Evening star., 1923-01-24

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| 'On what meat doth this. our
| Caesar Feed. that he is grown so
great?" The body wears out and Is
rebuilt every seven years; some parts
OF It oftener. Hence 1t Is important
that It be furnished with the proper
building material. You can't make
silk purse out of a sow's ear" Nor
can you make a brave soldier out OF
fat salt middlings, sorghum. dried
beans and corn bread. That mate
rial Is rich in carbohydrates and fur
nishes fat But nobody either loves or
fears a fat man.
y n + X
Many physically defective men
grow UP in the mountain regions OF
the Alleghenies. although there is no
better climate in the world. An in
vestigation has recently been made
by the children's bureau of the Labor
Department. which results in a report
that the cause of the defective man
hood lies in the diet, which consists
too monotonously Of corn bread, fat
| salt pork, sorghum and dried beans
| There Is no reason why the diet
should not include green vegetables,
eggs and a variety of meat, except
that the people have gotten into the
habit Of eating only the articles men,
toned.
That lazy habit is not confined to
the mountaineers. The bane of a GER
tain type Of boarding house menu is
its everlasting sameness. Even when
variety Is sought according to the
day of the week, the Monday dinner
appearing always on Monday, the
Tuesday supper always on Tuesday.
etc. 1t steals the appetite. Worse
| than that, the constant eating of the
same articles is not fair to nature,
| for man Is made omniverous, and
omniverous he must be or pay the
penalty.
| Good soldiers and great men and
women come from the right soil. for
IL the soil Is fertile there will be
plenty of good food. The hog and
round men any more than feed
deficient in the elements that make
up a balanced ration for live stock
can produce prize stock. No success
full stock raiser neglects the balanc-
Ing of his ration for his animals-ex-
cept for the human animal. Until
! few decades ago even physicians
knew nothing of balancing rations
for the human animal. Even today
many physicians lack in exact knowl-
learned instructions to patients to
avoid starchy foods" without indi-
eating to the layman what are
starchy and what are rich In protein.
No layman can be assumed to know
what diet he should use any more
than what drug he should swallow.
To faulty diet is attributed the seri-
| Gus percentage OF men and boys
thrown out from the draft at the
| time of the world war.
| When developing a park or design
ing a statue or a painting the quality
of its artistic form is the prime con-
sideration. II it be not beautiful. 1t
is nothing. When spanning a great
river with bridge, artistic beauty
should be consideration there is no
reason why a useful thing should be
ugly-but beauty is of secondary,
not prime, Importance. A blacksmith
itestifying in court as to the quality
of a certain piano swore that 1t was
built strong" for he had seen the
! timbers in 1t. His testimony was on
set by that of musician who spoke
of overtones and tone. So it all De
pends upon our viewpoint whether
we want a bridge to be judged by its
graceful lines or by it's adaptation to
! the practical purpose to which IT is 70
be put. Ruskin. describing his ideal
bridge in his Elements of Drawing"
demands that it's lines show the prac-
| tical purpose as the test Of It's
| beauty short, low arch over the
narrow span; a broad. sweeping ano
f; high arch over the main river: and
/ design. Behold the Japanese bridges,
how they leap and spring high where
needed and creep and hesitate over
the little stretches! A bridge that is
obviously made up, regardless OF lts
iusefulness-drawn with compasses
and q straight-edge in the architects
studio-is as artificial as painted
llady.
These remarks are apropos of the
controversy now raging between
Arlington Memorial bridge. The les
son, I trust. Is obvious: The bridge
which is merely pretty in Its lines is
not beautiful: for il would be a
nuisance. an obstacle to commerce In
stead of help. 1t can be both use
full and beautiful There is no reason
| why span should not be draw
bridge, either upon pivot or to rise.
and yet be impressively gracetui.
Let not the blacksmith" but the
artist meet the problem, and let Rus
kin be the inspiration.
4
\ Secretaries Weeks and DENLY of the
War and Navy Departments have
written to Congress their protests
against the Brookhart bill to author
ize civilians to purchase merchan-
disc from the Army commissary
stores upon the same terms as SOL
diers. The soldiers are entitled to
purchase anything at 10 per cent
above what the government pays,
although the government buys at job
bers' prices in enormous quantities.
1 The Secretaries protest that the
+! plan to let all civilians purchase on
\ the same terms is impracticable, for
| the government stores are already
taxed to their full capacity in gov
ernment buildings. If they were 10
enlarge the volume of business to
accommodate 100000 customers in the
District of Columbia it would be nee
essary to rent chain of stores and
multiply overhead expenses.