MENTAL OVER-WOKK AMONG PUBLIC MEN. O 



comparing tlieir ages at death with those of the same number of 

 the most distinguished English statesmen, the United States gave 

 an average of 69 years, and Great Britain of 70 — no practical dif- 

 ference. It is noticeable, however, that much of the best work of 

 the great English statesmen — of Palmerston, Derby, and Beacons- 

 field, for instance — has been done at an advanced age, when most of 

 our American public men have ceased to do anything important. 



A little searching will show, in the first place, some general causes 

 for these differences. While politics in America may, in the spoils- 

 man's sense, be regarded by many as a business, it is not, as in 

 England, a true vocation followed in the main by those prepared 

 by inheritance, education, and training. 



In England we not infrequently see men entering on public 

 careers, usually by a seat in the House of Commons, shortly after 

 attaining their majority, or, at least, at a comparatively early age. 

 Pitt, the elder, for instance, came into Parliament at 27, Pitt, the 

 younger, at 21, Palmerston and Gladstone at 23, and Disraeli, after 

 several attempts, at 32. They come, however, at these early ages 

 to Parliament, usually well-endowed mentally, and as to a training 

 school for their life work. By a gradual process they become ac- 

 customed to their duties and their labors, and their responsibilities in- 

 crease with their years and mental strength. Great responsibilities 

 are not, as a rule, entrusted to them until their powers are matured. 

 In the few instances in which English statesmen have assumed the 

 highest positions early in life, as in the cases, for example, of the 

 younger Pitt, and of Fox, they have usually paid the penalty of pre- 

 mature death. An American, because of constitutional restrictions, 

 cannot reach the lower house of Congress until twenty-five years old, 

 and the Senate until thirty. This ought to be to our advantage, 

 but there are many counterbalancing drawbacks. Many Americans 

 who enter the public arena comparatively young have made and 

 finished their public careers at an age when the British statesman 

 is beginning to reap his reward. 



Others come to high political and oflicial position at or after the 



