Overwork is "the last infirmity of noble minds." Yet when not really
necessary, it must be ranked as a sin, and not too generously condoned.
The intense competition of modern industry, the complexity of our
economic machinery, the colossal accumulation of facts which must be
mastered for success, bring heavy pressure to bear upon those who have
their way to make in the world. The pace is fast, and many there are
that die or break from overstrain when at the height of their usefulness.
Such, overpressure does not pay; it means that less work will in the
end get done. When we consider also the moral dangers it involves,
the glumness or irritability of taut nerves, the unhealthy tension
that demands strong excitements and does not know how to rest or enjoy
quiet and restorative pleasures; when we consider the broken men and
women that have to be taken care of, the widows and children of the
workers who have died before their time, the children perhaps weakened
for life because of the tired condition of their parents at birth;
when we consider the number of defective children born to such overworked
parents, we realize that it is not primarily a question of enjoying
life more or less, it is a matter of grave economic and moral import.
[Footnote: Cf. M. G. Schlapp, in the Outlook, vol. 100, p. 782.]
Whether we actually work harder, on the whole, than our forebears,
and whether there is actually a decrease in the health and endurance
of the younger generation today owing to the overstrain of their parents,
is open to dispute.
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