| THE DISEASE AND THE REMEDY |
By ALFRED E. P. ROCKWELL, M.D.
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
WE stand in this country on the threshold of a great civic awakening, a great economic renaissance, and we should hasten to forge from every opportunity offered by public sentiment, some substantial token of a larger and more exalted citizenship.
Government is the means by which the will of the people finds expression, and in a republican more truly than in any other form of government the character of the laws, and the efficiency with which they are administered, justly interpret the character and enlightenment of the average citizen.
The evolution of the individual, in proportion to the opportunities which the times afford, the suitable husbandry of the public purse, the proper development of natural resources, the conservation of human energy, the time required to convert what is known as public sentiment, all make it imperative that we now lay the foundation for the more efficient application of those principles which have been found best calculated to further those ends.
The physical, mental and moral qualities of the average citizen should be the unit of measurement upon which all estimates of national wealth, wisdom and virtue are based. The nearer these three personal qualifications approach perfection the greater becomes the value to society of the individual, and so intimately are they associated that derangement in one of these spheres is productive of more or less disturbance in the others.
Good physical health is the foundation upon which the mental and moral natures are built. Physical deficiencies in a large measure are responsible for mental and moral defects.
Every human life should be an asset of the nation; an asset the value of which should be determined by its productivity. By productivity is meant every exercise of creative, constructive power in the physical, mental and moral spheres. The highest productive potential is developed from the proper combination of two factors, in the creation and operation of each of which both the individual and the state share certain responsibilities. In the wholesomeness of the moral stamina, the efficiency of the mental equipment and the extent of the physical energy we find the first factor, and may measure the worth of those qualities which the individual is in honor obligated to contribute to
