Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-05-15
THOUSANDS OF PHYSICAL DEFECTS
DUE TO REFINED FOODS EATEN

FOUND in the natural and inevitable
results which follow an acid forming
pase-free diet of any kind, call those
results by any name you will.
Here was crew of men living in
the open air. eating the staple articles
of diet for which American scientists
claim so much, and because of which
they tell us we are the best-fed nation
In the world. Fresh meat, all the but
ter and bread they could eat, boiled
potatoes canned vegetables. con-
densed milk, and tons of fancy cakes
biscuits, and sugar with all the coffee
and tea they could drink constituted
their diet.
There may be some skeptical souls
who, Notwithstanding the facts re-
ported here, may ask: But If German
sailors eat typical American meals for
255 days and develop on such a diet
OF white bread and meat a condition
OF malnutrition that results so disas-
trously, why dc not the Americans
themselves develop the same condi-
tions?"
Americans do develop the same dis
ease, but because they eat many other
offsetting foods, which were outside
tie reach of the German sailors, the
severity of the disease is modified ac-
cordingly.
On the Kronprinz Wilhelm the in
ISiiolty VI lne cause determined TIE
gravity and rapidity of the effect.
There was no outside assistance in
the form of offsetting fresh vegetables
and fruits to lessen that intensity.
The canned vegetables consumed,
although theoretically contributing
base-forming elements, actually ag-
gravated the condition for the rea-
son that their juices were consumed.
These juices, heavily contaminated
with salts of tin and sheet iron, acted
as an additional irritant to the kid
neys, already taxed beyond their ca
pacity with excess quantities of sui
phuric, phosphoric, carbonic, and
amino acids, elaborated in the diges-
tion of high protein and refined carbo-
hydrate foods.
Americans eat onions. lettuce, as
paragus, cabbage, carrots, parsnips,
caulifiower, celery, apples, berries,
oranges, grapes, fresh milk, eggs.
beans, peas, lentils, nuts, berries, and
other base-forming foods which as
sist nature to combat or to modify
some of the evil effects of the re-
fined diet on which the Germans at
tempted to thrive for so long a period.
Thousands of children of the poor
in the United States. exactly like
the crew of the Krcnprinz Wilhelm,
do not obtain these offsetting foods
in adequate quantities, and in the
case of adults of means there are
thousands who, making improper
choices, deprive themselves of them
needlessly. In the mean time the
acidosis does progress sufficiently to
interfere with the growth of the
young and to rob the body, through
lowered vitality, of its natural de-
fense against diseases of many kinds.
1t places a dreadful handicap upon
pregnancy and makes normal lacta-
ton impossible. 1t predisposes to
tuberculosis, appendicities, and cancer.
1t does not pile its woes in a heap as
was done on the German cruiser 1t
spreads them out thinly over a larger
area and is followed by many prevent
able ills rarely traced to their true
cause.
So true is this that even the State is
beginning to discriminate against the
physically unfit. The chief featue of
the annual report of the Civil Service
Commission signed by Henry Mosko-
witz, president of the board, and Com
missioners Darwin r. James, Jr., and
Alexander Kehoe, submitted May 6,
1916, to Mayor Mitchell of New York
City, records the adoption of physical
standards under which out of 22.524
applicants for municipal positions
during the year 1915 1859 were re-
jected.
The State makes no attempt to edu-
cate the people concerning the mean
ing of inadequate nutrition or foodless
food. Yet it already signifies the ten
dency of the times in throwing to the
scrapheap the victims of such igno-
rance.
There can be no doubt" says the
report of the Civil Service Commits
sion, that the elimination of the
physically unfit from entrance into
the city service will result in increased
efficiency. There is no more reason
for the city service to accept those
who are so physically handicapped
that they cannot render the best SER
vice than for a railroad to employ
men whose physical defect would
render them a menace to life and
property"
Never were employers so keen as
now in their scrutiny of the health
of their employees. Yet notwith-
standing the higher physical stand
ards now being demanded in all de-
partments of labor no organized effort
is being made, as far as food is con-
cerned, to enable the workers of
America to attain the physical per-
fections demanded.
It is In this light that the facts
which we are about to record merit
the attention of Congress, although
there is not the slightest hope that
Congress will call upon them for
many years. The schools must first
succeed in translating them for the
benefit of the rising generation.