The Washington herald., 1916-12-28
Seen and Heard
ny GEoRGE MINER.

4 Il
New York, Dec. 27-That Ameri-
cans are good livers, but haven't good
livers, is the substance of wall put
forth by Mr.. f. E. Rittenhouse, one
of the high officials of the Equitable
Life Assurance Society. He is start
ing campaign of national prepared
ness, but physical rather than mill
tary. According to Mr.. Rittenhouse,
the average American man is about
as soft and fabby as an oyster.
Probably he has not seen any of
the 10000 boys just back from the
border, who look as fit as prize fight
ers and as hard as nails. "a few
months on the Rio Grande turns hu-
man oysters into human steel traps.
The composite physical Ameri-
can," says Mr.. Rittenhouse, looks
smooth, pink and healthy. He is
good liver. He hurries. He has no
time to waste. The average age of
death of the American man is about
30. He is trying, with the aid of new
knowledge and inventions, to crowd
the experiences of two lifetimes into
one. He is having some success, but
the strain is telling on him.
"His digestive organs have been
given so many new and arduous
duties to which they were not trained
that they are showing signs of rebel
lion. He is seriously overstraining
his heart, arteries, kidneys, nerves
and digestion, as the rapidly increas-
ing death rate shows. He could de-
tect and head off these troubles if he
would go to his doctor for an occa-
sional examination.
"The evil effects of his physical in
activity have been greatly aggravat-
ed by his deadly excesses in eating
and drinking. He would not think of
mixing bricks or scrap iron or gravel
with the fuel for the furnace which
heats his house, but he does not hesi-
tate to follow this plan in furnishing
the fuel for his body. He feeds his
stomach with all sorts of tasty junk,
much of which cannot be fully digest
ed, and which results in the trouble
that comes from administration.
With every pound.he gains Of excess
fat, his chances for a shortened life
! increase.
With these facts before us it
seems reasonable to assume that the
power of our people to resist fatigue
and the physical stress of civilization
is declining rather than advancing.
But wholly aside from the question
Of declining national vitality, surely
there can be no doubt of the urgent
need Of improving the physical pre-
paredness of our people for the pro-
lection of the state and posterity."
Perhaps the high cost of living will
turn out to be a benehcent thing for
the American public in general and
lead us into the way of eating less
food and palmer food. Double price
for meats will do more to bring about
simple living than all the pleas put
out by all the insurance presidents in
the country.
Magistrate Paul Krotel has also
started a campaign. He proposes to
abolish gum chewing in court rooms.
The other day he fined and then had
elected from his court two lawyers
who were guilty of this offense. The
joke of it is that neither of them
knew what he had been guilty of and
one of them wasn't chewing gum at
that but only a gum drop. Judge
Krotel said:
at seems that people have the idea
that they can chew gum at ball
games, in the theater and in police
courts. They don't chew it when
they get married or when they are in
church. l consider it serious charge
for a man to appear in a court room
with the idea that he can face the
powers that be in such a disrespect-
full manner"