226 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIII. No. 1103 



and equipment are provided, there are 

 large numbers who avoid gymnasium and 

 outdoor work and stick to the lazy line of 

 .least exertion. 



We do not want and eould not have a 

 nation of highly trained athletes. What 

 we want is a race of people who stand erect, 

 who have good, average physiques and 

 sound organs. A national vitality commis- 

 sion could study and recommend the best 

 means of teaching our people and of stimu- 

 lating them to action in this vitally impor- 

 tant matter of exercises, and especially of 

 natural outdoor exercise. 



HIGH-POWKRED SOLDIEES 



Modern methods of war call for the very 

 highest state of physical efSciency on the 

 part of the soldier. The strain upon the 

 physique and the nervous system is exces- 

 sive. 



How would our sedentary group stand 

 it? They would doubtless do their part 

 well, if the enemy were sufficiently obliging 

 to allow them time to drill and harden and 

 restore their limbs and muscles to normal 

 condition. As to their fitness, untrained, 

 listen to a civilian member of the Platts- 

 burg experiment of last summer, Mr. Ralph 

 W. Page: 



THE RAW RECRTJIT 



. . . We advanced at top speed for miles; we 

 crawled over ten thousand acreSj and we charged 

 until dizzy all over the country. This, my friend, 

 is no easy task. It gives you an abnormal aspect 

 of the real fighting man. To advance a mile on 

 your belly or by rushes carrying thirty-eight 

 pounds besides shooting an eight pound rifle the 

 whole way, after a long march, even when no burst 

 of shrapnel enhances the entertainment, is very 

 strenuous business. . . . 



Now the very essence of this [military service] 

 is physical condition. That as a nation we are 

 not in such condition was very strikingly shown at 

 the maneuvers. This Plattsburg regiment was re- 

 cruited largely from athletes, polo and football 

 players, militiamen, big game hunters, and such 



people probably far above the average of our citi- 

 zens. They had a month's very vigorous training. 

 And yet ten miles was the utmost limit they could 

 cover as a body in march in one day. Yet the 30th 

 United States Infantry two days before the ama- 

 teur war began arrived at camp about 4:30 in the 

 afternoon, the band playing "What the hell do 

 we care, ' ' having covered thirty-two miles to a 

 man since reveille. 



If this is the experience of self-selected 

 soldiers who undertook the work because 

 they knew of their own trained physical 

 condition, how long would it take to "re- 

 build" a regiment of men from our large 

 body of untrained citizens composed partly 

 of men from the great physically low- 

 powered group? 



ORGANIC DETERIORATION 



Apparently the most significant result of 

 the various changes in our living habits is 

 found in our declining power to resist the 

 strain of life on the heart, arteries, kidneys 

 and the nervous and digestive systems. 



Compared with past decades, the increase 

 in mortality from the early breaking down 

 of these organs is very marked. The rec- 

 ords of the last census show that the in- 

 crease continues in the younger as well as 

 the older age groups. This points to the 

 shortening of the valuable productive pe- 

 riod of life. These indications are well at- 

 tested. They can not be disposed of by the 

 easy process of denying the statistics with- 

 out investigation. Nor can the extraor- 

 dinary increase in cancer be explained in 

 this convenient way. 



The early breaking down of these im- 

 portant organs points to a decline in the 

 vitality of our people in the mature and 

 most useful period of their lives, and pre- 

 sents a phase of the problem meriting the 

 most careful study and consideration. 



THE DECLINING BIRTH RATE 



That our birth rate is declining is freely 

 conceded. The ratio of decrease we do not 



