THE PHYSICAL DECADENCE OF CIVILIZED RACES
By David H. Kress
What Is the Cause?—Is It Overwork?—Or Is It Over-stimulation and Degenerating Habits? THE human race is going downward. The strongest proof that physical degeneracy exists, consists in the amount of discussion as to how that degeneracy is to be overcome, and the fact that in all civilized countries, commissions have been appointed to inquire into its causes. Is overwork responsible for it? Work now begins late, and ends early. Shorter hours for labor is the cry everywhere, presumably to enable the young men and women to lead healthier lives; but is that the result?—Just the opposite is the case. They cease work early, and spend their evenings in the morally and physically unwholesome city atmosphere of saloon or theater. This is not conducive to the health of either body or mind. Work cheerfully performed is one of the best safeguards against mental and physical decay. The longest lived and healthiest are to be found, not among those whose hardest work consists in dodging hard work, but among those who put heart and soul into all they do. Work was once a pleasure. It is now considered mere drudgery. To get the greatest good out of work, it should be done with cheerfulness. A young man complained of his country as not being able to provide work for its people. He was accosted by a friend, who said, “If you come with me, I will secure work for you in two hours.” The young man replied, “It is not work I am after; it is money.” He stated a fact. Money is what men are after, not work. WHY DO MEN SPEND MOST OF THEIR TIME DODGING WORK?
There is an unrecognized cause for this lack of ambition and the dislike of work. What is it? The question is answered in the Book of books: “Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh; for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty; and drowsiness [which these induce] shall clothe a man with rags.” Prov. 23: 20, 21. Artificial stimulation resulting from the use of wine and meat is always followed by depression and a corresponding drowsiness and lack of ambition. TOBACCO AND TEA AND COFFEE DO THE SAME
The evil arising from the use of tea and coffee is understood by but few. Medical men have been forced to recognize the relation tea drinking sustains to many of the diseases of modern times. The characteristic sallow skins, pinched faces, irritable nerves, and the impatience so many deplore, may be traced largely to the use of these beverages. Women are the chief sufferers, for the reason that they partake more freely of tea and coffee than do men. The effects of tea and coffee, and of cocoa to a more limited extent, upon the nervous system, are more pernicious than those of alcohol in small quantities, for the reason that alcohol is a volatile, and, naturally, is easy of elimination, while theine, caffeine, and theobromine—the poisonous principles found in tea, coffee, and cocoa—tend to accumulate in the system. Having for many years been connected with medical institutions where persons who have been injured by the use of these beverages have come for aid, I have seen not only the evils resulting from the use of such beverages, but have also had the privilege of witnessing the marvelous improvement that may take place when these habits are discontinued. In regard to the use of flesh as food, the leading medical authorities and physicians agree that flesh is not the most suitable food for man. There are concealed within its fibers properties similar to those of caffeine and theine, known as uric acid wastes. By the irritation produced, and the extra burden thrown upon the kidneys and the liver in eliminating these wastes, these organs become diseased, or wear out prematurely. It is for this reason that a man with Bright’s disease is advised by his physician to abandon the use of meat. If we can obtain in a pure state all the elements required by the human body without shedding blood or running the risk of contracting diseases that are common among animals, it would certainly be unwise not to do so. WHAT A VEGETARIAN DIET DOES
Numerous instances might be cited to show that physical and mental vigor are improved by using flesh foods in moderation only, or abstaining from their use altogether. The great burdens raised and carried long distances, the feats of endurance in running, journeying, and laboring, which have in the past been common among the peasantry and soldiery of Europe, Asia, and Africa, who lived upon the simple products of the earth, were considered almost incredible in flesh-eating communities. The Japanese wrestlers, who are gigantic in size, subsisted for ages upon a non-flesh dietary. The Spartans probably stood unequaled in the history of nations for muscular power, physical energy, and ability to endure hardships; yet they were vegetarians, as were also the armies of Greece and Persia in the time of their conquests. The English peasantry, reared on an almost wholly fleshless diet, were for ages the backbone of English power. Scotch Highlanders, Irish peasants, and the Englishmen of the North, have, until recent years, been practically vegetarians. When the city of Glasgow had grown to a town of 30,000 inhabitants, the slaughter of bullocks for the market, it is said, was unknown. Smiles, in his “Life of George Moore,” says that “stalwart sons and comely maidens were brought up on porridge, oatcakes, and milk.” In a country like America, which is capable of producing fruits as fine as can be seen in any country of the world, and all other wholesome products, there is no reason why its people should regard flesh as a necessity. Flesh may be used in the absence or scarcity of purer and more wholesome foods, but to use it if better foods are obtainable is unwise. The majority ignorantly spend their money for that which stimulates, but is not bread, and their labor for that which can never truly satisfy. As long as this ignorance exists and people term stimulation strength, physical degeneracy will continue.