THE PHYSICAL AND MENTAL WELFARE SOCIETY OF NEW ZEALAND

Franklin Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 33, 24 March 1939, Page 6

THE PHYSICAL AND MENTAL WELFARE SOCIETY OF NEW ZEALAND

NON - SECTARIAN;

THE SUICIDE CLUB—I (With apologies to Plato). (By P.M.W.). “Desperate diseases require desperate remedies,” remarks Plato. “At any rate, that was how the old tag went, when I was on earth the first time, some twenty-three or twentyfour centui’ies ago. In view • of the present hopeless condition of the world, it is up to me to stage a comeback for the purpose of helping to remove obstructions to the full activity of the largest Suicide Club that the race has ever known. There are over two thousand million inhabitants of the glob.e; and, with the exception of a few nleagre thousand followers of my esteemed rival, Everyday Science, the whole of these people are membrs of the Suicide Club. Our meeting here today is to convince the minority of the futility of attempting to stem the extinction of the race. For this reason I am glad to see my old friend and opponent, Everyday Science, together with his thin line of supporters, seated on the back benches. - Apples and Men. “This is not the first time that the delicious fruit now. familiarly referred to as the apple has been, made use of to point a moral,” premises Plato, turning on his amplifier and gazing cheerfully around at his vast audience of more than two thousand million people. “As Everyday Science has tcld you,' each of the one hundred million cells-or thereabouts which go to make upany .normal-sized apple is in itself a separate and distinct entity endoweiji with.a species of instinct or intelligence which impels its formation and growth.. The perfect functioning of the whole apple, however, is never-

theless dependent upon some faculty

The People’s Science Movement

NON - PARTISAN

other than that of the sum total of the individual intelligences of the component cells. In other words, that intelligence which determines the formation of the whole fruit is of a higher erder than the aggregate intelligence of its parts. Do I make myself clear, my dear ’ Everyday ?’ ’

“Nothing could be clearer,” respond several voices—the voices of the world’s present-day representatives of the wisdom and philosophy of the ancient past. “You will therefore now allow me to move my argument forward a little in the scale of values,” continues Plato. “There is little doubt that the opponents of the Suicide Club will approve the statement that the intelligence and reason of any person is far greater than the sum total of the intelligences of the individual .cells which go to the make-up of that physical personality?” Plato’s Brick. “All this news-from-the-graveyard stuff needs no resuscitation at the present time,” remarks Everyday, with a grin. “Permit me to present my point in my own way,” persists Plato. “I now want you and your few thousand adherents to acknowledge that there is a ‘something’ in the corporate aggregation of a community, or of a nation, or of a world, which displays an intelligence superior to _that of its parts. This being conceded, I shall now do my best to prove to the opponents of the Suicide Club that what I may call ‘the genius of the race’ has definitely decided against the perpetuation of, civilisation as now constituted; for in what does this so-called civilisation consist but in more and more speed, more and more noise, more and larger hospitals and asylums, a deeper appre-

ciation of money as the only thing of

real value in life, a rapidly declining mass-intelligence and a surer and more certain destruction of tlie soul of man?”

The Cunning of Plato. Plato pauses for a split . second, poised for further flights of oratory, noting out of the corner of his eye the fact that Everyday Science and his supporters are hurriedly conferring in agitated whispers. “Man has already suffered more than long enough,” pursues Plato. “Most gladly would he escape from the ‘pleasures’ of civilisation and of life as from some furious and savage master. He is shorn of every possible hope of developing a mens sana in a corpore sano. Then why help to perpetuate his useless and miserable existence? You of the twentieth century say that civilisation is at the Cross Roads. As a matter of fact, the Cross Roads phase of civilisation was passed many years ago; and mankind has already taken the wrong turning, irretrievably and irrevocably.

Dirty Work at the C.R. “What happened at the Cross Roads at the time that civilisation passed that point,” thunders Plato. “Was it that fundamental error was made at that time in respect of man’s natural health, happiness, prosperity, efficiency, fertility and sanity. As the soil is, so are its products, so the bloodstream, so the body, so the intelligence, so the progeny. It is my intention briefly to develop this thesis and to "give Everyday Science an opportunity to show good reason why he and his followers persist in obstructing the activities of our allpowerful World Suicide Club.”

Everyday and his band cease ‘their agitated whispers and settle down in their back benches in an attitude of patient and impartial receptivity. Plato continues: The End of Homo Sapiens.

“With all due respect to those who are empowered by our lowered massintelligence to legislate for the safety and security of the peoples of the world —nationally, socially and financially—l would suggest that they themselves have played a leading part in the consolidation of the Suicide Club. I maintain that over-exploitation of our soils has played a vital and an inseparable part not only in economic inflation and general instability, but also in bringing about the present appalling condition of physical and mental illhealth and that declining intelligence Of the race upon which our rulers rely for their retention in the seats of the

mighty. In all parts of the world, the faults and omissions of rulers have caused and are perpetuating national and international jealousies, wars, tyrannies, unemployment, waste and unhappiness. It is now too late to apply corrective measures to these evils; and that higher intelligence of the race which transcends the halting intelligence of the units of mankind has decreed its earliest extinction. Appealing to Everyday Science and the men and w'omen who are opposing this decree, I state in plain terms that the only reasonable, logical and merciful course is to pull with those who are hastening the end of things, and to help homo (alleged) sapiens to put himself out of his misery with the least possible expense!” Authorities synthesised: C. Alma Baker, C.8.E., of New Zealand, of the Federated Malay States, and London, 1S38; Dr. G. K. Bowes, M.R.C.P., etc, Bedford, England, 1938; Plato, Athens, Greece, about 400 B.C.

THE BROTHERLY WAY PHYSICAL AND MENTAL WELFARE WEEDS AND NUTRITION Dear People,— Are sheep as silly as they look? When a mob is first turned into a l fresh paddock of apparently good feed, the sheep do not immediately settle down, as might be expected, to eat their fill. They spread out fan- ( wise, running quickly here and there, generally neglecting the ryegrass and nibbling off weeds and other “inferior” j fodder. Dandelion, yarrow and plan- I tain (all of whose roots grow straight downwards) the sheep seem especially to revel in. It is not unusual to see three or four sheep with their heads close together, eating out a patch of these weeds, or perhaps a bunch of sorrel, while grass and clover are neglected. Where there is crested I dog’s tail among the ryegrass, this will ) be eaten close to the crown before the ryegrass is touched, indicating that this deep-rooted species has superior attractions. j A Slighted Weed! ! And here is a second question. Where on earth did Shakespeare (or Bacon!),.get his profound horticultural and agricultural knowledge? In “Rich- j ard III” he says:— Small herbs have grace; great weeds do grow apace; And since, methinks, I would not grow so fast, 1

Because sweet flowers are slow and weeds make haste.

The growth attained by weeds is proverbial, and there is a sound connection between their deep roots and their ability to outpace their more highly respected neighbours in the race for growth. The deeper-rooted plants and trees tap the soluble soil minerals which,especially in our light and porous volcanic soils, have been leached below the reach of surface feeding grasses. The only

artificial fertilisers as yet intentionally applied to the land for agricultural purposes, apart from lime, are those supplying potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen. It is, however, now recognised that most of the other common elements occur in plants. Manganese and copper, for example, have been found in all plants investigated and are asspciated with the rapidly growing parts of the plant, such as the buds and the leaves. These two minerals, as well-as others essential for growth, are found in but minute quantities and only in the lower depths of the soil. They are extracted by the roots of trees and tap-rooted plants, and transported to the growing parts, eventually being shed in the falling leaves and thus enriching the surface soil. A Blighted Weed!

Following regular top-dressing, the shallow-rooted plants, particularly

perennial ryegrass and clover, generally become dominant. Top-dressing favours these because the manurial qualities of superphosphates penetrate only a very little depth into the soil; and their roots, being near the surface, can utilise this fertiliser. The grasses and clovers in question consequently flourish, and smother out of existence the deep-rooted grass pjpes which obtain little benefit from tcp-dressing with superphosphates. Ryegrass and white clover are further appreciated by the farmer because, being surface rooted, they can make quick growth in the early spring, when only a surface inch or so of soil is sufficiently warmed and aerated to stimulate growth. These grasses also produce a considerable bulk of grazing; hence the sheepman shakes hands with himself when he sees a dense sward of perennial ryegrass and white clover replacing the mixed grasses in his pasture. He may be placed in a category with the fond mother who feeds up her family on roast beef, peeled boiled or roasted vegetables, apple pie, white bread and refined cereal puddings. An abundant

table may often be the sign-manual of a starvation diet for human beings and the means of creating acute malnutrition. An abundant pasture of surface grasses may.just as often bethe sign of an equally acute starvation diet for sheep and the means of creating sheep-sick land. A Weed That’s Unrequited! There are, then, minute amounts of minerals in the soil which are apparently necessary for the function Of' growth and which cannot be brought, to the surface per medium of our present artificial fertilisers. The deeperrooted grasses which alone are capable of making these minerals available aregenerally classified among the weedsof the earth. These unappreciated weeds undoubtedly have medicinal and tonic properties which are absent from the make-up of the shallow-rooted grasses. It is highly probable that deficiencies of mineral and medicinal properties in the popular ryegrasswhite clover pastures may be largely responsible for our sheep not thrivingas well as might reasonably be expected on our luscious top-dressed pastures. The selective grazing already referred to which is indulged in by sheep, combined with the favouring of shallow-rooted grasses (through top-dressing by superphosphates) cannot fail to have the.effect of suppressing the growth of the deep-rooted weeds which are preferred by the sheep and which they apparently need. When the extermination of these weeds is complete, the stock inevitably begins to deteriorate. A Weed That’s Uninvited!

The fattest soils bring forth the fattest weeds, says the old German proverb. Even those weeds that cannot be utilised as food for stock may, by the substantial contributions to soil-fertility and the incidental effect on the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen of which they are capable, significantly improve the nutrition and the health of the self-styled higher species of animals. All waste weeds, together with animal excreta, should

be “Indored” into humic composts.

and thus be enabled to play their destined part in helping to render unto

Nature that which is Nature’s, to an extent not yet possible with the artificial fertilisers upon whose ministra-

tions the greater part of soils depend for nurture, iSo far as direct human consumption is concerned, weeds are for the most part des-

pised and rejected, although many of them are first-rate protective foods.

Just a Weed! Sir Stephen Talent recommends the cooking of the stinging nettle; the soft, milky thistle is a nutritive vegetable when cooked; and one of the. most highly protective foods in existence is seaweed. Professor H. E. Armstrong stated that dandelion is preferable to spinach. He always allowed a clump to grow in his garden, close at hand. In this way, he could have eggs and dandelion within half an hour of picking. The French also use dandelion as a salad, and the Americans say that this weed is more nutritious than spinach. Certainly the cattle enjoy it and thrive upon it in the valleys of Switzerland'; and, as we are all beginning to suspect, what is good for animals is generally good for us. By the same token, it is devoutly to be hoped that “all we like sheep” may

take to weeds, both as direct food, and also as a means of enhancing scil-fertility and nutrition, for it is still as true today as when Cowper wrote it two hundred years ago, that — They who truth and wisdom lead May gather nurture from a weed! Yours as ever, “SILENT PETER.”