Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-06-03
TOO MUCH MEAT Is EATEN.
Many of the Ills of Mankind Are Due
to Use of Flesh Food.

| TOO MUCH MEAT 10 "a EN-
Many of the Ills of Mankind Are Due
to Use of Flesh Food.
The food question is one that has
appealed to mankind from the time
good mother Eve tried her dangerous
experiment with the forbidden apple
Hers was the first assertion Of appe-
tite which craved for that variety In
diet which her numerous and equally
venturesome descendants have stren-
uously maintained is the real spice
Of life. Ever since the primitive ate
what he could get until the present
when his civilized brother gets all he
can eat and looks for new viands to
conquer, the cultivated instinct Of Sc
lection has been an evolutionary and
progressive one, contributing to the
general gayety of nations" We have
perhaps gone to the extreme OF in
diligence, like spoiled children, but the
habit is little too firmly seated In the
saddle to be bucked unceremoniously
|
theory of jerking the curb rein.
The scientists tell us we consume too
much food, and they are right so far
as they go, but we listen and smile and
eat on in spite of their chemical for
mulae, their test tube methods and
their quantitative analyses of relative
food values. So, perhaps, it will al
ways be as long as man, the wilful
arbiter of his own destinies, insists
upon living to eat rather than eating
to live.
The real trouble, however, with all
projected reforms in feeding has been
their lack of practical application to
actual needs. There Is apparently no
middle ground for the discussion OF
general principles of compromise be-
tween the actual gourmand and the
earnest abstemious crank. Theories
are arbitrary on one side and facts are
equally stubborn on the other.
When the army squad had been fed
for weeks on the accurately estimated
food equivalent of certain approved
viands the victims craved an ordinary
indulgence in plain old fashioned corn
beef and cabbage. The limit had been
reached and simple nature made her
own cry in her own way. 1t was ap-
petite against chemical experiment ana
healthy hunger against mathematical
estimates Of abstract nutrient forces.
These manifestations of natural
craving are, after all, our real safe
guards against the purely scientific
methods such as have been applied to
the poison boarders" and the army
SQUAD" We may interpret natural
laws, but science, with all its learning
and skill, cannot alter them.
In the face Of such a conviction we
are now assured by high standing au-
| thority that meat is virtually useless
for any of the nutrient purposes SO
long claimed for it.
Aside from the pure theory of the
matter we may in the end be forced
to believe that man was never made
for a mixed diet: that his stomach and
complicated intestinal apparatus are
merely an accidental survival of use
less organs. of which the insignificant
and troublesome appendix is the type
Experience, however, against which
there is never much of an argument,
must prove it's value against the mere
logic or arbitrary rules. The hungry
man with q juicy steak before him will
continue his hurtful habit Of loading
his stomach with unnecessary fodder
in spite of all theories to the contra
ry. His instructive need for just such
nourishment as he takes will answer
all other questions. He will not care
how much more he can lift, how much
faster he can run or how much more
fatigue he can endure, but will sim
ply satisfy his want for the time.
And in spite of crank notions to the
contrary, is not this the proper and
rational way of solving the law OF
demand and supply upon which our
very being is based? The craving for
certain varieties of food Is as con-
stant as its gratitcat1on is Imperative
Each tissue makes it's own demands
in it's own way and signals appetite to
select and nutrition to apportion the
multiple supplies for bone, muscle and
blood.
| Nutrition, energy and heat are mere
abstract terms in themselves, and their
proper Interpretation can never be
safely intrusted to laboratory tests or
chemical formulae. Therefore let US
not be in too great hurry to adopt
new views that are neither sound, ra-
tional nor practical. In spite of the
manifesto we are led to believe that
the average man will still take to his
beef whenever he needs it and can get
it-and. pray, why not?-New York
] Herald.