Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 March 1892 — Page 4 Advertisements Column 2 [ADVERTISEMENT]

exercise in the open air He espe- 1 cially urges that the habit of strengthening the physical powers be acquired in youth under systematic training, until to take exercise daily in the open air becomes as natural to the bodily functions as any other life-sustainfng motion. This is excellent advice, and being followed would no doubt dispel many of the ills and diseases of whieh civilized, society is the victim. It is well, of course, that extra mental and nervous exertion should be met with increased physical endurance, which may be cultivated easily enough if will directs. We are inclined, however, to except to one of the findings of the Doctor, presented inferentially rather than argumentatively, and that is as to the influence of newspaper reading toward the derangement of the nervous system. He assumes that the women of a past generation were stronger, healthier, and longer live), because, as one of many reasons, they did not have a morning paper with horrible stories of crime and disaster to affect their sensibilities and agitate their nerves, tiring them out, as a lady declared to him, “exactly as a shopping trip will tire me.” Of the numerous charges the newspaper has been compelled to admit or repel, this, it seems to us, is altogether the most Quixotic. It is not necessary to deny that newspapers do publish matter the reading of which is calculated to disturb the equilibrium of certain organisms, and we can imagine depression or even hysteria being the result of an attentive perusal of the criminal columns of the daily press; but until Dr. Edson can persuade us that the libraries of fifty, a hundred, a thousand years ago were free of pamphlets, periodicals, books, etc., other than tended to produce a sweet religious calm of spirit and purity of mind, we shall except to his latest proposition.

Increased immigration to the United States is almost certain to result from the distressing condition of affairs that now exists throughout Europe. Recent events in Vienna and Berlin and some of the other capitals of the continent show that the failure of last year's crops and the consequent poverty and scarcity of food is by no means confined to Russia. From all parts of the old world the cry for bread is heard, and the answers to that cry that have been sent from this country have served to turn the eyes of the people toward this land of plenty and to start a movement among them to leave the scenes of their present suffering in quest of new homes in the far West. Many of the unfortunate people have already friends and relatives here who are comfortably settled on farms of their own in the West, and these have been urging them to follow their example and come to this country. They have done more than that. They have sent prepaid orders on the railroads and steamship companies to their friends to bring them here. The number of these that have been sent this last winter is known to be far in excess of those transmitted in previous years, and the railroads, knowing this, are anticipating a much larger second-class business than usual. Among the new arrivals there will doubtless be many industrious, frugal, thrifty people who will make desirable and useful citizens wherever they may go. There Is danger, though, tbat In the large numbers that are preparing to come there will be very many who will be the reverse of desirable. Their coming will go but to increase the amount of poverty and of crime which already exists to an alarming extent in many of the large cities of this country. For the industrious, thrifty

settler this country has always had an open door and a warm welcome, and there is no likelihood that these will be withdrawn now; but for the shiftless, the lazy and the lawless no place is left. The country is already too full to receive them. Another danger that threatens from this fresh influx of foreigners is the introduction of infections and contagiotis diseases. Want and famine always carry disease, pestilence, death in their train. Many of the immigrants may have already contracted disease before embarking for this country, but it may not have developed far enough to have become apparent, and it may not be discovered until after they have landed on these shores. It becomes the commissioners of Immigration at the various landing places to be doubly watchful, and see that the laws of this land, which are intended to prevent the coming of those who will be a burden or a menace to the people, are rigidly' enforced. Any remissness on their part may be disastrous in its consequence.