The daily commonwealth. (Greenwood, Leflore Co., Miss.) 1916-1919, 1917-05-10
THE UNFIT.

q IA IL -
There is no denying or blinking the fact that
the percentage of military unit IN TINS country
is unusually high. Three out OF every Iour men
applying to the government enlistment stations
fall to pass medical examinations; and this Is a
conservation statement. Th1 average OF turn
downs" is more in the neigAbor!ood OF five out
of six.
When the republic was young Such a thlng was
unknown. Nearly every man could pass the ply
steal examination. Not only that, nearly every
man was convegsant WITH the use of firearms,
could shoot straight, anu Needed Tie rllrlllnum OF
military training to be of service to his country.
Some of the most glorious victories III the annals
OF the American republic were Won Dy virtual raw
recruits.
What has created tie change? What has de-
generated our manhood physically to the present
|lamentable status?
First of all is the change in living conditions.
Where formerly the nation wss largely rural, with
Youngsters brought up in the hard knocks factory
on the farms, where they lived a natual Life and
gave nature a chance to do its best by their bodies,
now a tremendous percentage live IN the cities,
at work in employments where nature doesn't get
"a chance. And it has only been III the last decade
or so that the states began to take notice OF con-
ditions and pass rigid rules OF law that are de-
signed to safeguard the health Of workers. These
will accrue to the benefit o. the growing genera
ton much more than to the benefit OF the present
grown-ups, because the damage in their cases has
been already done.
This is only part Of the reason, however. Much
of olr military ~untitness lies at the doors OF par
ents and the educational autnorities-not in the
present day, but those of the past two decades
or the last generation.
The parent who merely tells a child to clean
his teeth after meals, for instance, is only doing
half her duty; she should see that the teeth are
cleaned. If not, the child inevitably developes
teeth trouble, when a man of military years has
half a mouthful of decayed, filed, and faulse mo-
lars-a fruitful source of military ~undtness.
The same is true with the eyes. 1t isn't mere
ly the duty of the parents to tell the children to
read or study in a good light--it is their duty to see
that they do so. Mere telling counts for lttle---
it's seeing that a thing is done that brings results.
Millions of our population wear glasses merely be-
cause their parents did not follow up good in
structions, as every eye-doctor will tell you. And
these are a fruitful SOuICe VI hllllCoiy ~
There are other physical imperfections, due to
|one-sided development, that also produces military
unfit men, but these are too many and too complex
to require detailed description here. Bad eyes
and bad teeth are primary causes OF military un-
fitness; and the tragedy Of these is that IN nine
cases out of ten they are the results OF careless
ness in youth and lack of proper attention by
no ren+s and the educational system.
In the case of the educational system, there Il
this about it; 1t should not be the object OF the
state merely to instruct in "three RS and
the other things that go with them it should also
be the object of the state to see that the children
coming under it's jurisdiction are healthy and kept
on the road toward health. This is Of greater
importance than some of the studies taught.
Progress has been made in the last decade; bu'
the results necessarily will not show prominently
: until the growing generation is grown up. A
present. with our distressingly low percentage o
the military unfit, we are reaping the harvest O.
a " didn't care or didn't know" generation
, which unwittingly has left its ineraseable mark
;, on the youths Of the present generation.
p "a Va W "a sa m
ruA NCINC