Los Angeles herald., 1910-11-20

called upon to copy-painfully lapo-
riously and with much effort, no doubt
among others, this sentence, "PreVen-
ton is better than cure" Today, IL
we were to ask the first hundred peo-
pie met in the street the question, rs
prevention better than cure?" it is
beyond doubt that the reply would be
in the affirmative in every case.
Placing a relative value on the two,
il is also said that IAN ounce of pre-
vention is worth a pound of cure. IL
being established fully then and ac-
cepted, in theory at least, that pre-
vention is better than cure, it should
naturally follow that, endowed with
reason as human beings are, preven-
ton or in other words, plain common
sense living in accordance with the
simple and easily ascertained laws OF
nature and physiology would be uni
Versally practiced, in full ratio to the
expressed and unanimous belief in the
theory But that this is not the case
is apparent to any one with the least
knowledge or observation; on the con-
trary, cure is placed on far hlgher
ground than prevention; in fact, the
latter is very largely ignored, millions
being expended in vain efforts to cure,
and, practically speaking, no outlay
at all on prevention of a really effec-
tive character. The thousands OF
weak, sick and diseased people in the
world show at what a cost this is
DONE Whether from ignorance, Will
fulness, or indifference, any departure
from sane, rational modes of living
will exact penalties in direct proper
tion to the transgression. Why are
people ignorant, willful and indlffer-
ent to the things which mean so much
to them and whose observance would
entail so little effort? Doubtless the
chief cause springs from the fact tnat
the great mass of people are only TOO
easily led into the acceptance OF the
false teaching of mercenary people
whose oft reiterated assertion that
man is subject to, or is heir to. various
diseases. A German scientist has re-
Gently tabulated over 100 diseases IN
cident to the human body, and that
the cure can only be accomplished by
recourse to those skilled in disease ana
it's treatment by various drugs, apph-
ances or operative measures. So firm
ly entrenched in the public mind has
the above doctrine became by habit and
custom among all classes, cultured
and uncultured alike, that prevention
has been lost sight of almost entirely.
The writer firmly believes that health
is the birthright of every human being
born into this world under normal
natural conditions, and that to affirm
that the human body is subject to
disease from some mysterious source
beyond the control of the individual
is to destroy at once the conception
held by anatomsts and psychologists
through all history of the marvellous
adaptabilitv. wonderful mechanism
and altogether admirable construction
of the human frame or body. Ger
tainly no man made mechanism whose
working was so faulty could, or would,
be put upon the market. However,
no well balanced. sensible person
would tolerate any such thought Al!
defects in the human body outside OF
accidents. come from infracrion OF
law. either on the part of the indiv1d-
ual or of some of his ancestors. Un-
questionably man was made perfect,
and If bv long continued disregard OF
law he has become imperfect and de-
generate then only by a a correspond
ing evolutionary process through per-
sistent effort, rightly guided, can he
again approximate toward perfection.
The false idea of cure, however, with
out considering the cause, leads people
to seek relief for their ills from some
remedy that holds out hope of imme-
diate benefit, only to find that they
have been pursuing a will-o'-the-Wlsp.
Of course curative agencies are essen
tial to those who are sick and sufer
from abnormal conditions, but to rely
on cure without inculcating the abso-
lnte need of DESTROYING the causes of
disease will always fail and render
return of the maladv or maladies al
most certain. even though a seeming
cure may be effected temporarily.