Where are Young Men?

Waikato Times, Volume 108, Issue 18159, 25 October 1930, Page 13 (Supplement)

Where are Young Men?

THE world Is being ruled to-day by its old men. Few of the young hold, foremost positions, either in politics, in literature, in business, or in any of the arts,” says My Magazine. ' “'Most of the members of the British Governments are well above sixty. Mr Ramsay MacDonald is 63, Mr Clynes 61, Mr Snowden 65, Mr Arthur Henderson 66, and Lord' Passfleld 70. No one can complain ■•that these men Show Any Lack of Energy, despite tbeir years. Three younger members of the Cabinet; -Lord Thomson. Mr J. H. Thomas, and Mr Tom Shaw, total 168 years between them. Miss Bnndfleld. Me Greatly respected woman member Cabinet is comparatively a junior at 56. The Conservative and Liberal Leaders are, near y all well over 60. Mr Baldwin is 62, while Sir Austen Chamberlain is 66. Mr Lloyd George is 66. . “Who are the younger politicians who may be expected some day to take their place 9 Sir Oswald who is often patronised as though he were an -inexperienced vouth but is generally admitted to be ■' the most brilliant of the younger men. is 33, .4 the father of a family. Mr .Towitt, another voung man. tor whom there are hmh hopes, is 44: while Mr Duff-Cooper, the rising star of the Conservatives, is 39. Mr Wedgwood Bonn is stil 1 regarded bv some as a junior; actually he is 52. “Sir .Robert Peel, after a brilliant university career, entered Parliament at 21 and became Chief Secretary for Ireland when 24. At 27 he reorganised the Metropolitan Police. “Gladstone an elegant, earnest, and high-principled young man. entered the House at 29. and was known all over the kingdom within a year. Mr Winston Churchill saw active service in five campaigns before he was long out of boyhood, and took his seat when 26, already a popular hero. • “Members of Parliament are now, as a rule, over 40 years old. The younger representatives of the people exported to behave themselves quietly and modestly, and to Serve a Long Apprenticeship before asserting themselves. If they are restless and their triends are in power they are given minor posts, as Parliamentary Secretaries, to Ministers, which ensure them hard work and little chance of distinction. “In' the earlier years of the Victorian era youth certainly took a larger public place in public life than now. Spurgeon was a lad in his-teens when he. drew all London to hear him, Sunday after M’m’ay, at the Surrey Cardens Theatre. There lias been no youthful preacher in our day approaching his fame, it may he said that there has been no youthful preacher of any prominence in recent years. W'e like our religious teachers to he mature.

“It is very hard to believe now (hat ‘i early in gueen Victoria's reign the most in-

World Governed by Elders.

fluentlal newspaper tn the world had as its editor a young man of 23. Delane' Splendidly Justified the Choice, and in a very short time placed his paper at the highest pinnacle it had ever reached. “In literature .men made their mark much earlier in the Victorian age than today. Tennyson had published poems ensured his immortality when be was 21. Dicken-s stepped to fame when he was 24 with Pickwick Papers. Browning had made a great success at 25; Disraeli attracted the attention of the world as a novelist when he was only 20. Disraeli became wearied f public prominence before he was 21, and retired for nearly three years to the Continent. His political fame came later. “John Galsworthy is 67 and Budyard Kipling is 64; Sir James Barrie is nearly 7Cb Kir John Lavery. the famous portrait painter, is 73. and Sir Reginald Blomfleld, the distinguished architect, is the same age. Sir Edwin Lutyens, who planned the cenotaph, is a youth "of 60. Professor Fleming, the wireless pioneer, is 80. The Most Influential Writers of t,o-day are nearly all in the fifties or sixties. “In business the elders who two generations ago gladly surrendered control to their sons or assistants before they were fifty or much older now remain actively in full work for perhaps 20 years. Men live healthier lives than in the old days, take more exercise, and are more careful of their food, and give themselves more holidays. They are able to keep on at an age when work would once have been a burden to them, and are glad to do so. “This is not true of England only, hut of the world. Famous travellers, now in the sixties, Refuse To Rest On Their Laurels. Dr. Nansen Is planning new explorings at 68. Germany, building up her fallen fortunes. looked to Hindenburg, ove” 80, to lead the Republic. The outstanding leaders In France are all old men, Poincare Is just on 70, and Clemenceau died at 88. The greatest exception to this rule Is Mussolini, who is still in the middle thirties. “With age efficient gnd active to-day as perhaps never before, the battle for youth fo make its mark is naturally more strenuous. Men and women are going to have longer time for preparation and longer for maturing. In some ways this is good, but not altogether so. The world needs the optimism, the energy, and the fresh .iew-point which youth can give.. It Is The Young Men Who See Visions and it is for the world to give youth Its full opportunity while age yet fulfils- its destiny. “One thing is clear. The young who wish to reach places of influence and power must strive harder than ever, watch opportunities, economise time, concentrate effort, and c-o bravely, forward. The next great advance in the world, not in invention or material progress but in human good, will , come when youth, impatient of ings, strikes'cut b’oldly for better things."