The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-05-15
Home Health Club
7 DR. DAVID H. REEDER, Chicago

POPULATION AND PESTILENCE: Y, There have been times during the history of mankind when it seemed as though some form of pestilence was about to wipe humanity from the face of the earth but nothing of the kind has happened and as matter of fact we seem to be getting such an intimate knowledge of the cause of epidemics and pestilence that there is not likely to be a very high death rate from those sources in, the future; moreover, in spite of plaques, wars, tornadoes and earth quakes, famine and flood, the popu- 1ation of the world continues to steadily increase and at a rate that makes the far sighted philosophers wonder where and when the brakes are to be applied At present in our own little corner of the world we have laws to encourage the birth rate and laws providing severe pen alties for publishing or transmit ing through the mails any informa- ton that would aid overburdened parents in controlling the size of the family. These laws work great hardship upon the poor and the ig- norant and also tend to increase the criminal class. They will be radically changed when women have more to say in the making of laws.
 I am a thorough believer in the theory that all of the vicious, the criminals and those that are physical ly or mentally unfit should be ster- ilized The only difference this pro cedure makes to the individual is to render them incapable of reproducing their kind. The time will come at the present. rate of increase, when ! practiced but I anticipate that a limit will be placed upon the privilege of marriage and also upon the number of offspring permitted in a family. Such is the perversity of human nature however that as soon as laws
 are contemplated for limiting the size | of the family, the rich and powerful
 who now refuse to bear large families | will at once seek for ways in which | to eyade the laws and for them they will think that the only thing that | will give happiness and satisfied am 1 bition is a large family. There are | today many homes well stocked with | alcoholic liquors in which there never
 was Q drop used before the days of
 prohibition, with a great flourish they now serve it to guests that never l before would taste or touch the 1 stuff
 As soon as a thing is forbidden it ! becomes to many the most desirable 1 thing on earth
 If you tell an American that men have tried to do a certain thing and l that it cannot be done, he at once | proceeds to demonstrate that it can | be done.
 1 During the war there was a de- | nand for a new kind of soap. One I f-A I possess the cleansing or detergent
 powers.
 l I called the attention of a famous | English chemist to the matter and he , instantly said, "It cannot be done'' I i found that he had worked in an ad-
 visory capacity in every large soap
 factory in England and America He
 certainly ought to know but l be | lieved it could be done. I told him ] that it did not look logical to put the 1 grease from dead animals into
 explained in detail how the mixture of certain chemicals with the fat
 under certain degrees of heat pro
 duced soap which was the best de-
 tergent known to chemistry and end
 ed up his talk by again saying 'fIt
 can't be done'' but I did it. The soap which I made had all of | the attributes or the nneSI caSCie soap and in addition produced
 father that was perfect for sham
 poo or a shave.
 A few weeks ago I made in a few hours a hundred pounds of it for use
 in my own household and the cost
 was less than S3. Neighbors and
 friends that have used it ask why I
 do not make it for sale but tell
 them that would require time, capital and commercial ability and these are
 not considered the attributes of a | professional man.
 Now if the English chemist had said 'AOh that's easy probably