The Vegetarians

New York — In America, the land of wealth, luxury, and comfort, there are three million souls who eat no meat, but live — as Gandhi the ascetic lives — on what the earth brings forth of vegetables and fruit.

These vegetarians have a magazine called "The American Vegetarian," edited by Mr. Symon Gould, who affirms that the American people, known for its appetite and its love of luxury and comfort, is among the peoples most abstemious in the eating of meat — quite the opposite of the English people, who in the days of plenty used to breakfast, lunch, and dine on meat!

But a number of scientists say that the English excess in eating meat is the secret of the boldness and daring that distinguish that people — qualities no one has ever denied the English; indeed, Hitler was foremost among those who testified to them in his book Mein Kampf.

Eating meat in quantity, then, has its good side and its bad side: it breeds in the soul a bent for boldness and adventure; but on the other hand it quickly ruins the stomach and is almost a slow poison coursing through the body. That is why the average lifespan of vegetarians is clearly longer than the average lifespan of those who indulge in meat to excess.