The evening world., 1919-01-15

eflLlTk
In his carly fortics ne was refused
by life insurance company as bad
risk, and al that time sentenced 10
die OF a combination Of obesity, heart
trouble a.. ether diseases. Therefore
he began % study the principles OF
dietetics. He 'ound out. first, that he
had been eating too much: second.
that he had been chewing too little,
Then he published his little book,
"F1etcherism: What Is IT." which
set every one talking about tine
chew-chew man"
A retired business man OF iudcpenl-
ent means. Mr.. Fletcher had the time
10 spend In writing and lecturirg
about his theories Of eating. and being
one OF the intellectually self-support-
niR, he did not mind the good-na.
turcd laughter with which his ideas
were received at first.
His propaganda did not depend on
words alone. Al ffty-hve he went 10
Yale University and broke al. the
.
years later he returned TO the uni
verslty and showed an improvement.
OF 100 per cent. over his own records.
AZ this time he did $50 lifts on the
machine for registering physical on
duranCe. and before him Yalc'3 best
athlete had done but i75 lifts Ye:
Mr. Fletcher. | recall, was n rather
spare man Of not more than middle
height, his smooth, rosy checks the
only visible index OF his remarkable
physical efficiency.
q "One hundred and twenty years r
the natural term OF human NE" SIR.
Fletcher said at about this time.
Health IN "a mental and a dental
question. The dentist stands at the
gateway of preventive medicine" "a
theory. by the way. which is the
latest pct OF the doctors. one Of whom
has traced the death of Col. Roo9e-
welt TO the fact that he did not have
two liberated teeth pulled)
Future generations must he edu-
: Gated TO eat properly" to quote MIR.
Fletcher once more. 'Tho trouble
with humanity at present is that 1t
cats too much. The future man who
has learned how to eat will not gulp
down his food. We OF the present day
are In tho habit of providing and
guipinE down three square meals a
day. We don't need taen, We don't
even want them, as We should very
soon find out II We diuregardod tn
habit OF craving and looked for a
real appetite. Eat only when really
hungry. only such foods as you really
care for, and chew every mouthfu
until 1t has lost all its SAVIOR and Is
reduced TO "a liquid that must b'
swallowed" (And Mr., Fletcher hai
been quoted as advising, soberly. tEa
< soup be chcwedD
Nine years ago he rented mode
tenement on the east side ana pro
ceeded to organize chewing classes s.
among his child neighbors, He de
sired To spread his doctrine OF healtI
among the children needing IT most
the children Of the poor. The eco
y nomic aspect Of his menus shout
have appealed TO New Norl's tene
ment population, for even At the Wal
& dorf he spent only 81 day for hi
food, In his model tenement he cam
down TO 90 cents, and for many day
he lived on cereal, maple sugar an
milk, at a total cost of II cents pc
diem.
Il II is too bad he could not hav
shown US how TO reduce wars II. {
Of l.. But, naturally, he was a ma
after Hooyer's own heart. and in l9I
be began 10 work with the Commii
I SIGN for Relief In Belgium. A yea
= earlier. in Rruges, he independent
provided food for and experiments
with chewing squads" of Belgian
as he believed that the food alread
running short might be made TO la!
longer by carefully masticatlng /
8 His knowledge OF food values and
social welfare work has been Of grei
a