The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1927-07-07
THE PENALTY OF CIVILIZATION

When the human race moved out {
Its caves into houses, cooked it's foo
instead of eating it raw, substitute
highly specialized labor for the simpl
art of hunting, wore clothing instea
OF going naked, replaced physical &C
tivlty with indolence-in short, whe
1t became what we are pleased to cal
eivilized-it violated number of ma
tural laws for which nature has i'm
posed a severe penalty.
Before the invention of glass human
habltatlons were not the most com
Portable but fresh air and sunlight
had ready access. With the advent oil
glass, both were excluded and tuber-
eulosis has killed millions because of
It. Today we are trying to offset this
not unmixed blessing of civilization
the window which has shut out ultra
violet rays and oxygen-by using ven
tilators and vita-glass.
When man first conceived the idea
OF cooking his food-a primitive man
having tasted the meat of a pig
burned to death in a fire-he took
step that led to more trouble. It
may be more of mark of refinement
to take a morsel of nicely broiled
steak from silver fork than to chew
at hunk of raw meat held in ones
hands, but we have paid dearly for
this addition of culture.
Not that | would advocate eating
raw foods. Centuries have passed
since cooking food became the custom
and we, the product of those centuries,
cannot escape their influence. How
ever, the custom of eating soft, sea-
soned, concentrated foods has left it's
mark on the human organism in poor
teeth and poorer stomachs and the
long list Of diseases for which both
are responsible.
The simple life of our prehistoric
ancestors has become killing com
pick. We travel in an hour a distance
1t took them week to go. We crowd
INTO a month activities that they could
not have consummated in year. Our
nervous system is strained to the limit
OF It's capacity for response while the
very surface of theirs was left UNI
scratched. Little wonder that this
4boon' of civilization should have led
to long list of maladies-from hys-
terra to apoplexy.
We have taken much Of the resist
ance out of life-the need for over
coming obstacles, through which we
grow strong. Our ancestors, on the
were engaged in a constant
struggle to survive and since only
he flttest could and did survive, pri- !
nltlye man grew powerful Today,
through eugenics we are trying to
get back what we have lost, trying t
o build a better and stronger race {
# men. We now realize that ease is
he greatest enemy of health and are +
rylng to overcome this handicap i
utilization has imposed on us through S
Xercise.
Before men became civilized those C
Who lived in cold chimes clothed them t
elves haphazardly with the skins of t
those who lived in tropical t.
environment wore nothing. In either
ase they had to resist the elements
+ perish in the attempt. Civilization f
rought clothes and clothes brought W
hyslcal deterioration. We are grad h
ally emancipating ourselves from h
ne worst features of dress-the cor Il
It, long skirt, and denominations are it
one, | hope, forever. Women today HI
ress more sensibly than they have b,
u centuries. There is no question
lat the least amount of clothing CON