"Although, in the main, the march of modern medicine has been a series of triumphs,at certain points its progress has been checked, if not actually defeated."While we have been steadily beating back typhoid, tuberculosis and diphtheria, most of the diseases which have baffled us have been either maladies of later life, like cancer and arterial sclerosis, or conditions depending upon long continued action of a variety of imperfectly known causes, like heart disease, Bright's disease and insanity."But there is also one disease among the pure infections whose germ has been identified, whose active cause known for nearly thirty years past, which still defies us, and that is pneumonia."In fact, for some ten or fifteen years past, we have been faced with the singular and disquieting paradox, that of the two greatest and most fatal diseases of the lungs, while tuberculosis has been steadily declining, pneumonia has been rapidly increasing in deadliness."Twenty years ago tuberculosis caused about one-seventh of all the deaths in the United States; pneumonia, about one-fifteenth. To-day tuberculosis has fallen to aboutone-twelfth of the deaths, while pneumonia has risen to one-tenth."One reason why pneumonia so baffled medical skill was that, although the germ, or rather germs—for there are at least four varieties of them, each producing a different type of the disease—were well known, the infection seldom naturally spreads to other human beings, and it was for a long time rather difficult to transmit it experimentally to animals."Further than that, the pneumococcus which produced the most serious types of the disease was, if not identical with, quite hard to distinguish from two or three types of streptococci which were found in abundance in the human mouth, about the roots of the teeth and in the tonsils, even in conditions of perfect health."So that we were driven to the discouraged conclusion that some 'state of the system,' or lowered resisting power or other unknown factor, was necessary in order to allow the pneumonia coccus to get a foothold in the lungs and produce the disease; and there the case hung for a number of years.
"Although, in the main, the march of modern medicine has been a series of triumphs,at certain points its progress has been checked, if not actually defeated.
"While we have been steadily beating back typhoid, tuberculosis and diphtheria, most of the diseases which have baffled us have been either maladies of later life, like cancer and arterial sclerosis, or conditions depending upon long continued action of a variety of imperfectly known causes, like heart disease, Bright's disease and insanity.
"But there is also one disease among the pure infections whose germ has been identified, whose active cause known for nearly thirty years past, which still defies us, and that is pneumonia.
"In fact, for some ten or fifteen years past, we have been faced with the singular and disquieting paradox, that of the two greatest and most fatal diseases of the lungs, while tuberculosis has been steadily declining, pneumonia has been rapidly increasing in deadliness.
"Twenty years ago tuberculosis caused about one-seventh of all the deaths in the United States; pneumonia, about one-fifteenth. To-day tuberculosis has fallen to aboutone-twelfth of the deaths, while pneumonia has risen to one-tenth.
"One reason why pneumonia so baffled medical skill was that, although the germ, or rather germs—for there are at least four varieties of them, each producing a different type of the disease—were well known, the infection seldom naturally spreads to other human beings, and it was for a long time rather difficult to transmit it experimentally to animals.
"Further than that, the pneumococcus which produced the most serious types of the disease was, if not identical with, quite hard to distinguish from two or three types of streptococci which were found in abundance in the human mouth, about the roots of the teeth and in the tonsils, even in conditions of perfect health.
"So that we were driven to the discouraged conclusion that some 'state of the system,' or lowered resisting power or other unknown factor, was necessary in order to allow the pneumonia coccus to get a foothold in the lungs and produce the disease; and there the case hung for a number of years.
"Considerable improvement in all but the most virulent type of cases was produced by the introduction of the open air treatment, with abundant feeding similar to that relied upon in tuberculosis. But we could not honestly say that we knew of any drug or remedy which appeared to have a directly curative effect upon the disease."
"Considerable improvement in all but the most virulent type of cases was produced by the introduction of the open air treatment, with abundant feeding similar to that relied upon in tuberculosis. But we could not honestly say that we knew of any drug or remedy which appeared to have a directly curative effect upon the disease."
Can't you see that the product is 22 in either case? And don't you see that the "germ doctors" have not fooled nature?
There is a great epidemic of "grip" and pneumonia sweeping the country—one of the worst ever known. In Providence, R. I., the disease has been the cause of more deaths in a given time than was ever known. Here is what the Evening Bulletin says in the issue of January 10, 1916:
"Fifteen persons in Providence died of pneumonia or grip during the second half of last week, making 35 lives claimed here by the epidemic in the first eight days of January."This is the largest number of deaths from these diseases which the city has ever had in asimilar period. Physicians report that there is no indication of a let-up in the epidemic as yet, and that a continuance of the unusually high death rate may be expected."There were nine deaths from pneumonia last Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and six fatalities from grip. The deaths for the first eight days of the month are as follows: Pneumonia 24, grip 10, acute bronchitis 1."
"Fifteen persons in Providence died of pneumonia or grip during the second half of last week, making 35 lives claimed here by the epidemic in the first eight days of January.
"This is the largest number of deaths from these diseases which the city has ever had in asimilar period. Physicians report that there is no indication of a let-up in the epidemic as yet, and that a continuance of the unusually high death rate may be expected.
"There were nine deaths from pneumonia last Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and six fatalities from grip. The deaths for the first eight days of the month are as follows: Pneumonia 24, grip 10, acute bronchitis 1."
At the Rhode Island State Institutions there are nearly 300 cases of the disease—100 at the State Prison alone—but at the State Reform School for girls there is not one case, as this school gives better hygienic care to the inmates. But the great reason is the girls are not dissipated and nature does not have to produce the germs in their systems.
Reformers are often bombarded with statistics by brewery owners, distillers and those whose ideas are regulated by personal benefits. The favorite weapon is the story of the man who lived to be old and always drank or smoked. Here is a reprint of such a story:
HALE AND HEARTY AT 102.New Jerseyman Chews Tobacco as Preventive of Disease.Newton, N. J., Dec. 22.—Charles Ashford Shafer, Sushex County's oldest resident, celebrated his one hundred and second birthday at the home of his son, George Shafer, to-day. Mr. Shafer is still active, hale and hearty, and walks several miles a day. He was born a few miles from here and has spent all his life in this section. For many years he conducted a distillery. The centenarian declares that chewing tobacco is a means of preventing disease, and he has been chewing it since a boy. Mr. Shafer reads without the aid of glasses.
HALE AND HEARTY AT 102.New Jerseyman Chews Tobacco as Preventive of Disease.
Newton, N. J., Dec. 22.—Charles Ashford Shafer, Sushex County's oldest resident, celebrated his one hundred and second birthday at the home of his son, George Shafer, to-day. Mr. Shafer is still active, hale and hearty, and walks several miles a day. He was born a few miles from here and has spent all his life in this section. For many years he conducted a distillery. The centenarian declares that chewing tobacco is a means of preventing disease, and he has been chewing it since a boy. Mr. Shafer reads without the aid of glasses.
But wait a minute—here is a better one:
TEETOTALER DEAD AT 115.West Virginian Never Tasted Liquor or Tobacco in His Life.Wheeling, W. Va., Nov. 29.—Henderson Cremeans, known to be the oldest man in West Virginia and probably the oldest in the United States, died to-day at the home of his grandson,Clark Cremeans, near Point Pleasant, Mason County, aged 115 years. He never tasted liquor or tobacco in his life.
TEETOTALER DEAD AT 115.West Virginian Never Tasted Liquor or Tobacco in His Life.
Wheeling, W. Va., Nov. 29.—Henderson Cremeans, known to be the oldest man in West Virginia and probably the oldest in the United States, died to-day at the home of his grandson,Clark Cremeans, near Point Pleasant, Mason County, aged 115 years. He never tasted liquor or tobacco in his life.
And when we study statistics of the insurance business we may rest assured that they are correct, for an insurance company gets a premium on every policy and regulates its action upon the correct statistics. Here is another reprint:
SAYS PROHIBITION IN RUSSIA WILL SAVE 500,000 MENInsurance Expert Claims That If Czar Carries Out Present Intention, Loss of Half Million in War Will Be Made Up in Decade.New York, Dec. 11.—Results of an investigation in which an entirely new set of statistics had been gathered were put before the Association of Life Insurance Presidents at their annual meeting at the Hotel Astor yesterday and threw a new light on the influence of alcoholism, overeating, undereating, and other factors in shortening lives.The investigation, which has just been completed, concerned the causes of prematuredeaths in the last 25 years among the 2,000,000 policy holders of 43 leading insurance companies. The object of the investigation was to determine which types of persons could be insured safely at regular rates, which ones should pay extra premiums, and which ones should be refused. The results were given by Arthur Hunter, chairman of the bureau that made the investigation."If the Government of Russia carries out its present intention to abolish permanently all forms of alcoholic beverages, the saving in human life will be enormous," said Mr. Hunter. "The loss of 500,000 men as the result of the present warfare could be made good in less than ten years through complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages by all the inhabitants of Russia."Among saloon proprietors, whether they attended the bar or not, there was an extra mortality of 70 per cent., and the causes of death indicated that a free use of alcoholic beverages had caused many of the deaths. The hotel proprietors who attended the bar, either occasionally or regularly, had as high a mortality as the saloon keepers."Among the men who admitted that they had taken alcohol occasionally to excess in the past, but whose habits were considered satisfactory when they were insured, there were 289 deaths, while there would have been only 190 deaths had this group been made up of insured lives in general. The extra mortality was, therefore, over 50 per cent."
SAYS PROHIBITION IN RUSSIA WILL SAVE 500,000 MENInsurance Expert Claims That If Czar Carries Out Present Intention, Loss of Half Million in War Will Be Made Up in Decade.
New York, Dec. 11.—Results of an investigation in which an entirely new set of statistics had been gathered were put before the Association of Life Insurance Presidents at their annual meeting at the Hotel Astor yesterday and threw a new light on the influence of alcoholism, overeating, undereating, and other factors in shortening lives.
The investigation, which has just been completed, concerned the causes of prematuredeaths in the last 25 years among the 2,000,000 policy holders of 43 leading insurance companies. The object of the investigation was to determine which types of persons could be insured safely at regular rates, which ones should pay extra premiums, and which ones should be refused. The results were given by Arthur Hunter, chairman of the bureau that made the investigation.
"If the Government of Russia carries out its present intention to abolish permanently all forms of alcoholic beverages, the saving in human life will be enormous," said Mr. Hunter. "The loss of 500,000 men as the result of the present warfare could be made good in less than ten years through complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages by all the inhabitants of Russia.
"Among saloon proprietors, whether they attended the bar or not, there was an extra mortality of 70 per cent., and the causes of death indicated that a free use of alcoholic beverages had caused many of the deaths. The hotel proprietors who attended the bar, either occasionally or regularly, had as high a mortality as the saloon keepers.
"Among the men who admitted that they had taken alcohol occasionally to excess in the past, but whose habits were considered satisfactory when they were insured, there were 289 deaths, while there would have been only 190 deaths had this group been made up of insured lives in general. The extra mortality was, therefore, over 50 per cent."
Cardinal Gibbons says: "Reform must come from within," and he opposes prohibition; but there is no question but what prohibition is the right thing as has been proved, for in some persons the only thing "within" is alcohol and ignorance.
SOCIETY is about our only hope. Lord Bacon wrote the first half of a book on this subject of an ideal society or community, and he described as a first requisite his "SOLOMON'S HOUSE," a college or school where NATURAL SCIENCE was taught.
Thomas More portrayed the same ideas in his "UTOPIA," a beautiful island where ideal laws and conditions prevailed. Campanella also had an idea in his "CITY OF THE SUN."
Where temptation is removed better conditions exist, for human nature always waversand no one is permanently wise. The lad in the country is healthier than the one in the city. Why? Because there are less temptations in the country.
What is it that perfects animals but forcing proper rules upon them?
I have experimented with fowl and found that you can perfect them by proper treatment. I raised 56 pullets one spring, and that winter I had eggs galore. The fowl were healthy and happy. I fed them only two meals a day on cracked corn and wheat or the regular "scratch feed" of the market in the morning, and at night gave them scalded meal, seasoned with some salt, pepper and onions; sometimes cooked potato parings, etc., were used. I supplied the fowl with fresh ground bone which held some fat, of course. I always had gravel and ground oyster shells before them, also plenty of fresh water. They had their run and found grass both in summer and winter, and had a dry, roomy house.
Meat is not only unnecessary to animal life, but is injurious. My hens laid more eggs than any others about and were bright, active and healthy, yet they had no meat during all thewinter. The bone was not necessary, for I had at times fed poultry a little fat or oil instead of the ground bone, and they did just as well.
The mind has a great effect on the digestion, and it is necessary in selecting our food and drink to have it agreeable. Of course, this does not mean that because something tastes good we should use it, for poisons often taste pleasant. We mean that from a variety of salutary food we should select what we like, and again any combination, adjustment or preparation which enhances the food is very useful. For instance:
Potatoes mashed, mixed with eggs, flour, pepper and salt and other articles which are not injurious, and then fried in a little butter are very agreeable, and many such manipulations of foods are wise.
But spices, coffee, tea and such condiments contain tannin and poisons and should be eschewed.
If a person should suddenly change his diet from a liberal one to mush and skim-milk it might give him indigestion and disgust, for the organs try to adapt themselves to certain kinds of food; and if the persons cannot takea vacation while reforming their diet, it might be better to wait until they can. After a fit of sickness one can start with the right kind of food and drink and improve by it.
People who are raised on simple food relish it and keep happy and healthy. Here is a reprint which proves this to be true:
"According to census reports, persons who live 100 years or more are very scarce. The United States, with a population of more than 90,000,000, is given credit for only 46. Germany's population is 60,000,000 and its quota of centenarians is 70. Great Britain, with a population of 46,000,000, has 94. France, with 40,000,000, claims 164. Bulgaria, with 4,000,000 inhabitants, boasts of 3,300, and Roumania, with 6,000,000 people, has 3,320 centenarians. The last named little countries eat little meat and use a great deal of milk and dark bread."
"According to census reports, persons who live 100 years or more are very scarce. The United States, with a population of more than 90,000,000, is given credit for only 46. Germany's population is 60,000,000 and its quota of centenarians is 70. Great Britain, with a population of 46,000,000, has 94. France, with 40,000,000, claims 164. Bulgaria, with 4,000,000 inhabitants, boasts of 3,300, and Roumania, with 6,000,000 people, has 3,320 centenarians. The last named little countries eat little meat and use a great deal of milk and dark bread."
The persons who used tobacco, etc., and lived to be old might have lived much longer if they had been abstemious. William Smellie in his "Philosophy of Natural History" records cases where persons have lived to be over 150 years old, and some of the oldest people, forinstance, Capt. Diamond, was a simple living man and lived to be 113 (when I last heard from him). He never even used sugar and was an old bachelor, showing that simple life allows continence.
It has been proved that meat allows an alkaloid condition in the intestines which generates poison producing germs, while vegetable food, like oat-meal, etc., produces an acid condition which, it is claimed, "prevents the generation of microbes and poisons which produce premature old age." The large intestine when retaining the elements from the bowels too long becomes a "filth reservoir."
Prof. Metchnikoff says that animals having a greater length to the large intestines do not live as long as those with shorter large intestines, which cannot breed the poisonous bacteria so well, yet he is puzzled by the long life proportionately of the squirrel, which has a long intestine, and he says he has found few of the "dreaded bacteria" in the intestine of the squirrel. (This is because the squirrel has not the noisome elements here which harbor germs.)
The recent discoveries that VEGETABLEfood inhibits the generation of the microbes or renders them unnecessary is an object lesson which tells us to live upon the foods as I recommend, for the squirrel lives upon vegetable food or nuts, which are seeds with Vaco-Cell forming molecules.
We need not discard the use of a few condiments of a mild nature from our food, and a little salt, pepper or onion, etc., may not be prohibited.
It has been found that a good regime is made up of a breakfast of skim-milk and well cooked oat-meal; a dinner of boiled potatoes, eggs or fish and boiled rice and skim-milk, and a supper of skim-milk, rice and perhaps boiled beans. If you are not a hard worker you should not use too many beans or any excess of proteid foods, and a few boiled onions, etc., may be added to the dinner if desired. A little butter may be used with food if skim-milk is used, but the use of an excess of rich milk loads the blood with too much grease.
The outside hull of grains, beans, peas, etc., contain cellulin, an indigestible woody fibre which acts as a mechanical laxative to the bowels and aids health if you can use coarsefood. Of course, invalids could not always use such food, as their stomach can hardly digest milk or eggs. Fruit and acids should not be used as foods by invalids.
The germ of grain and seeds in general is a great nerve food or "spark generator," but as it is highly organized it changes easily and so is not used in fine flour.
My theory is that the whole universe is interdependent and that there can be no separation of its component parts. We and all things are joined together the same as a knitted sock—joined by invisible lines of force; and as all matter is simply a peculiar aspect or motion of spirit or the ether, and as no part of the ether can be separated or absolutely isolated, it is an axiom that the universe is ONE. Nothing can be moved except there is a fulcrum. It may be infinitesimal or like an isthmus though.
The great scientists are now admitting this to be a fact. Prof. Edgar Lucien Larkin says: "In the ultimate, what distinction can be drawn between organic and inorganic matter, since mind is matter or force? Therefore, is it not but matter or force under a different aspect orrelation to surrounding appearances, or, in other words, are not all things a unit?"
This scientist further says: "The ultimate distinction between inorganic and organic matter is the inscrutable mystery." And here is where I am able to explain this GREAT MYSTERY.
LIFE is spirit and I have discovered a process in Nature, which we explain in other works more extensively, by which she forms invisible "VACUUM CELLS" in matter, which are conscious and with a potential of radio-activity, and this is the principle of all life and form in organic bodies and in the snow-flake, etc. The process is simple and is from alternations of heat and cold.
In the bioplasmic foods of nature the germ of seeds, for instance, we find a peculiar arrangement of the molecules. They contain a cell center of SOLUBLE SULPHUR, SILICON OR PHOSPHORUS. This arrangement facilitates the formation of the white spark, and the formation of this wonderful food in plants depends upon the soil.
Alkali, and carbonic acid gas, in the nascent state, makes SULPHUR, SILICON,Phosphorus and IRON soluble. I have evaporated five gallons of spring water and obtained the solid residue and found out the wonderful nature of the cell center elements. These minerals are hydrated and at a temperature of 100 degrees they are liquids, and at 50 degrees they are solids. This explains the reason why certain proteid foods are "bioplasmic" and how easily the white sparks are generated in the nerves and brain. The bodily or tissue temperature when life is active is 100 degrees and the oxygenized blood and evaporation from the lungs and skin reduces the temperature of the molecules to 50 and the life vacuo are formed. Oxygenized blood cells are discs rotating on an axis like an alkali.
I have in other publications explained that meat was a second-hand food, in which many life molecules were exploded (gelatine), and that the proteid portions of milk, eggs and vegetable foods contained "CARTRIDGES OF LIFE AND POWER," that is, molecules having sulphur or phosphorus centers which under proper conditions formed VACO-CELLS, especially the germ of all seeds which is absent in fine flour usually.
I discovered the paradox of temperatures by accident. I had been in correspondence with Sir William Crookes, President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in England, and in connection with a scientific matter he had advised me to evaporate the water of a certain Spring, and it was in following out his directions that I found "THE CENTER FORMING MOLECULAR ELEMENTS," which nature uses in forming foods.
There have been many changes in the ideas of scientists within a few years. Several years ago I was taken to task for stating that the wave lengths of a line of force could be shortened or increased by the nature of the substance which it passed through, but one of the Great Professors—Garrett P. Serviss—has just stated: "So the waves of radiant energy sent out from the sun are not heat, but have been set going by heat in the sun and CAN BE TRANSFORMED into heat again on encountering the earth."
Anyone may perform two interesting experiments which prove the statements which I make in regard to "the white spark."
When the soldering compound which is soldto fill up holes in marbleized iron ware is melted and dropped into cold water, peculiar little bodies are formed—little rubber bags or cells filled with powdered sulphur at the center; the compound being composed of sulphur, rubber and quicksilver in this experiment follows the natural laws, and the opposite features of heat conduction causes the sulphur to be encased with the more organic rubber.
The other experiment is dropping melted tinsmith's solder into water at a temperature of 75 degrees when hollow balls are formed, if care is taken in dropping the metal in a globule.
The great provisions of Nature are so sufficient and magnificent that it is proved that the worriments of mankind are imaginary, and it is a fact that they are the result of physical disorders brought about by improper food, drink and habits.
When I see the beautiful sunshine pouring life-giving rays upon everyone and every atom in the world, when I see the grandeur and stable travel of the bodies of the sidereal system, when I see the unperturbed growth of the trees, plants and grains, the gentle rain and the whispering winds, I can say surely the humanacts of greed, malice and crime are the results of a distorted mind.
Judge Swann says FIFTY per cent. of those who are brought to trial in the criminal courts of New York City are addicted to the use of narcotics.
Judge Collins says that since the "BOYLAN LAW" allows the sale of medicines containing a certain percentage of narcotics, the Health Department cannot pass laws restricting such sales without contradicting the state statutes.
Coffee, tea and other insidious poisons are agents of the "DEVIL" also. Chocolate and roasted wheat, peanuts, etc., are poisonous. Roasting often creates empyrean oil.
It is the ascetics or those who live upon vegetable foods, milk and eggs with some fish, or those who do not overeat and live the "SIMPLE LIFE," who look upon the grandeur of Nature properly and ignore the contingencies of life which others commit suicide over or ply the cry of incongruity in Nature.
Consider the religious martyrs of the medieval ages and see how the little "Jap" with his ration of rice went to battle withoutfear and endured hardships and put the Russian Army beneath his feet.
It is the same with the abstemious prize fighter. He has more coolness and endurance than the beef steak eater and libertine, as proved by Freddy Welsh, the world's champion lightweight.
The Harvard Football Squad had a number of men stricken with appendicitis after training upon a meat diet, supposing that meat was a requisite to hard work, a fallacy too often disproved.
Jess Willard, the world's champion pugilist, says he never smoked nor drank liquor in his life, and at the end of the battle with Johnson he felt as if he could fight "a thousand rounds."
We all wish PEACE, HAPPINESS, HEALTH, STRENGTH and SUCCESS. The only differences between us are HOW TO OBTAIN THESE DESIRES, and yet a little candid observation will show us the truth.
The first transaction must be a determination and an agreement to become independent of all other codes and methods except those by which the above objects can be attained.
There are many habits which appeal to usas being a means of personal well being, and yet they are insidious enemies.
It is the regime which has a reaction for our health and happiness which we should follow, and we must have sense enough to eschew the methods which are sure to bring a subsequent disaster to us, even if they may induce a temporary pleasure, for there can be but one correct path which leads to elysian joys.
Nature is wiser than we are and we must not set ourselves up as her superiors, for if we do we are sure to fall. We must not make use of her productions until she has finished them, and we must not use things for food or drink which she has arranged for some other purpose. Sugar is an unfinished product of nature, and leaves, barks, etc., containing poisons are not intended for our consumption, and we should not breathe smoke into our lungs when it is intended that only pure air should pass into them.
We should not entertain passion for passion's sake when it was intended only for reproduction. Secretions in ductless and sac filling glands are for reabsorption. If I take the finished products of nature and undo themagain, I am as unwise as if I used them before nature finished them. The breweries take the beautiful grains and degenerate them and people use the liquid poisons and do not realize that they are insulting nature and ruining themselves. We take grains, etc., and roast or burn them into poisons and seduce ourselves with the mistaken idea that we are using harmless and innocent food or drink.
We steal the property of others, we extort from them, we are jealous of them with the delusion that we are the benefitted parties, but nothing is more untrue than this idea.
All of the mental, social and physical effects of greed, malice and immorality are indelibly disastrous to us, and we have a mistaken idea of our needs and of the things which make happiness.
We have previously stated that FOUR HOURS labor per day was enough for any one, and this would carry on the world's industry adequately and to prove this we give an excerpt from an article by the great English Divine—Rev. R. J. Campbell, his statistics prove that POVERTY IS UNNECESSARY and that wage earners can be paid enough to buy what they wish to make happiness—, pianos and other so-called luxuries, and automobiles could of course be substituted for pianos if their desires should require such.
At the present price of automobiles they are within reach of the man who will give up drinking and using tobacco or other narcotics and I want to say that I believe riding in one of the new type steel bodied automobiles with a magneto ignition is a great health augmenter as these cars when running become charged with electricity and I quite often get a shock from one of my automobiles if I happen to touch part of my hand to the body of the car while the other part has hold of the side shift lever. This statical electricity has been provedby Dr. W. J. Morton, of New York City, to be a wonderful therapeutical agency. When properly supplied to the body it causes the blood discs to take up more oxygen from the air and augments the power of the vital apparatus. (See his address published in the November, 1893, Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.)
Riding in a carriage or car will aid the circulation of the body fluids without waste of our own energy, the motions massage the body, the same as muscular action.
Work is a benefit to us but how much do we need is a question,—a sick person can not work and a person's training and condition must regulate this,—too much work draws the vital force from the vital organs and mental work is absolutely injurious in sickness, the brain draws on the vitality to the detriment of the vital organs of the body, yet again the cultivated mind has a power to govern the base faculties which debilitate the body.
"One of the strangest paradoxes about this period of destructiveness through which we are passing is that there is very little dire poverty about. It has taught me a lesson, a lesson which probably the workers as a class are assimilating too, namely, that destitution and the degradation which so generously accompanies itcould be got rid of in a monthin time of peace if we were only in earnest to do it."It is caused simply by an unfair distribution of wealth. We always knew that, but what we did not know was that it could be so speedily remedied. We thought it would take a long time even if the nation were willing to tackle the problem seriously, which it has not yet shown any anxiety to do. We were afraid of drastic experiments of a social nature, with the consequent displacement of capital, the shock given to that very delicate entity, the national credit, and so on."Go more slowly, was the universal cry. Give us breathing space. These drastic changes one after the other—all in the directionof making the rich pay more into the pockets of the poor—are very dangerous. You are impairing public confidence; do wait awhile before you attempt anything further. You are imposing a tax on industry which is certain to hinder productiveness."And we were wrong, the whole lot of us—Kaiser, German Bureau, British Tories, hesitant Liberals, landowners, bankers, manufacturers, shopkeepers, taxpayers generally, and probably the proletariat, too. It is nothing short of amazing. Here we are hurling our accumulated stores of wealth into hell, the hell of war, and the workers as a whole were never so well off."We are able to pay, and we do pay, without complaining. We are doing it without suffering very greatly, without hearing the cry of hunger going up from our congested areas as it has too often done in time of peace, and without the slightest apprehension that we are drawing near to the end of our strength."We shall be able to go on doing it for years if need be. The savings of the working classes have hardly yet been touched for national purposes, and if report speaks true therehas been a not too creditable increase in the purchase of cheap luxuries—and luxuries not commonly accounted cheap, too, such as pianos—among a section of these, unskilled laborers especially. They are not unpatriotic, but is it to be wondered at that they should suddenly feel themselves well-to-do and fail to realize that war is economic wastage as well as wholesale murder?"'Three pounds a week, and no 'usband!' a lady engaged in munition work is credited with saying—'Wy, it's 'eaven!' There is humor in the sentiment, one must confess, though it was not complimentary to the absent husband."We have withdrawn not less than four million men from productive occupations and set them to smash and kill instead."Think of it! And then remember that those men have to be equipped and maintained somehow or other by the rest of us, and that most of them are the very pick of the country's early manhood. And we can afford to do it! We can do it, and in the process make an end of destitution for the time being and secure to wage-earners a higher standard ofcomfort than they have ever enjoyed before."Will the electors of Great Britain, rich and poor, try to digest that fact and grasp its implications? The logic of it is that we can if and when we choose get rid forever of the crying disgrace of starvation and misery at one end of the social scale and senseless ostentation at the other."The thing is demonstrated now."The army as it exists to-day is a fine all-around leveller. A good many artificial prejudices and social distinctions are being swept away by the power of actual daily comradeship in the face of death. These four million citizen soldiers have votes. How will they use them when they come home?"Let the lesson be driven well home. We can do all that is required if we want to do it. Behold the economic miracle of to-day, and consider what is possible to-morrow. There need never be another hungry mouth. No honest man ought to have to dread the loss of a job or to lower his self-respect by seeking the aid of the Poor law."It is all nonsense to say that the problem ofdestitution is unsolvable or that our resources will not bear the institution of a standard living wage for everybody and not for the aristocracy of labor only."After the debacle of 1871 France was apparently ground to powder, her manhood decimated, her trade ruined, her treasury empty, and an enormous indemnity to pay to her triumphant foe. She recovered so quickly and completely, to the surprise of everybody, that in 1875 Bismarck, like the bully he was, wanted to hit her again, and would have done so but for Queen Victoria and the British Government."
"One of the strangest paradoxes about this period of destructiveness through which we are passing is that there is very little dire poverty about. It has taught me a lesson, a lesson which probably the workers as a class are assimilating too, namely, that destitution and the degradation which so generously accompanies itcould be got rid of in a monthin time of peace if we were only in earnest to do it.
"It is caused simply by an unfair distribution of wealth. We always knew that, but what we did not know was that it could be so speedily remedied. We thought it would take a long time even if the nation were willing to tackle the problem seriously, which it has not yet shown any anxiety to do. We were afraid of drastic experiments of a social nature, with the consequent displacement of capital, the shock given to that very delicate entity, the national credit, and so on.
"Go more slowly, was the universal cry. Give us breathing space. These drastic changes one after the other—all in the directionof making the rich pay more into the pockets of the poor—are very dangerous. You are impairing public confidence; do wait awhile before you attempt anything further. You are imposing a tax on industry which is certain to hinder productiveness.
"And we were wrong, the whole lot of us—Kaiser, German Bureau, British Tories, hesitant Liberals, landowners, bankers, manufacturers, shopkeepers, taxpayers generally, and probably the proletariat, too. It is nothing short of amazing. Here we are hurling our accumulated stores of wealth into hell, the hell of war, and the workers as a whole were never so well off.
"We are able to pay, and we do pay, without complaining. We are doing it without suffering very greatly, without hearing the cry of hunger going up from our congested areas as it has too often done in time of peace, and without the slightest apprehension that we are drawing near to the end of our strength.
"We shall be able to go on doing it for years if need be. The savings of the working classes have hardly yet been touched for national purposes, and if report speaks true therehas been a not too creditable increase in the purchase of cheap luxuries—and luxuries not commonly accounted cheap, too, such as pianos—among a section of these, unskilled laborers especially. They are not unpatriotic, but is it to be wondered at that they should suddenly feel themselves well-to-do and fail to realize that war is economic wastage as well as wholesale murder?
"'Three pounds a week, and no 'usband!' a lady engaged in munition work is credited with saying—'Wy, it's 'eaven!' There is humor in the sentiment, one must confess, though it was not complimentary to the absent husband.
"We have withdrawn not less than four million men from productive occupations and set them to smash and kill instead.
"Think of it! And then remember that those men have to be equipped and maintained somehow or other by the rest of us, and that most of them are the very pick of the country's early manhood. And we can afford to do it! We can do it, and in the process make an end of destitution for the time being and secure to wage-earners a higher standard ofcomfort than they have ever enjoyed before.
"Will the electors of Great Britain, rich and poor, try to digest that fact and grasp its implications? The logic of it is that we can if and when we choose get rid forever of the crying disgrace of starvation and misery at one end of the social scale and senseless ostentation at the other.
"The thing is demonstrated now.
"The army as it exists to-day is a fine all-around leveller. A good many artificial prejudices and social distinctions are being swept away by the power of actual daily comradeship in the face of death. These four million citizen soldiers have votes. How will they use them when they come home?
"Let the lesson be driven well home. We can do all that is required if we want to do it. Behold the economic miracle of to-day, and consider what is possible to-morrow. There need never be another hungry mouth. No honest man ought to have to dread the loss of a job or to lower his self-respect by seeking the aid of the Poor law.
"It is all nonsense to say that the problem ofdestitution is unsolvable or that our resources will not bear the institution of a standard living wage for everybody and not for the aristocracy of labor only.
"After the debacle of 1871 France was apparently ground to powder, her manhood decimated, her trade ruined, her treasury empty, and an enormous indemnity to pay to her triumphant foe. She recovered so quickly and completely, to the surprise of everybody, that in 1875 Bismarck, like the bully he was, wanted to hit her again, and would have done so but for Queen Victoria and the British Government."
I have shown how to rise above poverty even when the capitalists grind the worker down to a wage inadequate to his service, yet this is not a just condition, and when the war in Europe is over many workers will be back to their countries, to work. There may be lack of employment then, but let the FOUR HOURS per day schedule be put in operation and let the pay be proper and all will be well.
Let the capitalist adjust himself to the fact that the worker is HIS BROTHER and that THEOCRATIC DEMOCRACY is God's Law.
The air, the water and all necessities are one man's as much as another's.
The Kaiser, King George or the President of France must drink the same water which his lowly brother has once drank and breathe the same air which he has breathed.
A King has water brought to him—it may be that this water,—the very identical molecules, were once in the blood and body of a lowly tiller of the soil; he may have drank it, excreted it, it went to the river, to the ocean, then evaporated to the mountain top, and was again precipitated to the earth and leached into the King's well.
The VOTERS HAVE THE POWER TO ADJUST THE LAW; if they belie themselves who is to blame?
Let them institute the INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM AND THE RECALL OF JUDGES first, then make the proper laws to raise man to the social position where he belongs.
It is well known that much of the poverty and misery of the world has been caused by ALCOHOL, and the use of narcotics is alsonot far behind in the cause of degradation and misery.
The prohibition laws which have been instituted in Russia prove these statements to be correct and to show the wonderful prosperity which ensues from temperance. I give a statement from Russian Minister of Finance Bark. He says:
"On the other hand, there is nothing illusory or specious about the Russians' prosperity. It rests upon the incontrovertible fact of the Russian people's increased earnings and savings."When, a year ago, the savings banks showed a monthly increase of 50,000,000 rubles, it was regarded as phenomenal. But that was only the beginning. During the month of January the savings banks alone showed an increase in deposits of 120,000,000 rubles. This is accounted for principally by the growing thrift and economy of the peasants since the enforcement of prohibition, by their greater earning power and the higher wages they command. This marvellous prosperity makes Russia capable of raising large numbers of successful internal loans, and it isby this means chiefly that we hope to defray the expenses of the war, which have now reached 1,000,000,000 rubles monthly."
"On the other hand, there is nothing illusory or specious about the Russians' prosperity. It rests upon the incontrovertible fact of the Russian people's increased earnings and savings.
"When, a year ago, the savings banks showed a monthly increase of 50,000,000 rubles, it was regarded as phenomenal. But that was only the beginning. During the month of January the savings banks alone showed an increase in deposits of 120,000,000 rubles. This is accounted for principally by the growing thrift and economy of the peasants since the enforcement of prohibition, by their greater earning power and the higher wages they command. This marvellous prosperity makes Russia capable of raising large numbers of successful internal loans, and it isby this means chiefly that we hope to defray the expenses of the war, which have now reached 1,000,000,000 rubles monthly."
Blessings often come to us masquerading as evil; this terrible war has its benefits. While death must come to everyone sometime, it may be that we put too much stress on the fact that so many lives have been sent to the BETTER SHORE within such a short space of time, and it is best to believe in the axiom THAT WHAT IS—IS RIGHT.
There probably will never be another war, and perhaps, it must be that this one is the lever to throw THE "DEVIL" into OBLIVION.
The Germans have seen the revelations as well as the other belligerents. Here is what a writer in Berlin says:
"On Tuesday and Friday there is no meat to be had. On Monday and Thursday the consumption of fats is forbidden. Some alcoholic drinks are forbidden to be sold after 9 o'clock at night. They are mostly liqueurs."The enforced abstinence from meat on two days of the week has been accepted everywherewith personal satisfaction. You agree with the German when he tells you that he has eaten too much meat all his life, and is glad the government has made him reform. So on these days he eats fish, oysters and vegetables, and declares he feels the better for it."
"On Tuesday and Friday there is no meat to be had. On Monday and Thursday the consumption of fats is forbidden. Some alcoholic drinks are forbidden to be sold after 9 o'clock at night. They are mostly liqueurs.
"The enforced abstinence from meat on two days of the week has been accepted everywherewith personal satisfaction. You agree with the German when he tells you that he has eaten too much meat all his life, and is glad the government has made him reform. So on these days he eats fish, oysters and vegetables, and declares he feels the better for it."
This item from Augustus Baech is illuminating and instructive. Grease is not a colloid; it does not absorb the gastric juice like a better organized element, and thus the stomach is irritated. There is a law of Nature by which the molecules affect matter; crystalline substances in solution are readily drawn into colloids. A system of symbols helps understanding in the matter—let us represent an acid by a perpendicular line, an alkali by a horizontal line, a crystal by a pyramid and a colloid by a globule; flat surfaces oppose round ones and a confusion of straight forces would produce a spiral force.
There is a great law of HUMAN BROTHERHOOD, yes, more than that—a law of the brotherhood of all animal life.
The hatred of the English, Germans and Russians in this flaming war of passion is wrong—let us remember St. Peter's vision ofthe basket let down from heaven with all kinds of men in it.
The reform of diet and habits will relieve the tension of malice, hatred and jealousy, the lessened rage of sexual passion will curtail the undue birth rate, the nations will not need to conquer more territory and the social conditions will be adjusted.
How beautiful would it be to see all men living in peace, harmony, prosperity and happiness.
Let us regain our reason and settle down to truth and common sense and have peace and correct understanding between individuals and nations. IT CAN BE DONE, and THIS WILL BE THE MILLENNIUM.
Transcriber's NotesMinor punctuation typos have been silently corrected.Page 7: Possible typo: "differentations" for "differentiations."(Orig: the differentations and forms in the universe)Page 7: Changed "Scientis" to "Scientist."(Orig: Le Bon the great Scientis,)Page 8: Changed "conciousness" to "consciousness."(Orig: each spark has a quiet center or conciousness)Page 47: Changed "miscrocope" to "microscope."(Orig: as no miscrocope has ever detected)Page 65: Changed "CARTIRDGES" to "CARTRIDGES."(Orig: vegetable foods contained "CARTIRDGES OF LIFE AND POWER,")Page 74: Changed "debiliate" to "debilitate."(Orig: base faculties which debiliate the body.)Page 82: Changed "axion" to "axiom."(Orig: believe in the axion THAT WHAT IS—IS RIGHT.)