New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-03-24
LIES COMPROMISES.

How the area of low pressure in the con-
sciences Of many men will grow as the news
of Professor Fishers discovery spreads! How
many housewives will falter at the threshold
of the butcher shop as they hear the newsies
crying that the Yale investigator has proved
vegetarians to be superior to carnivorous men
in endurance and strength! There will also be
mourning in the shacks OF Packingtown at tho
prospective decay of the meat business. But
the saddest feature of all is the needlessness
of much worry.
We hope that the investigator has manpu.
lated his statistics and his patients properly !:
has definitely settled the vexed question Of
vegetarian nutrition. And Yet. even though we
accept his results, siroins will be none the safer
from our Tavages. For the figures seem To
show that the bad effects OF meat eating do
not counterbalance the pleasant satiOns
yielded by the country sausage and Maryland
chicken 1t was distinctly unfair for the eX-
perimenter TO omit from his records tabu-
lated statement of the amount of Geniality gen
Grated by succulent slices of the beasts of the
field. Without such a statement tho unstatis-
teal reader might be deceived into thinking
that all flesh is a delusOn-i not in the Chris
tian Science sense, at least as an article Of
diet. To forestall such error, just word or
two.
flower unhappy. long before Ellis Island was
shooting Indians in decrying all pleasures.
The fun market has never wholly recovered
from the depression it suffered as a result Of
their onslaught. Men are still trying 10 acquire
everything save enjoyment. College students
sweat away four wenrying years in their en-
deavors to increase their calf measurement half
an inch. Young ladies keep themselves in a
chronic frenzy through desire to breathe deeply
or weigh more Old and young passlona tely
struggle 10 reduce themselves 10 a diet of Ill
tered air And business men waste away in
the race after an eight figure bank account
Through it all everybody overlooks the loss of
immediate satisfaction.
But what Is the use of being able to hold
dumbbell at arms length three minutes longer
than somebody else if the price of this triumph
is a good deal of harmless satisfaction? Even
suppose that he who is mighty with the dumb
bell will Outlive the flesh eater by five years
what comfort can the extra lease on life be il
the poor creature must deny himself the heaven
sent boon Of ham and eggs? OF course II the
vegetarian can get as much fun out of peanut
butter and scrambled oats as his carnivorous
brother does out Of his heshpOts, all we'll and
good; let him tarry at his manger. But mirth-
lessness is usually written upon his countenance
and from this we take warming
The time IS ripe for men to regard the warm
afterglow Of the settling steak as an asset En-
durance and strength are also assets, but only
two among many. The happiest man is he who
can invest all Of his habits, be they meat eating
or Statistic making. so that they may be entered
on the credit side of the page. OF course we don't
believe that meat is Indispensable to happiness
1t is often wise to abstain from it simply TO
keep ones free will in running order And. of
course. for some people IL may be a poison rank
and foul. But the muscularity of vegetarians
proves nothing against the alurements of the
butcher