Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-11-11

time among the Indians II know any
body fancy that it Is the red man. and I
can state positively that the white man Is
| his superior in every way In the first
place. the white man has more Of thar
qLaiity known as bottom. The white man
can MT more. :un further and faster Ia.
can work more. can see more, and. in the
course OF time and practice. can beat the
indian At any Of his own games No on
me race OF the globe the white nan has
no equal.
Ihcn there il the question Of athletic
records. Never a year rolls round thar
numb"rless new records are not establish
ed. As a rule the record of last wear IL
Gdaaied or eNceiled This year. We cannot
icok back To any old records They an
laIl TAR within those Of the present day
INA not the athletes Of the new world In
G S32Iapett.on against the Greeks at thu
olymplan games at Athens break an ~
me records of antiquity?
1 remember that when / was a r,,.
an athletic feat of the day caused th.. great
- excitement Some champion walker
accomplished the task Of walking / mo
miles IN l,Hpo consecutive bours A. IN.
ll1ne TINS was the talk Of the country. I,y
many men do you think Their. dre In this
country today who could accomplish this
feat? | will venture to plac.. H. am.
between looon ana 10000
W hen Herbert Spencer came In ,b,s
country some years since h. made tba IL
SefNatlon tfat the American people vera
running themselves To death lie stat,5
mat ne believed that they would ayantp,II,.
become crazy. So great must the resultant
nervous strain be from working an ne
high American speed
Our Normal Pncc &. Swift.
Mr. Spencer was wrong. H.. failed T.,
realize that we were going only al our
normal pace. l would Law il down a. q,
general rule that people on tho avarau..
do W hat they are able to do. and that what
they actually do is the safest ami trfI.sr
measure of what they can do In Berlin
the average man walks at the rate Of two
ana a ha.f niles per hour. I'm London three.
IN New York, three and quarter. and i'm
tmcago. San Francisco and Denver the
latter pace * exceeded. But Mr Spencer
would have found. IL he had taken the
trouble 20 investigate, that the average
length Of life in America exceeds the aver
age In England and that the proportion If
our population that is confined within a>v-
lums for the insane is considerably less
than In either England, France or Ger
many.
In this connection I will say that I I've
heve that the greater amount Of labor that
the American is able to stand is due in
considerable part to a single cause. Tho
American is the breakfast eater Of tn,
world. He invariably commences the day
with good meal Of strong Stedm-proiur-
ing ipou. Consequently work is no drag
on nm and he can surpasS easily i'm results
the European who commences the day
with little but a roll and a cup of choco-
late
" nat 10 YOU llllfh oil the statement
that the American people are running their
nerves by the consumption Of coffee. tea
and tobacco?
1T is my opinion that the tea and eoff..
alarmists have built their houses mostly
upon foundation of sand. II is true that
the use of these beverages is increasing
and has become almost universal But /
am Inclined to think that they are much
more of a blessing than a curse to the
race. In fact, / have no doubt that the
comfort, health and longevity Of the race
are increased by the use If coffee. and 10 a
lesser degree this statement is true Of tea
well
Tobacco and Liquor.
"As to tobacco. we have no accurate
data; but l have been greatly interested in
observing the extent to which tobacco was
used twenty or thirty years ago and COM
pairing its Use then with its Use today. Then
1t was the exception TO find "A man who dii
rot smoke at the end Of dinner. Today
when dining | observe that a. least half II
the gentlemen refuse the cigars when they
are passed around. In fact. there is nothing
- far as l know to indicate that the per
capita consumption Of toha eco Is increasing.
Moreover. ! do not believe that the use II
tobacco is injurious in m sst instances. In
fact, there are eases in which its use Is
positively beneficial"
Are drunkenness and the consumption II
coholc liquors on the increase, ana does
the former threaten to become "A universal
evil among the American people,
Il should say decidedly no u any qucs-
tons OF this kind. We dc not have 10 20
far back into the history Of the Anglo
Saxon race To find a time when drunkenness
was rife. Passing over the days of rihaldry
which marked the time Of Charles the sec
ond and the Georges In England, We come
to the earlier decades OF the present CEN
fury. During tfat time in our own Ameri-
can Congress drinking was the rule. and
almost any night numbers OF drunken Con-
gressmen could be found gathered around
the gambling tables and In The saloons
along Pennsylvania avenue Today n is
the rarest thing in the world that a member
Of Congress is seen in a state of intoxica-
ton. The spirit of this age is against over
Indulgence in strong drink Slowly but
surely drunkenness and lewdness are be-
coming things of the past