The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1917-08-03
The Increasing Stress of American Life

In America the war order to Speed up
comes to people whose vitality is already under
abnormal strain.
To generalize, we may say that this life strain
is due to Incorporate living, that is, overindulg
! ence in physical and mental activity on the part
of some, and of ease, luxury and lack of physical
| activity on the part of others.
Proud as we are of the progress already made
in fighting disease, our efforts have been puny
indeed compared to the magnitude OF health and
life waste still going on.
Signs of the high nervous and mental tension
| under which many of us live in normal times are
abundant especially in the mortality records.
We have for instance, over $4,000 suicides an
nualy. Our murder rate is many times higher
than that of any other civilized country.
The number of people whom we MAIN or kill
in our streets our railways, and in our indus
tries, due almost wholly to the needless haste, or
reckless neglect of individuals and employers, is
truly appalling. This nangling and killing of cit
| liens is far beyond that of any other nation.
Other signs of the mental and physical stress
of American life are found in the declining birth
rate, in the increase in insanity and mental de-
fectlves, In the rejection of onethird Of our
young men by the recruiting officers for lack OF
physical fitness and endurance, and in the great
number of overfed and under-exercised people in
the various walks of American life.
These are all common signs OF life strain IA
miar to people who observe and read, but there
are other convincing evidences of which the aver
age person knows little bcause they are buried in
the vital statistics.
He does not know, for instance, that every
year about $4,000 Americans below age 40 die of
the disease of old age.
These due to the wearing out of the vital
organs weakened by the stress Of life in this or
former generations. These organs should not
break down until advanced age, and yet we lose
about 100000 people below middle life from or
ganlc diseases every decade-a considerable army
in ITSELF Above age 40 we have approximately
100000 deaths from these same causes annually.
Fully seventy-five per cent of these deaths in
both groups are premature; they could be de-
ferred and productive lives prolonged for years
If we would teach our people how to follow health
full habits of living
Ii the government can undertake to teach US
how to save the lives Of plants, trees and animals
why not human beings?
Statistics both crude and refined indicate that
these diseases have materially increased but
aside from this the waste of life and health from
these causes is excessive. Why in this age of
gold, OF science and Of educational facilities when
the demand for efficiency is SO nsistent, should
not the nation undertake to reduce this waste of
national vitality?
lnasmuch the safety of the state and the
perpetuity of the race depends upon the health
and strength of the individual, the time is at hand
for the government to make vigorous move
ahead in adopting measures to conserve the phys
lcal vigor of our people.
PUBLIC BULLETIN.