Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1900-11-08
PHYSIQUE OF THE ENGLISH.
Signs Of Deterioration Remarked By
Americana I'm Great Britain
Recent OmciaI Report.

90 per cent. among the seamen
of the British navy since 1888 in spite of
the fact that they are now much less
exposed to the weather than they were
formerly. This fact, in connection
strike an American who makes any
stay in Great Britain, suggests the
question, Is the English ace going
downhill physically?
Formerly Americans heard and read
a great deal about the robust health
and fine physique of English people.
particularly English They
were told English women could out
walk, ~outskate. outrow and generally
Guido their American sisters in every
form of physical exercise. Until with
in a few years comparatively it has
been taught as orthodox belief that
English athletes of every type excelled
American young men in strength and
muscle.
The American who lands in England,
therefore, expects to encounter a rosy,
robust, well-grown. well-deve.oped
race. He is disappointed. Perhaps a
regiment of British soldiers will at
tract his attention among the first OBJ
jects he perceives. AS to uniform and
drill they are probably the neatest,
nattiest fellows on this Planet. But
what else? They strike him as under
sized and pale, with sloping shoulders
and narrow chests. In comparison
with American regiments, say the tall.
superb northwestern men who went
out to the Philippines, knowing may
hap no more of drill or military nil
linery than a hen. neither caring. the
British soldiers look like boys rather
more thar half grown. and not we'll
shaped boys.
Desiring to add yet further to his
knowledge of the commo people of
England upon their own ground, the
American visits Hampstead Heath on a
bank holiday, that 'Ampstead 'Eath i'm
mortalized by Du Maurier. 1t is the
time and place to view the swarming
millions of London in their best clothes.
The first point that impresses the
American is the shockingly bad teeth
of these English common people. Boys
and girls of IL and II skip about with
all their upper front teeth gone. Girls
of Is seem to mind the absence of their
front teeth 40 more han they would
mind a hole in their hose. Not one in
500 appears to understand the use of a
toothbrush. They seem to take no
pride in having teeth, artificial or 9th
erwise, as Americans do, consequently
their teeth are almost universally bad
ard i'll kept. 1t is to be remembered
that early decaying teeth are a sign of
a weak constitution.
Going a grade higher than the Amp
stead 'Eath frequenters and observing
the young clerks and shop men and
women of London, they will be found
to be pale and slight. with the universal
bad teeth again. Many of the shop
girls are exceedingly pretty. but it is a
palish, fragile prettiness suggesting
consumption and dyspepsia; the same
apparent weakness of constitution
again.
The Englishman's apology for the
small size of the enlisted men in the
British army is that they come chiefly
from the congested districts of London
or from the factory towns of England.
where they had to go to work in the
mills in childhood. and have never had
the chance to grow as they ought to.
So much the worse for Great Britain if
this is so. 1t is a confession that she
is unable to give her children their
birthright of food and air. If this be
true. then the English are d~egenerat-
ing physically.
The same deficient physique is notice
able in at least some of the agricul-
kr1roI Is-&r,%- ~ A. -~I~o " -
great agriculturalshow, one of the most
important annual events in southwest
England. to which farmers and their
families focked by the thousand, an
American noted the same physical de-
fects, the decaying teeth. the narrow
chest and inferior size. The English
children one sees in the parks and else
where in the kingdom are perhaps as
beautiful as any on this earth can
show, with their dazzling compilations
and golden hair. They are handsomer
than American children on the aver
age. But as they approach youth they
GO off in looks. American adults are
handsomer, as a people, than those of
England. It is as if somehow, after a
first-class start, the English growing
child makes a bad finish.
It must be admitted. too, SAYS the
New York Sun. that even in those ath-
letic games which have been the espe-
cial sports of British college youths for
centuries the Americans are gradually
creeping up and outstripping them one
by one. Perhaps it is because the
Americans have a better climate and
more room to spread themselves than
their British competitors. They GER
tainlg have a larger and more varied
supply of fruits and food products.
Or was the whole assumption of Eng
fish physical superiority a mistake and
based upon a false statment from the
beginning? Either the story was false
in the beginning. or if true once it is so
no longer. And if it was once rue and
is not now so, either the Americans are
rapidly improving as a race physically,
OIL the English are going downhill. On
the whole it does not seem likely that
an impression which prevailed so wide
~ as this in regard to the superior Eng
lish physique 80 years ago could be
wholly in error. At any rate it is hard
to avoid the conclusion that, if they do
not wish the nation to become a race
of physical weaklings, the 5,O00,0 90 in
hibitants of LONDON and the other mil
in England's closely packed fac
tory towns should scatter out and
spread themselves to Australia, to
South Africa. to Canada.