Arizona sentinel and Yuma weekly examiner., 1914-10-01
By President E. E. Rittenhouse, of the
 Life Extension Institute

By President E. E. Rittenhouse, of the Life Extension Institute
 The American people are horror stricken by the awful carnage of the great war. They read daily of the killing of great masses of men in the prime of their youth, health and strength. In addition to this is tine appalling life waste which is stil! to come from the enormous number Of wounded, and from the victims of disease-exposure due to war.
 Now that the American public mind is centered upon this awful waste of human energy and life, and the poy- erty and misery that will result, they should give serious thought to the still more destructive battle that is going on in their own peaceful fat1er- land.
 If Europe can enlist an immense Sounteer army to destroy life,, surely the United States should be able to enlist a great volunteer army-a No ,ional Health Guard-to save life by combating it's deadly but conquerable enemy, preventable disease. This enemy can be fought and checked md in the end Conquered, without costing the life of a single volunteer.
 In our battle with the preventable naladies we still lose 65O,OO0 lives every year.
 This is nearly four times as many people as were killed on the battle fields of the Franco-Prussian war and undoubtedly far more than will Dt killed in all the battles of the present great war.
 Our annual loss is equal to a battle of Waterloo every sixteen days during che entire year, and a battle of Get .ysburg about every three days.
 Every year diseases of the heart, arteries and kidneys, which are nearly all preventable or postponable if de iected in time, cost us as many lives IS were destroyed by wounds and dis 5eases in the Union army during the Civil war.
 In Europe they are destroying life oy human design; here, by human neglect
 There they are fighting to bring the ,wful sacrifice to an end; here, ous indifference is so great and our re sistance so feeble, that the ravages )f our enemy have been but slightly ;hecked, although the means of pre- 7ention are at hand and well known
 Now that so many of our sister na ions have for the time reverted to barbarism and are engaged in mau 5ling and destroying human beings what better could Americans do tC emphasize the lofty purposes of their utilization, and the value they place lpOn human life, than to inaugurate ! popular, nationwide citizen-move nent to save their people from the wholesale suffering and ltta-waste hat is going on from preventable di ease.
 We have our regular army and navy md the National Guard, and even Boy Scouts, all being taught how to de troy life if it becomes necessary il he support of our laws and our gov rnment. We have the great religious -ssociations supporting the church which guards our spiritual welfare Ve have our political parties to give upport and vitaityl to our govern mental system. We have all sorts oF rganizations in support of education hat we may be guarded against il iteracy.
 Surely, it would be a paying invest nent for the press of our land, whicl has done so much to promote health ul living habits and to disseminate knowledge of disease prevention, tC 'rge for the same purpose poDula, novement-crystalize into a Nation Il Health Guard-to help prolong the American life and make it more liy 2ble. Membership in this citizen .ealth guard could be made possible with little formality and expense.
 There is a group of people in every community who would be glad to
 ledge themselves to observe the sim