The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-12-16

such a man becomes a dangerous
lunatic driving a fast machine on a
public highway, Mencken says get off
the highway; when l say that he de-
stroys the health of his posterity,
Mencken says that is posterity's hard
luck. At least that is the best | could
make of it; he has tendency to be-
come incoherent when the subject of
prohibition is raised, and it took sew
.eral samples of my rich uncle's pre-
Volstead stock to soothe him into
srationality again.
( He, lashes with his powerful Ian
guage the stupidities OF bureaucrats
and the knaveries of politicians. He
declares that government is 1.-The COM
mon enemy of all well-disposed, in
dustrious and decent men," | protest
to him that this is a rather sweeping
statement; for example, our govern
ment distributes the American Mer-
curry" and is it then "the common
enemy of well-disposed, Industrious
and decent mem? He replies-I am
quoting from written controversy
that the government doesn't want to
distribute the Mercury" and wouldn' t
If it could help it. But that is OBJ
viously no reply, we are discussing a
matter OF business, not of psychology,
and the fact is that the government
does distribute the Mercury" on
precisely the same terms as all other
magazines. | cite the fact that it
issues many postal orders for five
dollars each, which the publishers of
Mencken's magazine collect. He re-
plies that the government loses most
OF these orders. | cite the fact that
the government will come and save
his house if it catches fire, and he
answers that fire departments are so
inefficient that most fires burn out.
These statements illustrate an I'M
fortunate weakness of our great liD-
ertarian crusader, he has very little
regard for facts; all he is thinking
about is to amuse and startie. he
once made funny newspaper article
| about me as the man who has believed
more things than any other man alive;
ne managed to compile a plausible
list, by including number of things
which | don't believe and never did;
also, a number of things which all
sensible men believe-including Meme
ken himself, if you could pin him
down; and finally, few things which
! believe because | have investigated
them, and which Mencken disbelieyes
because he is ignorant about them.
For example, fasting. / have pub
ilshed book setting forth the TACT
that fasting will cure many diseases.
Mencken has never tasted, and has
never read a book on the sub ,ect-I
managed in our correspondence to
bring out that fact. / have taken the
precaution to fast twenty or thirty
times for longer or shorter periods,
and have received letters from thou
sands Of others who have tried it.
Since my book appeared, sixteen
years ago, many Of my contentious
nave been vindicated by exact scien-
I,tific research, at the Carnegie lab
oratories and other places. | offer to
my friend Mencken the results of
work done at the Hull Biological
Laboratory of the University of Chi
cago, and reported in the journal of
Metabolic Research" showing the re-
suits of thirty and forty-day fasts
upon human beings and dogs, per-
manent increase in the metabolic rate
of five or six per cent. Inasmuch as
decrease in the metabolic rate is one
of the phenomena of old age, it fol-
lows that the effect of fasting is re.
juvenation--which is exactly wha: |
have been asserting for sixteen years.
But did Mencken trouble to consult
the journal of Metabolic Research
before compiling his list of Sinclair
absurdities No indeed, and he