Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1914-06-26
LIFE CONSERVATION - INDIvID
UAl OBLIGATION TO
THE RACE.
(Copyright. 1914. by A. S. Gray)


THE RACE.
United States senate document No.
419, Sixty-first congress. entitled Ma
tional Vitality. Its Wastes and Con-
servation." being an extract from the
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 hui
man lifetime By applying the science
of preventing disease" And again:
The estimate of Is years as the pos
sible prolongation of life Is merely
minimum estimate"
This report, ordered printed and Is
sued by the government printing of1ce.
Washington, d. c.. for some reason
has received but limited attention.
In view 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 Ia for a means of attaining these
three things, 1t would appear that
there must have been insufficient pub
licity given the report. Further. the
fact that only recently Rittenhouse
clearly showed that in this country the
chances OF untimely death after one
has passed the ago of forty are In
creasing. in contrast with stationary
or even a slightly decreasing death
rate for the same ages In some Euro
pean countries. makes an emphatic
and q patriotic demand for aggressive
publicity of causes. to the end that
grave economic loss to our nation
through such unnecessary sacrifice
may be checked.
Each individual Is q 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 on
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 al
that we know of the rest Of the worlt
hat there should be agreement be
tween one portion Of sensitive crea
ton and another portion. In all mat
tiers and at all points. This explains
those close and remarkable analogie
30 frequently noted by independent In
vestigators in every department. ant
makes clear how we may measure thu
unknown by the known. the whole b!
the part.
The Greeks loved hypothesis an,
disdained facts, and we in this age ar
not In any great degree. II at all. 81
perior to them in this respect. AT
parently, the thing we most strenu
ously endeavor not to see Is til
truth. the whole truth and nothing blu
the truth"
Mark Twain In his quaint an
humorous but very sound and whole
some style sums up the situation i
the following words: I'VE are Away
hearing Of people who are around seel
ing after truth. have never seen
permanent specimen. l think he ha
never lived. But I have seen sewers
entirely sincere people who though
they were permanent seekers afte
truth. They sought diligently, PEI
sistently, carefully. cautiously, pr,
foundly. with perfect honesty and nic'
ly adjusted judgment-until they b.
lieved that without doubt or questio
they had found the truth. That wa
the end of the search. The man sper
the rest Of his life hunting up shil
giles wherewith to protect his trut
from the weather. II he we're seekin
after political truth he found It in on
or the other of the political gospel
which govern men on the earth; II b
were seeking the only true religion b
found 1t in one or the other of tn
5000 that are on the market. In an
case when he found the truth b
sought no further. but from that da
forth. with his soldering iron in on
hand and his bludgeon In the other. b
tinkered its leaks and reasoned wit
directors"
That is q fair statement of tn
mental attitude Of most Of us. Gu
minds are not self-propelling and vi
less we are careful to remember tbs
even the north star Is not fixed. but
in constant motion. inertia grips U