The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-04-13

pitfalls and providing a thousand and one
remedies seems like assailing sparrows
with cannon.
CRIME DUE TO HIGH PRICES.
The man who increases the price Of food
should be compelled to build prison out
of his ill-gotten profits. If ne cannot be
punished In any other way, for scarcity Of
food. high prices and crime are oldtime
bed-fellOws.
IL the great mass OF the French people
had not been starving while the court
wasted twenty-five millions annually, the
great revolution might have been delayed
for years. have looked into the history
OF political uprisings and revolts Of all
sorts: peoples empty stomachs were at the
bottom OF most troubles of that class. We
all remember the story of King Georges
tax tea!
Yet only the other day / read in me-
mortal signed BY the Prussian minister
OF the interior: IF the new tariff asked
affects the nourishment Of the people by
reducing the proportion of meat and -four
now used. such has to be borne in patience
for the good of the fatherland."
The average American and European
should live seventy or eighty years, but
statistics show that only small minority
the greater number OF these fortunates be-
long 10 the well-to-do classes.
The reason is easily found: Well-to-do
people can afford to be cleanly; IL not fools,
they eat only good and. certainly, always
sufficient food. And unlike their under
fed brothers. they can do without stimu-
Iants; alcohol is no necessity to them, and
when they do drink they partake of we'll
brewed beer, well-aged whisky, fine liquors
they don't even know the vile stuff that
some rascally brewers and distillers set be-
fore the average workman
The average poor city dweller may con-
slider himself lucky if he does not die
before his thirty-second year; the son or
daughter OF weIl-to-do people. living I'm
the city, has every right to expect TO live
70 his or her fftieth year. difference of
eighteen years. and good food, and plenty.
have a great deal to do with it.
Professor Knapp. of Leipsic. divided the
people OF that town into three classes, &C
cording to their mode of living. He found
that the third class, where three persons
lived in one room. showed the greatest
mortality, while the inhabitants Of houses,
or flats. where everybody had one room, or
more. to himself lived longest.
The people OF the West Side In Berlin
occupy four times as much room as the
people OF the North Side. They consume
ten times as much food-food Of the best
quality, of course. North Berlin sends out
twice as many collins as West Berlin.
LESSON FROM THE ARMY.
Up to the year 1850 the standing armies
of Europe were housed and fed worse,
or, at least. as badly, as the average white
slave, the consequence being enormous
mortality. Then somebody suggested that
Il might pay to apply hygienic principles
10 barrack life and improve soldiers food,
also vary same.
The Prussian army was first to expert
ment I'm that respect and within seven
years succeeded fl reducing the military
death rate TO the peoples level. Instead of
losing $40 per thousand men per annum,
as in the year 1860 and before. the losses
by natural causes amounted to only GIG
per thousand in the year 1867. At the same
time the Russian army lost AZ men per
thousand. the English go. the French
liza and the Austrian u per thousand.
Even to-day Russian soldiers depend for
part of their nourishment on alcohol. dis
-peSDSy the state. AS consequence
Russia loses more soldiers in times of
peace. from natural causes. so-called, than
". 94s.
Here is another point illustrating the
,nauence of food on life's duration. While.
or the battlefield. the loss of officers in
proportion. far exceeds the loss of men,
the average officer lives about twelve years
longer than the average soldier in times of
peace.
Among prisoners the death rate is from
three TO five times higher than among free
men When judge orders a man of forty
90 be imprisoned for life, he really cuts
short his life by twenty years. These, of
course. are average figures. gathered from
prison statistics the world over. And
prison directors and medical men agree
that poor food ard the eternal sanneness
OF food do as much to undermine prison
ers' health as loss OF liberty, chagrin and
absence Of bodily and mental recreation.
At the same time, il must be admitted
that the majority OF prisoners. in American
1ails at least, are better fed and housed
than many a poor devil enjoying liberty
so-called.
We need but take up certain Russian
statistics to see how nearly allied are
scarcity OF food. or high prices, and death
In the hunger district OF Perm every four
teenth person-man. woman or child. Old
middle-aged or young-dies In the course
of year; In Woronesch. every fifteenth,
stn the city of Kursk, every twentieth. In
the most civilized portions OF Europe
where industry has reached the highest
point of perfection. men succumb earlier
in life's battle than in the north though
ordinarily cold is more fatal 10 the human
race. as the increased February and March
death rate shows.
PRICES IN OTHER COUNTRIES.
We Americans We're, indeed. well off,
compared with the people of Germany. for
instance. before the food trusts began to
raise the price OF life's necessaries here.
The fatherland is not entirely free from
trusts, either-thSy call them karten (com-
binel-but there the greatest enemy of pub
&c health and OF the prosperity and
strength OF the nation Is the state which
levies heavy taxes on almost every article
needed in the kitchen and household.
The loaf OF bread, for which we ay
cents in this country, sells in Germany
for IS pfennigs. 6h cents. The increase
in price IS partly due to the tax of s
pfennigs for every two pounds of bread
sold.
Lard. selling here for cents. is just
double that amount in Germany. where il
IS esteemed a luxury by the poorer classes