Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1914-07-31
LIFE CONSERVATION - INDIVlD-
UAL OBLIGATION TO
THE RACE.
copyright, 1914. by A. S. Gray)

report of the national conservation
commission, states: From these data
1t is found that Is years at least could
be at once added to the average hu-
man lifetime by applying the science
OF proven .ng disease" And again:
''The estimate of Is years as the pos
sible prolongation Of life is merely a
minimum estimate"
his report, ordered printed and is.
sued by the government printing office,
Washington, d. c., for some reason
has received but limited attention.
In 7iew of the fact that the pressing
need Of humanity is better health,
greater efficiency and longer life and
that the most insistent demand of this
age 8 for a means of attaining these
three things, 1t would appear that
there must have been insufficient pub
licity given the report.
Each individual is link in an un-
broken chain OF life extending back to
the beginning, and he enjoys life today
only by virtue of the fact that each
ancestor in the long line possessed
the will to live and the intelligence
and courage to grasp and to use such
means as were then available to COM
bat untoward conditions, thereby be-
ing enabled to reproduce strong off,
spring. Continuation of the line OF
life places the same obligation on the
present generation.
That there Is definite government
Of this universe is generally admitted.
Matter is not scattered at random, but
in accordance with orderly and fixed
laws, and 1t is in accordance with all
that we know OF the rest of the world
that there should be agreement be-
tween one portion of sensitive crea-
tion and another portion, In all mat
ters and at all points. This explains
those close and remarkable analogies
so frequently noted by independent in
vestigators in every department, and
makes clear how we may measure the
unknown by the known, the whole by
the part.
The Greeks loved hypothesis and
disdained facts, and we in this age are
not in any great degree. II at all, su.
perior to them in this respect. APP
parently, the thing We most strenu-
ously endeayor not to see is "the
truth, the whole truth and nothing but
the truth"
Mark Twain in his quaint and
humorous but very sound and whole
some style sums up the situation in
the following words: I'VE are always
hearing OF people who are around seek
ing after truth. have never seen a
permanent specimen. think he has
never lived. But have seen several
entirely sincere people who thought
they were permanent seekers after
truth. They sought diligently, per-
sistently. carefully, cautiously, pro-
foundly. with perfect honesty and nice
ly adjusted judgment-until they be-
lieved that without doubt or question
they had found the truth. That was
tho end OF the search. The man spent
the rest OF his life hunting up shin
giles wherewith to protect his truth
from the weather. II he were seeking
after political truth he found It in one
or the other Of the political gospels
which govern men on the earth; II he
were seeking the only true religion he
found II in ono or the other OF the
5000 that are on the market. In any
case when he found the truth he
sought no further. but from that day
forth, with his soldering iron In one
hand and his bludgeon In the other, he
tinkered its leaks and reasoned with
obJectors."
That is a fair statement OF tho
mental attitude of most OF us. Our
minds are not self-propelling and un-
less we are careful TO remember that
even the north star is not fixed, but is
in constant motion, inertia grips us
and makes II difficult for US to ad-
vance from truth to truth with the
same freedom and enjoyment we ex-
perience in recognizing and appreci-
ating the changing landscape at each
turn IN a road we may be travelling.
or course our brand Of truth is THE
TRUTH, measured by the facts as
seen from our particular point Of view.
Biological law and. the general ex-
perience of expert breeders Of plant,
bird and animal prove conclusiyely
that good health and efficiency are the
result Of intelligent breeding and care
during the development period Type.
the hereditary result Of breeding, Is
an important factor in efficiency and
in the predispositlon to dlsease-but
the care received after birth, the en-
yironment, is by far the most vital
factor in the cause OF those minor all
ments which the above mentioned con.
servation report shows cost the aver
ago "well man" five days year from
work and which serve TO sensitlZe
him for the reception and develop
ment OF disease resulting in prem9
tux. daath