Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-10-14

ARE WEADYING RACE
DIR. j. H. KELLOGG THINKS WE ARE
AND TELLS WHY.
DEGENERATING PHYSICALLY.
CERTAINLY GOING DOWN TOWARD
RACE EXTINCTION.
How Public Sanitation and HyEicnic
Regulations TcnG to Aid in De-
-Eeneration-Nnture Meth
DDS of Race Preservation
Interfercd With.
DEGENERATING PHYSICALLY.

Battle Creek, Mich, Oct. 13-At to-day's
session of the Civic Philanthropic confer
ence DIR. Baker. secretary of the Michigan
board of health read a paper on the duty .
of national. state and municipal govern
nients in relation to public health. He said
the causes of disease must first be known
before it becomes possible to guard against
| them. Man. said he. lis his brothers
keeper and cooperation of all classes Is
needed for the restriction of diseases. Fur
ity of water Is necessity, ana all water
should be boiled
Professor O'Malley, of Notre Dame uni
yersity, read paper on the prevention of
contagious diseases in the city. Many
cases called diphtheria, he asserted. were
uniustly uuarantined. He held that ply
sicians should be appointed to examine
throats Of children in schools periodically.
and gave instructions for care OF patients
and modes of disinfection. The steam dis
infectant plants, though expensive, We're
| effective for cities. Coins should be boiled
| and all paper money disinfected.
DR.. ]. H. Kellogg, of Battle Creek. read
| n paper entitled Are We Il Dying Race"
| He said. in part:
notwithstanding our marvellous accum-
| ulations of wealth and wisdom we are GER
! tainly going down physically toward race
| extinction. This assertion will doubtless
| appear in the highest degree reckless, and
Ierhaps absurd, in face of the well known
| fact that the average length of human life
| has been doubled within the last two CEN
| turies. But vital statistics are not the true
| measure of the constitutional viSor of the
| race; the average length of life does not
| represent the vital capacity of the race.
| The true measure is the number of ind-
viduals per thousand or million who at
1 tain great age.
"senitarians pride themselves on having
| saved millions of lives, and the credit
| claimed is justly due. Nevertheless. we
must not see in this great increase in
the average length Of human life an indi-
| method. human longevity may be indefi
nitely or even greatly increased.
Public sanitation. quarantine laws and
| general hygienc regulations serve most
useful purpose in the prevention of epidem-
ic diseases. but these influences at the
nnmber namG m of physically essv N weak % people and
| worthless human beings who would other
| wise be carried off by acute disease, Ma
| ture'S method of securing the survival of
| the fittest.
at is high time that society gave more
serious attention to the great class of
| hankrupts by heredity. from which springs
| the greater share of crimes and criminals.
cranks. lunatics, fanatics and imbeciles.
| 1.-The remedy to be found Is the cuitiva-
tion of private hygiene. More attention
| must be given to the training of the in
| dividual: men and women must be made
| to see that the prevalent conditions of our
| modern civilization are anti-natural, and
| tend to the deterioration of the vital pow
| eTS ana tne ueNetOpfnent OF disease.
| $50 long as man regards his body as 4
J harp of pleasure. to be played upon while
| its strings can be made to respond. so long
| will he continue to travel down the hill of
| physical decadence and degeneration, In
| spite of quarantine laws and the most min
| ute sanitary regulations"
DR.. kress, of the sanitarium, this city,
/ made some bold charges. His paper was
| on the relation of habits of life to chronic
| diseases. Both acute and chronic disease.
| he claimed. are due to evil habits and. ow
/ ing to bad living of people. are on the in
| crease in this country. People are becom-
ing degenerate. and one of the chief means
/ of producing this national condition Is the
universal practice of beer drinking. To-
i bacco, he asserted. is also national curse.
| and a majority of the patent medicines
| and many drugs In common use are dele
| terious. Meat eating also produces dis
ease
| DR.. Haughey, of this city in a paper
| urged necessity for public baths. and espe-
| cially that they should be shower baths.
| as bathing In tubs by different persons is
urcleanly. and many receive poison in their
| systems by bathing after other persons.
Dr. Maciugan, Of the Kalamazoo insa ne
asylum. urged isolation, of epileptics:
other detectives. He advocated colony
| system for this class of people as the best
protection, as 1t secured for the afflicted
| better chances for health and protected so
| ciety preventing this class from propagat-
| ing their kind and producing more crimi-
| rails and paupers.