Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 February 1917 — TOO MUCH AMUSEMENT. [ARTICLE]

TOO MUCH AMUSEMENT.

iHerrh tis» kota, raises a voice of protest against American extravagance. 3he high cost of living, he believes, is due in large measure to the nation’s lavish' expenditures for amusements. In the course of a single year, he said, the public spends $13,000,000,000 for liquor, tobac:o, automobiles and “other amusements.” • 4 This revelry in extravagant habits this continuous mental intoxicants is undermining the sturdiness of out younger generation. Die American people seem obsessed with the idea that the main thing in life s amuse r .ent, play, entertainment. ’ . Senator Me Cumber is not alone in this opinion. Not long ago a well known educator, head master of a boys’ school, declared that amusement and diversion are seriously menacing the welfare of the country’s youth. Teachers in public schools, 'both in the grades and in high school, and professors teaching in colleges and universities return the same verdict. From juvenile courts and corrective institutions for .both boys and girls the same warning issues.' 'So gradually has this habit of amusement grown upon us that few realize to what extent it centrals us. It is only when we pause to compare the opportunities for amusement enjoyed by the boy or girl of 25 years ago with those enjoyed by the boy or girl of today that we can understand how great the change is. The automobile and the movie alone, to say nothing of other diversions, have revolutionized conditions in this respect. The one has made distant amusement of every sort* accessible; the other has brought amusement to our doorsteps. If we do not seek amusement, amusement seeks us. We are not likely to reform ourselves overnight. It is not- likely even that we shall be quickly impressed with the need of reform. But Senator McCumber’s warning, backed a# it is by the sober, well-considered warnings of others, is well worth pondering. “The sturdiness of our younger generation” is something we can not afford to neglect.