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Show Howe About: Future Wisdom Greatest Americans Your Manners By ED HOWE W10 Ol'TKN Hpenk of the wisdom of old men, to compare It with tho rcckli-HNiii-HH of youth. 1 tut how much wiser. Is the old world, wllh Its millions of years, than an old man, with his possible and pitiful piti-ful seventy I Such education as the people finally accept Is forced on them by the slow grind of the ages. As Bullish, cautious creatures always In danger, experience Is the master men finally U-arn to fear. 1 expect more wisdom In the future than we have In the present, because of the education of experience. I often wonder what is the most probable development of the future. The present age has been so bedeviled by folly that common sense may finally final-ly be triumphant. Tho men of the future who read of the distress of most of It unnecessary, should he greatly Improved in caution and behavior. A man lately asked me to nnmc the fifteen greatest Ainerlcnns of all time. It would take mo a year to make such a list, and then my list would bo of small consequence; but I have been thinking the question over and writing names on pieces of paper I shall probably later use. (Ine name on the list at present Is that of Julius Itosi-nwaid. I admire him because his concern once got Into trouble, and he worked It out with his own resources, Intelligence nnd energy; he did not unload un-load on the public. Another name I considered was that of Phil Armour; his concern was very notable while he was alive. I thought of adding the name of Clem Studebaker of South Bind, Ind., but hesitated when the morning paper announced the company com-pany he founded was In trouble. In fairness It should be added that the name Studebaker was widely respected respect-ed when old Clem, wagonmaker and blacksmith, was In control. Many great Americans have bad their fame cloudi-d by modern sons, sons-in-law, promoters, bankers and bond salesmen. sales-men. I do not know exactly when it began, but II f teen or twenty years ago hundreds of the most prominent business busi-ness men In America began bonding their concerns, either from fear of present conditions, or because of greed. Many of these bonds, at first paying enormous dividends, are now worthless. When my list of the fifteen fif-teen greatest Americans Is completed, the name of no mnn who engaged In that movement will disgrace It. In mingling with neighbors or strangers, I wish to conduct myself In accordance with the accepted rules of human association, to avoid giving an Impression I am a rude, foolish or unfair un-fair man. I am equally anxious to make a good Impression In what I write for print. I have been terribly punished by the loose nnd dishonest manner In which I believe our government aftairs have been conducted, and feel strongly that the politicians are largely to blame, but In my complaints do not wish to lead readers to hejieve I am a specially special-ly poor loser, or unfair or fanatical in my charges; in all my appearances, in print or in social affair, at ticket window or counter, I try to remember remem-ber my manners. As a child, when I became noisy, rude or unreasonable, my gentle mother moth-er said : "Remember your manners." This was the severest correction she ever Inflicted on me, and no other has impressed me more. One frequently reads that the thing men most constantly look for is pleasure. pleas-ure. I have never thought so. The men I have known In a long life have been most active in looking for the comfortable way ; the path with fewest few-est rough and disagreeable places. There are half a dozen roads from my home in the west of Florida, and I have traveled most of them; never In expectation of finding pleasure, but in the hope of finding the easiest way. I never look for pleasure; few do, but we all look for relief from dull hours, or discomfort, or threatened danger. Sir Henry Deterding, director of a petroleum company, which under his management has grown in thirty years from a small concern producing cheap oil in Borneo to a position of worldwide world-wide power and importance, lately wrote: "All solutions are simple. The complicated ones belong to politicians, poli-ticians, would-be economists, and the like, nnd are no solutions, but lead further into the mire." I beg the reader to seriously consider this saying say-ing by a noted and honest man, for I have long believed, and often said, that, all solutions are simple. When truth is difficult to get at, it is questionable ques-tionable truth. I have heard house agents say they have little trouble with men renters (except in collections), but that women wom-en so constantly demand repairs and improvements that such a thing as a profitable rented house is almost unknown. un-known. One agent says he has an old house in which he permitted a poor family to live rent free this winter, win-ter, nnd that the wife of the tenant kept after him so steadily he made twenty-seven dollars' worth of repairs In three months to get rid of her calls and complaints. Next spring the agent says he will ask the family to move and burn the house. . 1933. Bell Syndicate. WXU Servica, |