Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1890-01-10
THE RUIN OF THE RACE.
How Supposed Benefit Has Become
a Curse.
A Claim That Medical Science is Keen.
ing Alive Unhealthy People 70
Breed Unhealthy Children.

Not only has the civilized world made
great progress In medical and surgical
science during the last fifty wears, saws
the New York Times, but the entirely new
sclence-so called-of sanitation has been
invented and has unquestionably done
much TO decrease the annual death rate
People have now a chance to recover from
ailments that were formerly uniformalv
fatal, and babies who, had they been born
amid the sanitary conditions which pre-
vailed fifty years since. must inevitably
have died. now successfully pass through
the lnfantile struggle for existence. We
live In houses which are, as a rule, reason
ably safe, and drink water which is occas-
loually wholesome, whereas our fathers
lived IN houses that were nurseries of dis
ease and drank water from wells that were
almost invariably contaminated.
While the MalthuSian mourns this pro-
cess of lengthening human life and de-
creaSlng the death rate, since it is, in mis-
view. long step in the direction of the
universal famine prophesied by Mr.. Nal
thus. the short sighted philanthropist is
delighted. So much suffering so he thinks,
has been alleviated. and so many precious
lives have been prolonged or saved bv
sanitary science and medical skill that he
10 lANNCi "Cftl VI NIsNOulSlIlS bil lile SUPER
Iorlty of the present to all previous CEN
turtles. But now comes a hard-headed
scientific person of the variety that looks
upon philanthropy with contempt. as a
grossly unscientifc affair, and informs us
that the final result of this medical and
sanitary progress viii be the deteriora-
ton and ultimate extinction of the human
race.
1t is asserted that the men of the last
generation in America were stronger and
finer men physically than are their de-
scendantS. They were taller and heavier.
Hair and teeth, in both of which the pres
ent American Is conspicuously lacking.
were abundant all over America fifty wears
ago. Near-Sl ghtedneSs was unusual. and
even In Boston women rarely wore specta-
cles before they were sixty or seventy wears
old. Certain epidemic diseases were more
common than they are now, but. on the
other hand, chronic individualism was
something of which people seldom had
reason to complain. And yet our fore
fathers knew nothing of sanitary science.
and they habltually lived and moved and
ate and drank In the presence of swarms
of germs and deadly diseases which ought.
according to modern belief, to have killed
every man. woman and child in the
country. The careless and unscientifc OBJ
server Is apt to draw from these facts the
conclusion that sanitary science is useless.
and that bad drainage and contaminated
water are matters of no consequence. In
so doing he is quite wrong What the
teachers of sanitary science teach us is per
fectly trpe, but the true superiority of the
preceding generation in physical vigor
was due to It's ignorance of nearly all SAN
itary laws.
Though this may seem paradoxical. the
scientific person to whom allusion has
just been made clearly shows that it is
literally true. In the days when sanitary
| science was unknown the feeble had lit
tie or no chance for life. The weakly baby
| died, and only the strong, healthy child
survived, The woman who wore herself
out in the drudgery Of the farm house
| yielded to the first attack of disease and
| promptly died instead of drudging out
years of invalid existence. The narrow
| chested men could not entrench himself
| against the attacks of consumption and
| live to marry and beget a consumptive
family, but at % or Is years of age he
succumbed and made a wise and idifying
| end. In the struggle for life only the
strongest survived, and thus the adults of
| an unsclentltic generatian were much finer
| men and women than those of the gener-
alton which follows the precepts of sani-
tary science.
At the present time all our efforts are
directed to prolonging the lives of the
feeble. We manage to keep the rickety
scrofulOus baby alive and he grows up to
a slckly and miserable manhood. The
men or the women who would formerly
have died before reaching the marriage
able age now live to be the fathers and
mothers of children inheriting the diseases
and weaknesses of their parents. SANITARY
science Is not for the strong, but for the
weak. 1t probably does little to prolong
the lives of those who are thoroughly
healthy, but it steps into the struggle for
existence and saves the weak from extinc-
ton.
The result of this cannot be beneficial to
the human race in the long run Former
ly nature welded out the weak and left the
strong to propagate the race We, with
our superior enlightenment, ask the weak
and diseased to become the progenifore of
future generations. For undoubtedly
they are more numerous than the healthy
and strong. IN the important work of the
perpetuatiOn of the race. sanitary science
has made the least healthy part of the COM
munity the most prominent. The result
will be that from generation to generation
man will continue to deteriOrate physically
until he vanishes from the earth
If these views. put forth with mereiless
clearness by the hardheaded scientific per-
SON. are true, then our proper course is
plain. We should destroy all books of
sanitary science and forbid any man to
teach its pestilent doctrine We should
return to the old method of draining
and house warming. which we know to be
deadly. and should drink no water that is
not certified by reputable physicians to
contain an abundance of typhoid fever
germs. Our children should be exposed
to every available contagious or infectious
disease and every death should he hailed
as benefit to the community Strict con-
sistanCy would also require us-always in
the interest of humanity to pull all physic-
ians and surgeons to death and to encour-
age the manufacture of quack medicines.
That the scientific person has not recon-
mended this course is rater odd. unless, in
deed. we assume that either he has not
the courage of his opinions. or else that he
has occasional lucid intervals
WaIlis-"Did Black win the lawsuit he
had over that large sum of money!" Wal
Lace suppose he did. He told me he
lacked only $3.50 of having enough to pay
the lawyer, after it was over. Time.