The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-05-27
HOW TO KEEP WELL.

by Chas. G. Percival, NJ d.
Thomas A. Edison once made the
famous remark that the American
race dig their graves with their
teeth" Yet in spite of the fact that
the Wizard of Menlo Park, who Is
himself in perfect health at the age
of ~, and is an abstainer from most
of the diets of sweets and indigest-
ible pastries that Americans are fond
of. over 100 pies of the standard
bakery variety are sold every day at
the East Orange. y. J., plant of the
Edison Storage Battery and Phono-
graph company. where 1000 men are
employed. The Edison company, how
ever. are the first American employ
ers OF large numbers OF help to take
an interest in the welfare of their en-
ployees from dietic standpoint and
on Monday, May 10. fired the first
shot in the health efficiency war, when
Roy Beal, F. D. S, of New York City
delivered the first OF series Of lee.
lures, which he is now giving before
the employees OF the large industrial
plants throughout the United States
on Health Efficiency"
In a short half hour Prot Bea1 took
the 1000 Edison employees through
the errors of diet. the proper balanc-
ing OF foods, cleanliness, personal
hygiene, bathing both externally and
internally, and warned them against
too much eating, improper food, over
rich foods and an excess OF meat
He pointed out the many things in
the daily conduct Of their lives which
needed prompt attention. He put es-
pecial emphasis on the fact that the
average American eats too haphazard
" and laid stress on the extreme i'm
pcrtance of selecting a proper diet as
regards the time of the year and the
age and occupation OF the person. He
called attention to the great amount
of space given to food and health
topics by magazines and daily papers,
and the work that the large life in
surance companies are doing for
health conservation: that foods have
a certain therapeutic value in specific
diseases: that nuts are a substitute
for meat; why fruits can be so COM
bined with cereals as to properly bal
ance the diet so that they would not
be overfed on proteids and underfed
on carbohydrates, fats and mineral
salts: that milk should be served on
the table three times a day and I'M
pastuerized because the heat brings
about chemical change that destroys
the food value that it IS necessary to
keep the pores Of the skin open to re-
lieye the kidneys of large amount
OF their work, thereby compelling fire.
quent bathing both externally and in
terna1ly.
United States governme emit statistics
for 1913 show that s5o0,oOo,00o were
spent in one year for patent medt-
cines in the United States; $3.50, 900,
600 on physicians and nurses; that OF
all the children born into the world
60 percent die before they are one
year old and that not less than one
half of all the children born into the
world live to be Is years Of age.
Even the animals live longer than
man. the average animal living five
to arrive to full growth The aver
age life span of the human being in
the United States Is ~ years. or Just
twice the number Of years II takes
him to arrive to an age of usefulness,
or one third less than that OF the
horse.
Most ali this can be laid at the
door OF improper diet. over feeding,
and errors Of hygiene. Kidney liver
and heart diseases in the United
States have doubled in the last thirty
wears Parents who have not properly
brought up their own health efficiency
cannot produce efficient children and
hence the increasing infant mortality