Los Angeles herald., 1907-06-16
DIGESTIVE DEGENERACY

DIGESTIVE DEGENERACY
One by one the old standbys of oul
daily diet are feeling the heavy hanC
of condemnation. Now, it is the pie
DIR. Wiley, the government chemist
says the average pie is death.
dealing machine, full of stomach
ache and terror, indigestion and lard
He thinks it woeful weight for thu
digestive apparatus to carry, and ad.
vocates it's abolition.
How far right or wrong DR.. Wiley
Is, goes for naught just here; the point
Is this: If the man or woman of the
| United States can no longer eat pie
with impunity. as he or she has done foi
centuries, wherein is the fault? Is it the
degeneraoy of the pie that is to be
blamed, or has mans own digestion
been so pampered and impaired by pre-
solved and semi-digested breakfast
foods and the like, that he can nc
longer stomach strong meat and
stronger pastries?
| For certainly no argument will de-
stroy the fact that for many genera
tions, our hardest people. the New
pie; on inordinate quantities Of pie;
in fact, on pie for every daily meal, and
for the snack before bedtime. And If
these people of what has become known
as the pie belt have turned out the
sturdiest of American men and ma
irons, pie. per Sc. as an article Of diet,
must be favorably reckoned with.
Then is it the pie or the human re-
ceptacle of It that Is to be condemned?
Argument points to the latter conclu-
sion.
The pie, as such, is simple PROPOSE
ton. The crust is constructed easily;
lard and flour, in themselves generally
used ingredients of all cookery, are its
mainstays. And the "fllin's' are fruit,
cooked at that, or such things as
squash or pumpkin, healthful vege-
tables. (This. of course. takes no ac-
count of that mystery of mysteries, the
iIlALC0 plSt II lS III a CAdCo Wy ASSOAAs(
Given. then, the simple crust, which
is merely shorter, crisper bread, and
the fruit or vegetable establishment,
which no one will decry, and who can
say aught against the combination in
pie form-with or without lid? This
is all there is to the pie; our grand
sires and forbears for centuries have
eaten and enjoyed and grown fat on 1t;
why not we?
Is not the human stomach to blame,
after all? Haven't we of late so
weakened and effeminized our digestive
faculties, as it were, that we no longer
can tolerate the heavier and heartier
meals that men crave? Are we not so
devitalized through the predigested
foods and fads that we are no more
capable of assimilating real eatables?
Marry, it looks that way! There is
nothing OF the weakling about pie; it
is full grown specimen of digestion
tester. But a man or woman with
organs properly developed and in active
working order can double discount
any pie that ever was boiler-plated,
and come out of the ordeal we'll and
happy. The pie is friend of hu-
manity; a strong and able one, withal,
but a good one, nevertheless. But a
sturdy humanity is needed to appre-
ciate it.
We eat too much baby food; that's
the trouble. We must have our oats
rolled and crushed, our wheats shredded
and cracked our corn faxed and
crisped; our barley and rye sprouted
and brewed. We no longer can take
natures growths as nature intended
they should be eaten; we are too deli
cate and refined and emasculated. The
pie disagrees with us, not because the
pie is inherently vicious or bad or in
digestable, but because we, poor weak
lings, are no longer capable of hand
ling a tough load when it is thrown
down into our breadbaskets.
And the answer is that instead OF
crying a bas the pien' DR.. Wiley should
turn in and devise ways and means to
rebuild the human machinery and once
more to bring II to a state wherein the
pie is a succulent and delicious morsel
tidbit of dainty texture, we'll worthy
of being human natures daily food, and
not its poison.