Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-24

1t is my patriotic boast that from the
day the war began until the present
hour have abstained rigidly from con-
Stunning flesh. fish, fowl. alcohol and to-
bacco. Those envious detractors whose
yelp follows every utterance Of mine
like an obscene echo have objected that
as I had abstained equally for the
thirty-three years preceding the war l
deserve no credit for my conduct This
is obvious nonsense; they might as well
say that as I did not pick pockets In
the year 1900 the fact that I did not
do so in August 1914. does not make
me to that extent an honest man. But
even they must admit that it entities
me to speak with some authority on the
subject of meatless days.
Let me first reassure the aforesaid
detractors on one point They may
fear that if they are compelled to abb
stain from meat they may all become
Bernard Shaws-the most terrible fate,
if their professions are to be believed.
that could overtake them. Let them
dismiss all anxiety on this score. There
are millions of vegetarians in the world,
but only one Bernard Shaw. A century
ago there were millions of vegetarians
and only one Shelley. Twenty-six CEN
turtles ago there were millions OF them
attain eminence quite SO cheaply as by
eating macaroni instead of mutton
chops. The country is safe as far as
the danger of population of Bernard
perhaps think twice before destroying
my own monopoly.
Too Much Misinformation.
The second apprehension is more
general, though less excusable. There
is so much misinformation spread
nowadays under cover of education
that many carefully taught people
doctors. for example-think they must
starve unless they eat meat. They
probably attribute my own survival to
regrettable miracle. They are so
ignorant of how the world lives that
they do not know that the British peo-
pie are now trading on the vitality
they have inherited from generations
of men and women who did not eat
meat, for the conclusive reason that
they could not AFFORD it. and lived on
termilk, with an occasional scrap of
bacon by way of relish. Caesars SOL
diers had no bully beef. The meat
eaters have not conquered the world.
nor peopled it; they have expiated
their cannibalism in the mud baths of
Kissingen and Mont Dore, and are now
beleaguered in Harrogate and Bath.
1t is a curious fact that if you med
die with meat at all you cannot eat
too little and can hardly eat too much.
From the Tartar and the Gaucho we
learn that nine pounds of horsefiesh
a day is healthy diet for an eques-
TRAN From the Turkish porter and
the Chilean miner we learn that the
champion weight filters of the world
eat no meat at all But this gen
eradication needs a very important
qualification.
An underfed man is not man who
gets no meat, or gets nothing but meat.
He is one who does not get enough to
eat, no matter what he eats. Conse-
auently the civilian who is ignorant
enough to believe that his nourish-
ment depends on meat is now in a
horrible dilemma. He sees that the
soldier is given a much larger meat
ration than the civilian. He infers
that either the soldier is being over
fed or the civilian starved. And as
the soldier shows no signs of over
feeding, and is even strong in his
testimony that he could often do with
a little more, the civilian sees death
from inanition staring him in the face
and inclfnes toward an early and dis
honorable peace.
/