“CROOKS” CURED BY FRUIT DIET.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17854, 24 May 1926, Page 13

“CROOKS” CURED BY FRUIT DIET.

AMERICAN DOCTOR EXPLAINS HIS SYSTEM. LONDON, April 8. A criminilogist who claims to be able to cure criminals by dieting them has come to London to help in the work of reforming our “hobos,” or tramps. He is Dr Ben L. Reitman, Director of the Hobo College, Washington Boulevard, Chicago. “The Hobo College,” Dr Reitman told the “Westminster Gazette” last night, “is an institution for the treatment .of tramps, ex-convicts, drunkards and drug addicts.” The methods of the college are original. One of the most successful cures described by Dr Reitman had little else in it than a change, of diet. “The man was Dan Devine.” said Dr Reitman. “He was a drunkard, a tough, a thief, and a fighter. He had been in gaol, where he spent most of the time in solitary confinement, for knocking the warder out. “We got him when he came out. We gave him the job of janitor at the Hobo College, and put him on a special diet. His breakfast consisted of oranges, toast, coffee with cream in it, and a tomato. Sometimes he had grape fruit. His other meals were much the same, but with plenty of vegetables, cereals, and yeast, which he ate in considerable quantities—raw. “We made him exercise his leg muscles by morning walks—hitherto the muscles of the upper part of his body had been brought most into play. for. as I said, he was a tighter.

kindest men in the College. Naturally, among the people who came tp the College were many who had to be cleared out—thrown out, in fact. Our reformed criminal used tp do this in the kindest way. He never even lost his temper. “We saved another man from "a life of crime by using a pair of spectacles. We discovered that his “kink” was due to bad eyesight, which affected his brain and caused him to become violent. “We got professors from the Universities of Chicago, doctors, and students of sociology. They meet our down-and-outs, and talk to them. I remember a recent meeting for drunks. There were about 500 present—and Chicago is a ‘Prohibition city! ’ “We don’t offer them free food or jobs. We pick up a book of statistics and remark casually : I see 170 drunks were admitted to the County Ho.spitai last week. Forty of them are in the madhouse now, thirty of them are destined for an early grave, and the rest will go the same road if they continue drunks.’ “This may sound strange to English ears, but it has worked wonders among our Chicago toughs. I believe i,t will do the same here.”