Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1914-11-06
Copyright. 1914. by A. s. Cray
FOOD AND DELINouENTs.

President Taft, now president or the
New York Juvenile asylum in Dobbs
Ferry, with the discovery that bad
teeth make bad boys.
What is the cause of bad teeth in
children under fifteen years Of age?
1t is universally admitted that the
fundamental cause of the early decay
Of children's teeth is anemia, lack
of sufficient building material during
the growing period. Obviously lack
OF brick and mortar will result in an
imperfect building, and the same lack
of material must result in an imper-
feet body.
Mr.. Hilles is not the discoverer of
this truth, but none the less he is en-
titled to great credit for recognizing
and taking practical steps to combat
dangerous condition that many for
eign governments are making strenu-
Gus efforts to overcome.
In the parliamentary debate on free
meals, March q, 1905, Sir William
Anson then British parliamentary Sec
rotary to the board of education, re-
plying to Messrs. Kier Hardie and Will
liam Crooks, admitted that in the day
industrial schools, where the children
had three meals day, he foInd them
bright and intelligent and being de-
veIoped physically and mentally in
satisfactory way" Although the chill
dren lived at home the regular and
wholesome supply of food was so po-
tent a factor that their condition was
thoroughly satisfactory"
Wilson Bruce, following other wit
nesses before the Scottish commission
In pointing out the startling superior
ity of industrial school children, added
that il we fed and clothed the elemen-
tary school children as suitably we
should make new race of them"
The commissioners noted this con-
trast between the ill-nouTished ele-
mentary school children of respectable
parents and well-developed industrial
school children of those who have al
together failed in their duty"
The countess Of Warwick, writing
in "a Nations Youth" says: What a
fine moral have we here Be a bad
parent, or confess yourself unable to
control your own children, and they
will be attached to an industrial
school, given three meals a day, large
ly at the expense of the ratepayers,
and they will become bright and in
telligent boys, developed physically
and mentally in satisfactory way"
This touches upon and brings sharp
ly to the front the whole subject Of
sophisticated foods around which a
commercial battle royal is at present
raging in this country. In no field Of
knowledge is there so general lack
Of personal information founded on
experience as in the fundamental one
of food. 1t is generally admitted, and
there are hundreds Of proofs of the
proposition, that man, through the
results of centuries Of civilization, has
gradually lost the instinct of nourish-
ing himself until he has become the
most helpless and dependent of all
animals. Left to themselves under
normal conditions, the beasts, guided
by an innate instinct, select natural
foods that enable them to live with
out disease. Man, on the other hand
has not only lost this instinct that the
beast still possesses, but as the result
Of the misuse of his intelligence and
his freedom to select food for himself
and for such of the beasts as he has
turned to domestic uses, deliberately
Imposes preventable diseases upon
both himself and them,
Eating has become an art which has
to be learned by man, and unfortu
nately the subject is considered so I'M
important that quite generally our
foods are selected on the statement OF
persons whose only interest is in the
profit to be derived from the manu-
facture and sale Of the commodity
and then after the purchase in this
slipshod manner it is too frequently
turned over to some incompetent
kitchen drudge to be prepared for eat
ing
In order that an intelligent choice
OF proper diet may be made it is alb
solutely necessary that we should pos
sess a certain smattering of scientific
knowledge. This does not consist ii
the memorizing of few terms suffi
cient to enable us to babble about car
bohydrates, proteins and fats, of Gallo
ries and Of balanced rations, but Il
have thorough understanding of the
real meaning of the closing paragraph
of the fourth article of this series
which we here again repeat for EN-
phasis: "The now prevailing STANDARD
of food values which measures the
heat units produced from foods anC
completely ignores all other elements
and factors is not only woefully made
quate in the light Of modern science
but constitutes a grave menace to th'
health, to the morals, to the SAINT.
and to the life of any people"
The chief reason for the improve
ment in inmates of well-governet
esylums and industrial schools owe