The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-05-28
EFFECTS OF CITY LIFE.
ITS DEGENERATING INFLUENCE OVER
THE HUMAN RACE.

Rapid Increase in the Number of People
Engaged in sodsntary occuRations-snni-
tsry Rules Ignored by the yasses-Better
Houses Needed.
Writers have directed attention to the grave
problem Of city life and its condition as af-
tecting the race. They point to the tremen-
Ious influx of country life which takes place
yearly into London and other great centers
of population. ana they tell us that the city
owes its chief vitality to this infusion OF
fresh healthy blood into its masses. But IN
time these infusionS viii be affected by the
prevalent causes of town degeneration; and
Do the great mill Of life continues to grind US
down, slowly, it is true, but to grind us Out
in time SAY the pAysiologist9 altogether.
OF course, the causes Of the degeneracy
which city life is said to effect are to be
found in the generally unhealthy conditions
hinder which existence is pursued. Pure food,
pure air asid pure water form the tripod OF
life in so far as our surroundings are con-
rerned: and it is precisely these conditions
which are tvpically represented IN our great
centers. As to house accommodation, it Is
only Of late years We have been awalling TO
she ideas that it is nothing short Of disgrace
sul to permit cellar dwellings a1ad dilapidated
senements to be inhabited at FL; and that to
screw out of the poor OF the Sums an extor-
tionate rent for houses compared with which
an ordinary pigsty Is clearly and sanitary,
Is an extortiCrate, unjust and crying evil
SEDETTARY OCCUPATIONS.
The fact is that the moment we have to
deal with masses of human beings, aggre-
gated together in cities and living under con-
diJions which violate every rule of health,
we come upon causes Of physical degenera-
tion which are too edvident TO admit of theo-
Tetical modification, far less denial An author
has taken the trouble TO total up for US the
uumber-Of persons engaged in some halF
dozen sedenUary occupations IL London in
1881. We lind his figures TO give US: Indoor
domestic servants, 253, 709; general laborers,
Is, rs; nlillners etc, Il S37; clerks, 60, 605;
1ailors, Il, 52l, and carpenters, IS, 143. Thus,
out Of some $4,000 persons, about fOur~ffths
dead an indoor life, and Of these, tvo-ifths
DOR 173, 900 follow purely sedenJary trades.
What sedentary life means to the units
switch follow il closely most of Us may know.
Ut implies The want of the first essential for
healthy ife-pure aiT-and it includes yet
another condition Of vitaiity-free and opeE
air exercise Deterioration of frame in the
one generation, we have also to note, is trans
limited with tenfo4d force TO the next. As
khealth is cumulative in its effects, 50 also are
fdiseaSe ard degeneFacy; 50 that the mere
pursuit OF life and LIES avocations in big
tcity must. In the cases of sedentary workers,
he attended not only by an increasing lack Of
vitality, but by transmission of the weak
ness TO Succeeding units. And there comes a
point in this hanging on of feeble health,
says the sanitariaD, when the climax is
reached dn,tbe shape Of the absolute dying
out Of the enfeebled stock
SIARTILgG MoRTAzJTY.
The author from whom l have already
quoted reminds us that If we treat London as
q kind of country or area by itself we find
that ont Of every :, 600 persons in London 81
are country bora An Immigration of 81
ercsnt. thus TepHaseE+S what tho London
popula4ion>owes to country blood Again,
Az Gallon is emphatic enough In his calcu-
1atdcnS as to the Peroenzaysof the supply of
units Ito the next genezationl which is repre-
senteain rural and city districts respectively.
Thus, DOC families In rural districts will
supply a11onJ 8, S34 admits 70 the next genera
ticn, while 600 town faaniheSWil only sup
ply 1,79i The town supply is only Y per
cent OF tho country iRstaIlInenf, and to the
second generation it's only 50 per cent. Of
the rural contribution. Attacked thus from
the side Of increase and continuance, we see
that the failure of vitality in towns makes
Itself felt On the population question in a very
marked fashion; and this accoTds with what
Mr.. Camille tells us about the decadence of
the pI1Te bred IoBdOner
Taking London, typicaliy so called, and ex-
n
urban in character, we are told that COM
pairing il with healthy Districts the differ
ence OF deazh rate is at the rate of 924 per
i GOO per anRGn- II now the population Of
Typical LONDON ssset dorsn at :, T61, PCS, we
discover that $3.50 lives are thus annually
lost IN consequence Of the conditions which
prevail IN this dense center Of mankind No
less startling is the fact thatof every 1000
Infants born q quote from ny author once
sgain) I12 moro die.under Is years Of age in
urban London than in llealthy districts.
Is THERE A-Sg BEHEDYl
I say to those who cirque for healthy Lon
don that they represent tthe healthy units, l
mean the survivors of a very tremendous
general mortality. They are the favored
few who escape. by reason Of their affluence,
the dangers and degeneraaion which beset the
visitor-to the Sums of alcity, who SAID to his
guide that the gutter children looked fairly
well and sturdy Eyes, = replied the guide,
''but these children play GA the graves of
their thousand companions who have sue
icumbe7;7 and what is true OF the children of
Sthe sluIns seems 10 me To hold equally true of
the populstion of every big city we know.
Is there any remedy, then, I may be asked,
for this deganeracy which accompanies city
4lifel
We may certainly do much to better the
existing state of things, and that according
to PLAIN health laws We want tine state to
take up the question Of proper dwellings for
the masses If private enterprise fails to ac-
Complish the abolition of Sums. We want
philanthropists to purchase open spaces for
us and TO give to the city lungs for the free
respiration of its masses. So, also, we want
wiier facilities for reasonable recreation,
and especially for the working classes.
Greater facilities for cycling, football and
other games viii stave of physical degen-
eracy as perhaps nothing else VIII or can.
Best of all. We must teach the masses the
laws of healtn-Andrew Wilson In London
Illustrated News.