The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1905-06-23
DOES MAN NEED MEAT7
Use or Usefulness Of Beet Diet a De-
batable Question.

"a
New York Herald: The food ques-
ton is one that has appealed to
kind from the time good mother Eve
tried her dangerous experiment with
the forbidden apple. Hers was the
first assertion of appetite which craVed
for the variety of diet which her num-
erous and equally venturesome de-
scendants have s~trenuously maintained
is the real spice of life. Every since
the primitive man ate what he could
get ntl the present. when his civilized
brother gets all he can eat and looks
for new lands to conquer the Guilt
waited instinct Of selection has been an
evolutionary and progressive one, con-
tributing to the general gayety Of ma
tons" We nave perhaps zone to the
extreme CT Indulgence, like spoiled
children, but the habit is a little too
firmly seated In the saddle to be bucked
uncermoniously in midair by some new
and fanciful 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 cumulative analyses G relative
food values. So. perhaps, 1t will al
ways be, as long as man, the willful
arbiter OF hts own destinies, insists up
on living to eat rather tina 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-
--I sl-~
earnest and abstemious crank, Theor-
les are arbitrary on one side and facts
are equally stubborn on the other
When the army squad has 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 and
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 bcarders' and the army
squad. " We may interpret natural
laws, but science with all its learn
ing and skill, cannot alter them.
In tlc lace Oh SUCH Il CollNlSllpli wv
are now assured by high standing au-
thority that meat is virtually useless
for any of the nutrient purposes so long
claimed for it. How much more oul
bill Of fare is to be trimmed to suit the
newer notions Of the day is somewhat
difficult to imagine.
Aside from the pure theory Of thu
matter. we may in the end be forced
to believe that man was never mad'
for a mixed diet; that his stomach AM
complicated intestinal apparatus ar
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 its value against the me-
logic of arbitrary rules. The hungr.
man with a juicy steak before him vii
continue his hurtful habi of loading
his stomach with unnecessary fodder +
spite of all theories to the contrary
His instructive need for just UGH nou
ishment as he takes will answer al
other questions. He will not care no,
much more he can lift, how nue.
faster he can run, or how much NOR
, fatigue he can endure, but will simpl
satisfy his want for the time.
And, in spite of crank notions to tn
contrary, is not this the proper an
!. rational way of solving the law of de
mand and supply upon which our yer
being is baSeS? The craving for Ger
tain varieties Of food is as constant a
it's qualification is imperative. Fac
tissue makes its own demands in ii
own way and signals appetite to selec
and nutrition to apportion the multipl
l supplies for bone, muscle and blood.
Nutrition, energy and heat are mer
: abstract terms In themselves, and the
: proper Interpretation can never b
safely %intrusted to laboratory tests O
| chemical formulate. Therefore, let II
not be in too great a hurry to adoI
new views that are neither sound, ria
tlonal nor practical. In spite OF tn
= manifesto we are led to believe tina
! the average man Will still AXE to hi
beef whenever he needs 1t and can &c
it-and pray, why not?