. Of course, he) usefulness depends upon physical vigor and upon . | as having shown any) cause his usefulness depends largely upon a skill BOSTON, March 14. T cure,” but it is only within comparatively which both in quality and prestige promises to _modern crusade of prevention of disease is Wil- nology. He was a pioneer in the days when the fad; and he Is now one of the foremost workers ment made by Prof. Sedgwick in the course of an effect that the time had come when serious con- over forty years of age. said Prof. Sedgwick, “is the attitude of disbelief ‘ Iigence and education. Hosp: al Medical College (who, with Dr. J. 8.{ many individuals as we can. early campaign for municipal sanitation) pointed which havb as their object the reduction of the various curative agents, but in almost complete mental considerations: may obscure but cannot state of medical judgment the public had an un-({ Clety at large, for, until we devise a method of average man was ready to believe where science or for strength, the amount of genius and effi- “: through to the adult age; "RYSTALLIZED INDIFFERENCE OF THE _ A GREAT HANDICAP” ee ihe Pt: a v2 sie iid hat Pe ase Ste i oe ore ee “ oe ROSS Ne » i eo eeae Sc Bg B ——", coger # ¢ G —— * It Were Better Far for the Cause, She Thinks, if the Masculine Sex Were United Against the Movement, for Then the Ad- vocates of Equal Rights for All Would Have Their Fight- ing Blood Aroused. By MARGUERITE MARTYN. 66 F I could disguise myself so that my | friends could not recognize me... would cieties in this State.” start out organizing antisuffrage so- This statement from Mrs. George B. Longan |} of Kansas City is going to amaze that lady’s friends. Coming from a woman whose efforts in be- half of equal suffrage and women’s work and welfare are known throughout Missouri, who called the first meeting of the present suffrage organization in Kansas City and has had much to do with its growth and prosperity, and who is president of the Women’s Council, that federa- tion of some 40 women’s clubs there, the above sentiment in favor of antisuffrage organization } is going to seem reactionary and traitorous, to say the least. Until she elucidates. Fears Missouri Will Be Last State to Give Women the Ballot ¢ 6 7: is my fear and belief that Missouri is going to be the last State in the union to give suffrage to women.’’ Mrs. Longan went on to explain: “Under present conditions it may be 10 years before we vote in this State. “IT IS ALL BECAUSE WE HAVEN’T ENOUGH OPPOSITION. Suffrage is not an is- sue here. “Farther south there is violent feeling against votes for women. There lively arguments, out of which much education is bound to come, en- sue. “Here it is difficult to start a suffrage debate. “CRYSTALLIZED INDIFFERENCE IS THE GREAT FOE TO THE MOVEMENT IN MIS- SOURI. “A trong, enthusiastic ‘anti’ organization might arouse suffragists from their apathy. Friends Would Prevent Her From Masking as an “Anti” “Yes,” she continued seriously, “I would be willing to sacrifice myself and my feelings for sixty or one who was not of the first rank in his calling. “With these facts before us it is clear that THERE IS NO PERIOD OF HUMAN LIFE OF WHICH WE CAN_SAY THAT IT IS USELESS TO DEVOTE CARE AND ENERGY TO ITS PRESERVATION. There remains one other mat- ter to consider before we pass to an examination of the actual conditions which prevail today in regard to our death rate. “It. may be asked why if health, vigor and length of days are so vitally necessary for the best interests of the human race it would not be a sound plan to kill off t' 9 sickly people and concentrate our resources on making the fit more fit. “There is something to be said from the purely scientific standpoint in favor of putting out of the world at a very early stage of their existence children who are born with such terrible defects of body or brain that they can never enjoy life or health or reason, but the moment you try to ap- ply this theory to human beings whose brains are normal, but whose bodies are sub-normai, (CONTINUED ON PAGE BIGHT, , ee Sy ees ‘seiy CHRP euIse~ MYSELF 50 MY FRIENDS WOULD. NOT. RECOGNIZE | t+5 WOULD ORGANIZE ANT? * SOCle TIES" : beriahe people’s good, that is to ole er the polutios a. baad O accept public defeat gracefully, to d is possess potse at critical moments, to take criticism good-naturedly are lessons women have yet to learn. Through parliamentary laws, they may acquire these faculties. For it te parliamentary law which is the ethics of organization. The woman who can publicly present or ad- vocate a measure, maintain good nature and poise in the face of opposition without betraying her more sersonal and intimate feelings—she 18 the coming cludbwoman.— MRS, LONGAN. of the problem. “It is through woman’s growing affiliation ‘ with organization that my teaching is in great TIRS. GLORG E 5. LONGAN this as I have for other causes-and devote my- self to antisuffrage organization, if it were not for the risk of detection, and,” she added with a twinkle in her eye, “the fear of having my real convictions and past record exposed by my friends.” Mrs. Longan could scarcely hope to hide her tdentity under a disguise. She is too well known and I thought, as she talked to me at the Windermere Hotel, possessed of a personality difficult to hide. She is the widow of a former Assistant Super- intendent of Instruction who had much to do with building up the public school system of Kansas City. She is the mother of George B. Longan, a Kansas City newspaper man. Twe other sons are well known professionally. She has been a prominent figure in social an‘ club life for a generation. But it is in her services on behalf of charity that her person- ality is indelibly stamped upon Kansas City history. And through her profession, in which she is unique as well as successful, she has become known all over the country. Mrs. Longan’s book, “Parliamentary Rules Made Easy,” has gone into its fifth edition and she yearly makes tours lecturing and instructing classes in par- liamentary laws and usages. That is the object of her frequent visits to St. Louis. “To what do you attribute the increasing in- terest in this subject among women?” she was ‘ asked. Women’s Organizations Arouse Interest in Parliamentary Laws “FT O the increase of organization,” re sponded Mrs. Longan. “The day of the individual in this country is past,” said she. “Formerly, say when I first visited St. Louis 25 years ago, I remember, each family circle had its dependent poor family, its individual charity. That was all very beautiful and in many cases ‘practical. Today we give up to specialists in all lines and entrust our charity to experts. “Formerly there was much indiscriminate and ill-advised giving. Today our social service, in the hands of professionals, ought to be better done. It isn’t always. The salaries of the ex- perts often eat up the philanthropic appropria- tion. Of $130,000 a year given by the City Coun- cil of my home, $80,000 is paid out in the sal- aries of the administrators. “The chief danger to organized charity is pol- itics, of course, “Then, too, these social service experts are likely to become hardened to their task. “It is Woman, woman with her mother-heart and her; growing interest and solicitude for needs oujside her own home, her new activities es ; demand.” “Do women make good parliamentarians?” I inquired. “As a rule they make more studious pupils than men, and in the end they make better par- liamentarians than men. You see, men always have belonged to organizations and attended pub- lic meetings governed by parliamentary rules. They have absorbed much knowledge of the sub- ject. Or they think they have. As a matter of fact, they have absorbed as many errors and mistakes as they have knowledge. “They come to my classes with convictions already formed and are difficult to teach, for there are many improvements in parliamentary rules since the day of Jefferson, Roberts or Reed. “Women, on the other hand, come with open minds, and, if I may say so, often better equipped mentally and educationally than men. “As to their natural gifts for controlling or taking part in a public meeting, they have much to learn with experience. To accept public de- feat gracefully, to possess poise at critical mo- ments, to take criticism good naturedly, are lessons they have yet to learn. Through pariia- mentary laws they may acquire these faculties. or it is parliamentary law which is the ethics cf organization. The woman who can publicly present or advocate a measure, maintain good nature and poise in the face of opposition with- out betraying her more personal and intimate feelings, she is the coming club woman.” Kansas City More Interested in Club Work Than Suffrage NTEREST in suffrage at Kansas City seems | to be subservient to interest in women’s gathered from Mrs. H. H. McClure, Mrs. William Netter and Mrs. Longan, all prominent Kansas Cityans or women residents there; whom I have interviewed lately. A few of the accomplishments of the Woman's Council were given through me to Post-Dispatch readers three weeks ago. “You women of Kansas City achieve quite a great deal without suffrage, perhaps that ac counts for the suffrage inactivity you speak of in your locality,” I observed. s‘Yes,” agreed Mrs. Longan. “And we ae complish what we do by keeping our hands strict ly free of polities. But,” she proceeded with emphasis, “that doesn’t argue against votes for women. It only indicates that when women vote. there will be less of party politics, “There will be some women who cannot keep their fingers out of politics. There always © been. There have been notable women poll’ in history. Unfortunately they have ~* ones to receive all the publicity wh of perhaps better judgment and cor great majority of women, makers, have sat stiently at and powerless. It fs this 4 - Oe LE A RS Ne ell AR ONG I eae ee al club work according to impressions I hayes —