Giantism—the National Disease of America
Giantism is a disease. In the human body it is caused when certain glands do not function properly. A child does not stop growing in the right way or at the right time. Perhaps the whole body, more often parts of the body, grow to enormous size. The head or the hands may become too large. The features are apt to be made ugly by frightful distortions. For any child to grow too fast is dangerous. For certain organs or features, or the whole body, to keep on growing when the time has come for them to retain normal size is in itself a sign of this terrible disease of—Giantism.
Economic and social giantism is the curse of the United States. Our larger cities have grown far beyond the bounds of national safety. New York, Chicago, and a dozen other large cities are monstrosities. It will take a full generation, with no immigration at all, and the forces of reform fully mobilized, to bring them to correspond properly with the other parts of our country. Everywhere the disease works havoc. We crowd a few square miles with stupendous structures, leaving narrow chasms for streets. Each new building shuts the light and air away from many others. Then we pack ourselves into these buildings more like stifled vermin than human beings. Whereupon we go about the world boasting in a loud voice, as though we deserved praise for our achievement.
Giantism is found in every form of our national activity. We measure the greatness of a university by the size and number of its buildings, or by the millions of money which constitute its endowment. The richest among us in money figure most in the newspapers, which proves that they are considered by the public to be the most important. An author is held in esteem in proportion to the number of copies of his books which are sold. Works of art prove interesting because they bring fabulous prices on the market. At every census the inhabitants of our cities and states wait with bated breath to discover whether or not they have increased in numbers more than their neighbors.
Giantism everywhere. To boast of the greatest city as the city with the most people is like boasting of an enormous scrofulous swelling. We even boast of the height of mountains, the size of lakes, or the length of rivers, as though we had created them all. One state cries out that it is the first in the production of hogs, another that it slaughters more wild animals and peddles more furs than any other. Often there are not nearly enough houses to shelter the people of a "great" city; many of the students of a "great" university may leave as ignorant as they came, and weaker in mind and morals. The colossal battleships we build are used as targets before the sound of our boasting has died away. Our piled up statistics of "progress" mostly prove our degeneracy.
The Fiery Cross on the Mountain Top.
All this seems to escape the accredited leaders and teachers of the people. The tendency shows in us as individuals. A large proportion of our people are cursed by overeating, lack of exercise and overweight. Meanwhile the unemployed may starve. Everywhere that old and absolutely sound principle of "plain living and high thinking" is surrendered for the exact opposite. In all our great cities we build palatial private residences which are more fit for cold storage houses than for human habitations. A woman pays fifty thousand dollars for a fur wrap weighing two pounds. If the most abominable whiskey at ten dollars a quart did not find plenty of purchasers, the price would be falling instead of rising. Behold the size, weight and contents of our Sunday newspapers! They need no further describing here. A popular magazine recently contained eighty-two pages of advertising, and less than twenty pages of reading matter. In whole sections of our cities natural human affection is lavished on expensive dogs. In other sections the swarming children of the poor lack food, shelter, clothing, affectionate care and education. Meanwhile we boast of both the number of children and the value of the dogs. Fatty degeneration of the heart is one symptom of giantism.