The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-17
GETTING TOO FAT.
Statistics show That the Americans
Figure Is Changing.
From the New York Journal.

From the New York Journal
The anthropologica1 department Of the
United States government has recently
noted with some alarm great increase
in the size of the American citizen.
Figures collected from makers Of store
clothes" show that within the last ten
years there has been an average increase
in the girth of Americans of one inch and
a quarter. 1t has been necessary to intro
duce a new size in the ready-made tailor
ing business. Wa.stcoats and trousers are
now made to contain an American with
circumference Of IA inches, whereas the
limit in 1889 was as inches. That size, The
leading tailors then believed, would never
be exceeded.
An increase in ten years of an inch and
quarter in the equatorial measurements
of the residents of this country If main
tanned continuously at that ratio, means
an increase in 100 years of u inches, and
in 1000 years of 125 inches. In other words
in the year 1899 there will be Americans
at large who will be sixteen feet around.
These figures are not official, the an
thropological department not having
brought the calculation to its legitimate
conclusion, but any one with the slight
est knowledge of mathematics can verify
tnem Tor himself.
A remarkable reason Is given by the an
thropological department for this added
advoirdupois. ii is said to be due to the
increased consumption of farinaceous
! foods. The dairy lunch counters which
nave sprung up in thousands during the
past few years are to blame. They feed
the public on things which go to make up
adipose tissue. The average citizen a few
years ago used to lunch upon a slice of
roasted beef but he now takes a bowl
OF milk full of crackers, a saucer of corn
starch pudding and a hunk of pie These
articles are exceedingly fatteuing.
our customers are certainly getting
very much stouter," said the manager of
a Park Row dairy lunch when the matter
was called to his attention L had never
thought of it before, but now it is men
toned, remember that the last fifty
| chairs we had made were much wider than
any we have ever ordered before.
/ You see. our customers come in here
| and help themselves to the dishes uDOn
the sideboard, subsequently paving for as
many of them as they Ike. They plant
themselves in front of a counter crowd
ed with cornstareh pudding and that sort
of thing
AS this pudding is the cheapest thing
we make. and gives us the most profit.
We place more of it about. The customer,
nndlng 1t so easily within reach takes IT,
nave no doubt 1t is corn starch pudding
that is making them so fat. The discov-
cry of the anthropological department is
entirely in line with our experience. and
the statement of the department that
Americans eat more farinaceous food than
they used to eat Is perfectly correct
The favorite food of New York bankers
Tor lunch is crackers. broken up in milk.
ana cornstarch pudding. 1t is simply
amazing how the cOrnstarch pudding ma
ma ana mas grown in the last few years.
hn foot ..fH 3
VINO wishes TO diet himself and become
thin has no business to live in New Yorl,
ana try to eat at restaurants Every dish
served makes fat. Americans eat more
greasy food, more butter and sweets than
the people of any other country. and tbn
result Is that the American is getting 10
be the latest man on earth
"A restaurant was started a few veare
ago IN Wan street district that esDeclalIv
catered TO fat men who wished to train
down. Nothing was served of a fattening
character The proprietor knew that ever,5
fat man would eat adipOse-nla king nour-
ishment If he could get it, The only wav
, 10 make him live up to his good resolu.
lions, the proprietor thought, was to de-
prfve him of the chance
me restaurant was hailed with delight
by a large crowd of 'bantfng' fat men
They patronized it. One hundred ate there
on the hrst day, ninety on the second.
the place didn't have single customer
and the sheriff seized it, The logic of tho
matter Is that any man who wishes 70
reed New Workers must feed them on fat
tening food or they won't come around
Inc bulletin of the anthropologicaI de-
partment, dealing with these facts shol1d
be read by every thoughtful far man in
America. If, as you seem to think. the
government officially announces that with
in thousand years the average Ameri
can VIII be sixteen feet around. some
thlng ought to be done about it right
away. 1t certainly fills me with alarm
There is no question mat we are all get
ting stouter and more incident
And there are many reasons for II he
sides diet. The invention of the elevator
tends toward the accumulation OF weight
/ suppose before the elevator assumed its
present efficient condition, at least twenty
tons of fat were walked Off by New York
ers every day when they toiled upstairs
These twenty tons of fat are now nre-
served, making a total of 1900 tons of adj !
ditional fat TO be distributed among the
community every year.
Besides that, the cars are more conven-
lent, and man does not have to walk 80
far before he finds one. The teIep!1one
also saves a great deal of walking, and ia |
responsible for the accumulation upon the |
American OF enormous quantities of stout |
ness.
There are also innumerable labor-sav- |
ing devices in factories and homes that |
conserve muscle. Instead of lifting weights |
or pumping men turn on an electric /
Switch, l believe, il the truth were |
known, that in 100 years Americans win |
all be so fat mat they viii not be able to |
squeeze through any of the existing door |
ways"