The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1905-10-06
Home Health
Club =.
BY DAVID q. FEEDER, Ph. D..H.n
La Porte, Ind.


about cheerfulness, and in one of the
club books there is whole chapter
upon the relationship between cheer
fulness and longevity. wish every
reader of this paper would read that
chapter
Personally and generally l have no
patience with pessimists, and especial
ly with the sort that are continually
bowling about the degeneracy of the
times, the increase of disease, the retro
gression of the human race, and the
terrible Increase of crime l am going
to talk somewhat plainly. and if step
on anybody's toes he'd better keep
his toes under cover, for when l am
in earnest I stand about six feet tall
and weigh about 10 pounds
want to say, and say it emphatical-
ly, that such talk is untrue, Disease is
not on the increase, the human race is
not degenerating, nor is crime on the
increase. On the contrary, exactly the
opposite condition prevails at the pres
ent day and age of the world, and any
one OF good judgment and the ability to
make even a superficial examination
can easily prove it.
Why is it, let me ask you, dear club
readers, that the daily papers employ
agents in every quarter of the globe to
seek out and send to them all of the
horrible details of crime? Now, you
say that is conundrum that cannot
be answered instanter; the pessimist
will at once say that the condition Of
the people is so depraved that they de-
mand sensational news. Wrong my
friend, wrong, all wrong! What
makes sensational news? Will you
answer that? "Ah, there's the rub"
When you answer that you must ad-
NIT defeat. Sensational news must of
necessity come from that which is out
OF the ordinary, must be something of
rare occurrence. If crime were as COM
mon as goodness. acts Of devotion and
ment whatever-would not be sensa-
tional-would not be news.
During the early days of a mining
town upon the frontier, and before the
towns are organized. lawlessness is the
order OF the day, robbery and even
cold-b'ooded murder cause no excite
lnent, because they are more common
than deeds of goodness But let a few
mining camp desperadoes drop into
New York and kill only one citizen on
the streets in broad daylight and the
act would be telegraphed all over the
world in few hours.
During the sixteenth century a prom
inent man, wife, daughter or son,
might be kidnapped and held for ran
som without causing much comment
outside the immediate family circle
and friends, but the daring work done
a few years ago at Omaha in that line
creates CONSERVATION over all the civ
ilized world. Why? Because it is the
second successful crime of the kind to
happen in all America during many
years.
l have before me a recent issue of
magazine which claims to have wide
circulation and to be an advocate and
exponent of good health, but among
the leading articles l find such head
ings as "0egeneracy of Man" and I'm
crease Of Disease increase of Can
GER" Diseased Animals Used AS
Food MANY Suffering from Tape
Worm Increase of Consumption,
''Leprosy on the Increase" "North
American Indians Dying OUT ''Ty-
phoid Fever in OYSTERS and lot
more Gu :eful subjects as at once ought
to prove that the editor is confirmed
dyspeptic and ought to take a few
doses Of cheerful common sense and
mix it with his articles, and then per-
haps he would not create in mis- read
ers the morbid mental condition which
favors and develops disease.
Let us examine a few OF the state
ments is the human race deteriorat-
ing? If SO. the people must be smaller
in stature than formerly. Practical
evidence, however, the actual measure
ment of the bones of our ancestors,
as compared with ours, proves that we
are larger. 1t would be hard work to
find company of American soldiers
small enough to wear the coats OF
mail and armor that were worn by men
that We're called giants in former days.
A trial made few years ago in Lon
don proved this to the great astonish-
ment aud CONSERVATION of the pessi-
mists. Measure the bodies of the num-
mics found in the east, and the great
est soldiers and kings arc found to be
smaller in stature than our l7-year-old
boys, while the women do not compare
favorably with our 15year-old girls.
Since the sixteenth century the av-
erage longevity of the human race has
nearly doubled, and in some portions
of the civilized world it has more than
done SO. Now, regarding the Indians
They are not dying out at all; on the
contrary, the census report shows that
there are actually more Indians in
America to-day than there were when
the first whites landed on Plymouth
rock
Science and common sense nearly al
wavs corOuer disease and the doctors