OCR Text |
Show THE CITIZEN 4 and private property as well as against the rule of kings. In a word, he was a herald of those ideals of destruction which we are accustomed to associate wtih communists, Bolshevists and anarchists. LIFES INCREASED SPAN to be old at forty-fiv- e or fifty and it was difficult for a man of fifty to get a new job, said Dr. William Mayo, the great surgeon, the other day. He had just explained in a lecture that fifteen years had been added to lifes span since our civil war and he had credited this largely to the advance which half a century had brought in preventive medicine. In the Middle Ages and especially before the wonderful medical discoveries of the thirteenth century one who lived to be three-scor- e and ten was more of a marvel than he is today, for the average life of man was then very short. The human race was virtually helpless against the plagues which overswept Asia, Africa and Europe. The epidemics ran their course and died out or, in many instances, remained dormant, only, to revive with their original virulence and condemn whole populations to death. Without knowing it the human race was constantly battling with myriads of germs, innumerable invisible warriors more deadly than the Tartars or the Saracens, more deadly, indeed, than all the wars on all the continents. We have not made much progress against war, but medicine, especially preventive medicine and surgery, have added fifteen or twenty years to the span of life. Some day, no doubt, a man of 100 is today. years will be less of a wonder than a man of seventy-fiv- e The war revealed to us the extraordinary progress of medicine and surgery. Of the wounded 86 per cent were able to return to the front and an additional percentage were able to perform some kind of active service at the rear or along the lines of communication. For the first time in history more men were killed than died of disease. Preventive measures, in point of fact, had made life in the armies more healthful than at home. The result was not wholly due to preventives and cures. Organization figured importantly as an element just as it figures in the concerted fight on disease in our community life. Doctors no longer work as individuals. They are party of a community system and, in a large sense, of a world organization. The doctors of the world are organized in a combat against disease. The swift intercommunication of scientific intelligence to all parts of the globe, the exchange of ideas, leads more quickly than of old to the discovery of preventives and C IT THEN W I was a boy a man was supposed of the increased duration of life. He points out that fifteen additional years of vigorous life has increased the productive power of the worker, not merely of the worker who uses his hands but of the worker who uses his brains. Were lifes span the same today as before the civil war we would face the days of reconstruction with much less hope than we have. Because the producing power of the individual has been augmented by an increase in lifes duration as well as by labor-savin- g machinery, rapid communication and other elements, the task of reconstruction, though a hundred times greater than after the civil war, is propor- tionately easier to perform. G. O. P. TREND IN NATION is a Democrat who can find comfort in the election ANT optimist That we have some optimists left is made manifest by the efforts of not a few Democrats to see a vindication of their party in the results. Their mode of reasoniing is not without its mirth. Republicans are in a cheerful mood and can afford to throw out their chests and laugh more or less uproariously at Democratic logic. Let us take the enjoyable affair in Massachusetts, as an example. There Calvin Coolidge, Republican, was by an overwhelming vote because he had declared that no one had a right to strike against the public safety anywhere at any time. It was a clear issue of law and order, so recognized by the President of the United States, who did himself the honor of felicitating Governor Coolidge on his In the face of this evidence the Democrats raise their still, small voices into an audible squeak to let it be known that the Democratic opponent of Governor Coolidge declared against the League of Nations, the inference being that the issue figured to some extent in the campaign. The governor, however, kept away from national questions and made his entire campaign on the issue of law and order. He demonstrated that the American people, more than ever before, stand for law and order because only by law and order can the government be preserved. If the Democrats will take their heads out of the sand and look about them with a desire to ascertain their true position they can learn something from the Kentucky election. The fight was along party lines with the current issues paramount. The Democratic candidate, in a state normally Democratic, toqk his stand for ratification of the peace treaty without reservations. As governor, James D. Black had the advantage of strategic position. He cures. enjoyed the prestige of patronage and controlled a strong political In our communities organization, supported by the community or machine. Edwin P. Morrow, his opponent, insisted that the League of Nations was not an issue and emphasized local questions, but these by private clincs, is able to make headway against disease. The pubbattle along party lines. lic is kept informed of the best methods of hygiene and of the perils questions made the contest a straight-ou- t At all events, it was the clearest case of the Republican versus the that lurk in impure water and foods. in all of the campaigns. Dr. Mayo suggests, curiously and yet, no doubt, truthfully, that Democratic party Senator Reed of Missouri, a commanding figures among the prohibition is due in no small part to the fact that alcoholic liquors no Democratic lawmakers, told his colleagues that the returns indicated longer serve as useful a purpose as they did of old. At one time, he sentiment. Being utterly opposed to the. treaty he will an anti-treasays, intoxicating beverages were the only sterilized drinks obtainable anti-treasentiment, in certain regions and many were saved from disease by the very fact, be suspected of bias when he uses the phrase that they drank little of the impure water. Pure water has aided the but on the whole his comments give us an illuminating view of tl?. election results. cause of prohibition: We on this side of the chamber may resolve that the League of Pure water, improved hygiene, attention to the teeth, removal of Nations had nothing to do with it, but it is my opinion that it had tonsils and adnoids are among the principal measures which have increased the duration of human life. And now scientists are beginning much to do with it ; and the only place where we saved our skins was to unfold the mysteries of the glands in the human system and are where we rallied the cohorts of old John Barleycorn and raised the issue of free booze to the point where all other issues were hoping that by repairing or replacing old or wornout glands, just as glorious we replace the parts of an automobile engine, more years can be obscured. Thus graphically does he show that the issue in New Jersey 'was added to lifes span. wet or dry. The League of Nations was thrust aside by old John n Epidemics and pandemics like the influenza and such diseases as tuberculosis and cancer still baffle the highest skill of the Barleycorn who appealed to a vast population of foreigners in the medical profession and sometimes make the doctors look absurd in name of Democracy and booze. The Democratic candidate for gov' their helplessness, but all the time progress is being made. We will ernor was victorious, but the Republicans elected the legislature. Even the most optimistic Democrats cannot look forward withtake confidence when we look back and consider the progress achieved out trepidation to the campaign of 1920. Their paramount issues in the last half century. Evidently Dr. Mayo has not. confined his study to surgical and have won them nothing. On the contrary the League of Nations and medical problems, for we find him interested in the economic effects the industrial situation have weakened the hold of the Democratic re-elect- re-electi- ed on. off-ye- ar ty ty f well-know- . ' |