LET US GO AFIELD 



Preventable death, preventable diseases, prevent- 

 able ignorance of how to live and work these are 

 the real wastes, the unspeakably enormous wastes 

 of our civilized life. Now that waste, that cost of 

 life and effort, that inefficiency of the unit, are things 

 which raise the cost and labor of life for every one 

 of the rest of us. Someone has to pay for the 

 people who do not camp out. 



Wipe out the cost of tuberculosis alone and you 

 could pay all the national debts of the world. Wipe 

 it out for a year and you could pay the cost of the 

 Spanish War and throw in two or three Mexican 

 wars. Wipe it out for one year and you could 

 capitalize every national bank in the United States 

 and have enough left over to build the Panama 

 Canal. These are dispassionate figures given by a 

 Boston scientist. 



Certainly the inefficiency charge against civiliza- 

 tion is an enormous thing. Much of that inefficiency 

 is preventable. Much of it is preventable in only 

 one way, and that way is by a life in the open air, 

 with good food and a well-rested body and mind. 

 We would not dare use a horse as cruelly as we 

 use ourselves. We would say it was not business. 



As to the realization side of the debate, therefore, 

 quite a showing can be made as against the pleasures 

 of anticipation. Perhaps you do not feel as though 



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