The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-03-16

Amercans have aldays No..
themselves as q healthy - I
TINS as a healthy country !. s y
Now they face the inesc.ss,, Z
that this natiaon is pros.s,s II
more than 50 per cent AZ h.s'.. =
It might be. To what fsr.s
the national life is this duss
DR.. Raycroft assigns tn
pal ones. He calls them No. -
ton and industry. By urh.n;s.a.
ne means the crowding Of -,
INTO cities. He declares ~.
spite Of allegations to The cs 49,
the recruits from rural S;.
showed a higher physical ~.
than those from the citi.. '4 3
doubleday the great armv - "
ly paid ofiee workers. Nh ~.
sedentary lives and get AIM. -
adequate recreation is one bis =.
tor in the low average Of a.I 20
~. ,ae.olt also seems to hsia,.
tnat many OF the workers h -
great industries are doom.I : w
their occupations to i'll healtA =
further believes that We are -. q
ting great numbers Of weas ~
grants who are lowering H. ].
tional average Of physical ~
: Not Enough TO Est.
The fact is only limited a n u.
hearing, but it is we'll to know !. ,s y.
malnutrition vas a great faeto. =: !
the low average Of health ,mn.
the drafted men. The fact NM, y
faced that a great many psool. !.
the United States do not set sror. y
to eat and SO have no chance ~ !.
healthy. Many recruits s,i,.s
greatly in weight and strepstA y
soon as Uncle Sam began "a ~
them. This is what gives 10 rrss.
value to the movement for fasdi,.
school children. II the child ~,
plenty to eat n his growing ysan
he stands a better chance 70 paI,
a good living when he has INN,
up. Starve him as a child. ana yam
have little chance Of producirr \
useful man.
Epidemic diseases cuch !.
laria, hookworm and trachon,
which can be eliminated or greatJr|
reduced, are another great factr
as was brought out by DR.. CLARK Il
the Public Health service.
How much Of this waste Of III
man life is preventable! Prohahb|
= large part of it is theorsticalh|
preventable. but no one claims thr|
physical education will accomplM|
any miracles. 1t is only one n
many things that are needed. Br|
it cannot fail to accomplish muti|
good if rightly carried out, the vi
perts are agreed.
What opposition there is to b.
Fess measure seems to be basd
on the idea that tie states should
handle the question Of physical d
ucation for themselves. This i
answered by Mr.. Caulkins Of tn
National Physical Education ser.
vice with the statement that th.
states simply do not do IL The
total appropriations of all the stat.
legislatures, excepting New York,
for physical education, 10 less thai
100000. There are now only SJsea
traine teachers of physical
education in the whole coun-
try, where at least 5000 Gs
needed. Mr.. Caulkins also crit
cized the way most Of the schools
handle the question of physical
e ducation. A disproportionats
amount of money is spent in train
ing athletic teams, which advsrtie
the schools, while the stud>nu not
members of the team get no exer.
else except yelling. Physical su-
cation in the typical AmGieaa
school or university consists, y
says, Of a highly paid coach VII
devotes all of his time to the hand
full of men on the teams, Of q gym
nasium and a grandstand. Th'
grandstand is the only part Of tn
equipment used by all the students
Finally, it might be pointed on
that the method of cooperation be
tween state and federal govern
ment proposed by the Fess bill ha
been used many times before an
has always proved satisfactory
The principle of it has long slnc
been accepted.