The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1928-11-30
BY BRUCE CATION

When the average American turns
his mind back to the Thanksgiving
Day of his forefathers, he usually
sees a hardy race of people, kept ir
excellent physical trim by hard work
in the open, unsoftened by Injuries
living a simple and healthful life
that brought them more real happi
ness than all of our modern conven
fences bring us. y
That is one of the traditions oil
the good old days'-a tradition
that is always brought out anC
busted off around Thanksgiving.
Like many hoary traditions, it is
a myth, pure and simple.
Far from being better off phys
ically than his descendants. the
American of IS or 100 years ago
was in much poorer shape. He was
neither SO strong nor SO healthy. He
did not live SO long. If he fell i'll,
he could not begin to get such good
medical care.
In dealing with the human race
IN large numbers, strength may be
measured very fairly by size. Re-
cent investigations have proved that
the American Of so years ago was
shorter, by two and one-half inches.
than the American of today. The
hardy pioneers" of legend were not.
ordinarily, so fit or husky as their
city-bred descendants.
In the matter of general health.
the contrast is even more striking
and favorable to the present era.
The good old days" must have
been especially good for the under
taker. To be sure, fewer people
died then of cancer, or of diseases
OF the heart or kidneys. But those
are diseases that usually develop
fairly late in life; and in the old
days comparatively few people lived
to the age where these diseases got
in their work.
The death rate Of babies under
one year Of age was more than twice
as great in the days of our grand
fathers as it is now. The child in
those days had ten times as much
chance Of dying of diphtheria as the
child OF today. A child in his teens
was three times as likely to die of
consumption and between five and
ten times as likely to die of small
pox or typhoid fever as modern
voungster; and in these Degenerate
,lvilization-softencd days the aver.
age American has clean lost ail
'hance of making his exit from this
world by means of yellow fever. ty-
ohus or cholera. It is not so manv
FEARS since those maladies were far
rom uncommon in the United
States.
Many Of our forefathers died Of
puzzling intestinal inflammation.
which was extremely hard for doc.
,ors of that day to treat success
Iully. The same malady occurs to-
lay; but now it is called by a differ.
mt name, and the patient simply has
rs appendix taken out and rerains
lis health.
The same sort Of thing holds good
through the entire field Of medicine.
S~A ~ VIC 8VVu Ulu uayS dcs
identally put bullet into his leo
g was forcibly held down on q table.
lven 2 stiff drink Of whisky. and
lowed to express his agony BY Bit |
e hard into soft lead bullet While |
surgeon removed the sluR-with- |
ut any anastheticx And you might
i:ture the plight of man with an
lcerated tooth in those days before
ae novocaine or laughing gas"
N the industrial field the story is
% same.
There used to b very revealing
tile snecdote among railroad men
an earlier day. An elderly man
as pointed out once Is q railroader:
It : bystander scoffed loudly at the
,tion.
"Railroader nothing!" he ex.
aimed: why, he amt lost any
ngers."
that was : so-nd observation. In