Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1908-01-17
NEW EO|CT IN JAPAN
All Japanese Must SIT on Chairs
In Future.
S0UATTlNG ON HEELS BARRED
Oriental Habit Will Be Prohibited by
Imperial Decree, Says Episcopal
sishop-crampins Of Legs Causes
Beri seri, a Dread Disesse-Soldiers
Must Eat Meat.

Chairs will he a national institution
In Japan soon through an imperial or
der making their use everywhere CONF
pulsory. Bishop Mckim. one of the
two American heads Of Episcopal mis-.
sionary work in the empire. believes
that the edict will he issued before he
returns to Tokyo. and he is in San
Francisco now preparing 10 DEPART for
the Flowery Kingdom. says san Fran.
cisco special dispatch to the Chicago
Inter Ocean.
The product OF Saginaw and Grand
Rapids is In the nature Of a prcsclip-
tion formulated by the medral al.
visers OF the japanese government,
who have discovered ut last that
cramping the legs Is one Of the chief
causes OF beri beri. the destructive
dropsical disease which has long puz-
zled the oriental physicians, because it
attacked only those Mongolan races
addicted to rice and 10 resting on their
heels. Floor mats. therefore will be
forever prescribed as appurtenanreS Of
rest except for sleeping. and even for
this purpose they are being suppIanted
rapidly by the mattress and iron frame
arrangement favored in the western
world.
But Saginaw and Grand Rapids had
better he careful for. with their Gus
tomary care as to detail, the officers Of
the mikado. the bishop says. are likely
10 a t.1.. 81.
green pine or cypress is used to tie the
chairs in knots more tangled than the
legs OF the squatters who are to he
saved by their aid from the ravageS Of
beri beri
Bishop McKim arrived at the Fair
mont hotel in San Francisco recently
from Richmond. va. where he attend
ed the triennial convention of the An
glican church in America. He will
take back with him q recruit for his
missionary band and two clercymcn,
who. like him, have been at home sev-
eral months taking the kinks ont
after following for years the custom al
most general in Japan of sitting down
like tailor
Every time l went calling" said
the bishop, Il had to do as my hosts
dld-sit on my heels. When they came
to see me they asked my pardon and
curled their legs up on my chairs.
They said 1t made their legs numb to
sit as we do, just as 1t benumbed mine
to sit as they do.
But this was mostly among the eld-
er Japanese" the bishop added. Chairs
are In use in the government schools
and, of course. in those conducted by
the various Christian churches. The
banks, large stores and government
Offices have them, but in the homes
the mats still are supreme. and it is to
protect the next generation of men and
women that the emperor will issue his
edict.
Surgeons of the japanese army who
investigated the origin of berl beri
found that the disease swells the
limbs Of its victims first, then extends
upward and paralyzes their hearts 1t
is not entirely result of squatting on
the floor, however. The japanese sci
entsts found rice partly to blame, and
that Is the reason why barley is now a
part Of the regular army ration, and
the scruples Of Buddhists regarding
the consumption of flesh are ruthless
y overridden by the strict order to all
soldiers to eat SO much meat per day.
Bishop McKim says that as a result
Of the governments campaign against
beri beri meat eating is increasing by
leaps throughout the empire, while
vegetarianism is correspondingly de-
cinng