Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1905-11-01

III me lealthI
Club
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'.'o / L XII .'.!: IL +: :. !. ! !.
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Are we degeneratlng? Two proml-
nent health magazines have recently.
had Mysteries over q report made by
one sof. the recruiting officers of the
English army in which he states that
the physical condition Of English man
aood Is terribly significant and most
disquteting.''' # q ]. # =: !.
am going to say, however, that I
think the committee appointed to In
vestigate the subject Of physical de-.
generation was quite correct in making
q report entirely contrary. The Anglo
Saxon race is not. by any means, de-
generating but is growing stronger
and healthier year by year. The Home
Health Club proudly claims to be one
OF the factors that is helping in no
small degree the upward tendency.
The report OF the recruiting ofncers
says: = .'s. \, E . 's y: = 2+s II. s~2*
Perhaps the. gravest feature IL that
the whole question Of voluntary en-:
listment is affected by this deplorably
low standard of physique Of the nation
generally and British soldiers In par.
ticular. "..@ %,%
"Of the men who offer themselves
for military service every year nearly
half are rejected by the medical OIL
GERS. In 1903 there were 60861 re-
cruits, but only 29,575 were accepted.
These figures, bear in mind, take
no account of the very large number
Of men who want to join the army. but
whom the recruiting sergeants will not
even look at, we'll knowing them to be
So: manifestly unfit for service that it
would be waste Of time to take them
before the doctors.
There would he no dearth of re.
cruits il all who offered were physical
~ sound enough to pass the medical
examination. With yearly quota of
10000 men, the number at present
Forthcoming, there would never be any
scarcity of soldiers II it were not for
the fact that SO many have to be re-
jected.
This army of chronic invalids is
the best the nation can produce. They
are the picked men OF the country,
though they are feeble in constitution
| and easily succumb to disease Such
as they are, these few chosen from the
many are the wheat winnowed from
I the chaff
'The reflections have been steadily
increasing for some years past. Ten
years ago there were "a per cent. or
one in three. Now one in every two
is rejected, and solely for medical rea
sons.
'These reflections are on account Of
defects that indicate poor physical de-
velopment in the class from which the
military are largely recruited. The
defects are deficiencies in weight and
chest: measurements, weak, constitu-
tions,4 diseases incidental: to general
debility and unsound organs. y Flat
feet and bad teeth are also fruitful
causes, the latter increasingly so, prov
ing that the food eaten by the men
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES, and that their daily
life is%ruinous to their health"
!: In the last paragraph the report
gives the sscret of the whole trouble
1.-THE class from which the military are
largely recruited" How many of our
strong, rugged school boys ever offer
themselves for enlistment in the regu-
lar army? There is better work and
better pay for the American as we'll
as the. English lad, and the boys with
sound bodies have sound brains as we'll
and they know that the great battle of
life that is to be crowned with pleas.
ure, honor and glory is not to be
found in the barracks of the regular
army.
I think I would almost as willingly
see one of my sons laid in his grave
while yet clean and pure; as to see him
become one Of these recruits. But let
the demand come for men to defend
our homes or our honor and am
ready, as are all other citizens. to
not say: Go, and God be with you,' %
but Come and God will be with us
because We fight for the right Look
atSthex strong lusty men whos eagerly
presented themselves when citizen
like Theodore Roosevelt said Come -
Let any real danger menace the home
of England or America and the recuit-
ing officers will receive such q sur
prise that pessimism and talk of de-
generacy will be unheard of again. He
is mistaken when he says that those
who present themselves are the pick
and best standards of physical man
hood which the nation produces.
L f. -. II : -.
/. Al CLUB NOTES. -a.
[ Viroqua. DIR. David H., Reeder, La
| porte, Ind Dear Doctor: My husband
has been a subscriber for this paper
for good many years and I have been
much interested in the Home Health
club department. would like to ask
your advice about my husband. He
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