Volume 9 , Issue 21

December, 1905 - W. F. Hatfield Editorial

I found this great editorial in The Alva Pioneer, dated Dec. 29, 1905, Alva, Oklahoma Territory as it was written by W. F. Hatfield, Publisher. It was titled - American Physicals. It is quite long, but it gives us a view of what life was like back in December 1905. Could some of this fit today?

"A great outdoor spectacle, like a college football game, gives excellent opportunity to study crowds of fairly well-to-do people -- the class which represents the best that American life has attained. No one says Youth's companion can watch such a crowd pouring forth from the gates without being impressed by the fine physical appearance of the individuals. Young men of six feet or more, even, are so common that they hardly attract notice by their stature. Most sons are taller than their fathers. Among young women the change is even more noticeable. The number of strong, healthy looking girls is constantly increasing, nor is the gain in the average height of American women one of appearance only. Records of the physical measurements of college girls and of the patrons of gymnasiums for women show that there has been a steady advance during the past quarter century. The reason lies undoubtedly in the greater interest in outdoor sports and exercise. Better food and more knowledge of diet, more sensible clothing, and above all, systematic and well regulated exercise in the gymnasiums, have contributed to the better physique of American women; for a fashion of being strong and healthy has become established, and that, by creating a motive, has sent shop-girls and other working women to classes which they would never have entered had it not been for the desire to emulate their college sisters. As a nation the Americans are not deteriorating physically; they are improving. The advance is more noticeable in the cities than in the country, but there is nowhere any need of a commission like that which Great Britain form necessary after the Boer war, to investigate the cause of the physical deterioration of the race."

Our Standing In Science... "The comparison of American and European scientists has been made by Prof. Waldeyer, professor of anatomy in the University of Berlin, in an address before the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences, a few months ago, suggested, no doubt, by his visit to the St. Louis congress, in 1904. The United States has easily led the world in all mechanical matters tending to increase material wealth, and the impression has been very widespread that we are so occupied in the struggle for the almighty dollar as to have no time for the arts and sciences. In spite of the fact that the people of a new country are occupied in opening up and developing their resources, and in laying foundations, it is, and at all unlikely, observes American Medicine that in proportion to our numbers we have always accomplished a fair share of the worlds scientific discoveries, and have done a goodly work in other directions. Waldeyer points to a long list of eminent American naturalists, economists, jurists, philologists, philosophers and historians, and he might have added physicians and surgeons. He has apparently been amazed at the rapid strides of the last decade as though we had just started on the superstructure of our national work. His intimate knowledge of Americans and their work gives great value to his statement that it is now time for European students and teachers to come to America to learn, in the same way that Americans formerly went abroad. We have worked out our own salvation, and have therefore cut new trails, so that it is now necessary for foreign workers to know what we are doing and how we are doing it, if they are to avoid narrowness."

"At the recent election in New York Tammany thugs tried everywhere to drive Jerome watchers away from the polls. The latter were nearly all young, intelligent fellows and some of them were brutally beaten for refusing to depart. At one polling place the watcher, little more than a boy, was ordered from his post, but refused to move. The Tammany leader growled: "None o' yer lip or I'll push yer face in." The young fellow turned pale, but he answered quickly: "Of course you can do me up if you like; I can't protect myself. But you may have noticed me writing. I have put down, among other things, the names of every officer, watcher, Judge, inspector and clerk here today and I have mailed those papers to a friend." He kept his post."

"For many years Senators Chandler and Blair of New Hampshire were on bad terms, refusing to recognize each other on the street. At length they became reconciled after a fashion. One day they were chatting with some colleagues when Mr. Chandler complained of suffering from lumbago. 'The pain began,' he said, with a twinkle in his eye, 'Just when I knelt down to say my prayers last night.' Mr. Blair said, gravely, 'That's too bad. And the first time you ever did such a thing, too.'"
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