CASUAL COMMENTS

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19150, 5 November 1927, Page 17

CASUAL COMMENTS

FACTS AND FALLACIES OF FAT. (SPSCULLT WSITTJK »OS ZSt PB«SS.) [By Leo Fakmng.] Caesar: Let me have men about me that are fat^ Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o nights: Yond' Cassius has a lean and hungry loo*. He thinks too much: such men are danserous. Autony; i'ear him not, Caesar; he's not dangerous; He is a noble Komau, and well given. Caesar; Would he were fatter. ~ —"Julius Caesar. Caesar, lean enough himself (aocording to sculptures of his head), was no, doubt a good authority on the dangerousness of sinewy men. It Bernard Shaw had written tho play he might have made Caesar exclaim: "Let, me have men about me that arc lit"—but in such an ejaculation he would have run counter to some recent American doctrine on fat. An actuary of the National Surety Company ot New York has given a new set ot Statistics to this too, too tabulated world—figures to show that fat, in the mass, hath more iioncsty than thinness.

* * * Unfortunately, this commentator has not the actuary's full report.. Ho has only the remarks of a contributor to the London "Times" ou the statistical exaltation of fat, but that critic merely slid merrily over the surface oi the subject. Therefore, any thinuish reader who wishes to win more confidence among butchers, bakers, or baftkers, is advised to wait tor more information before bulging 1 his wrapper. Meanwhile, curiosity as to the relation of fat to honesty or honesty to fat prompts many questions, is fat the father or the offspring of honesty? Docs the fair, square mind precede or follow roundness of the waist.-' Is all fat the same fat as a source or cause of honesty? Is the fat made by beer and beef better or worse than the fat raised from buns and cocoa?

Fat is not in fashion at the moment, although plenty of it is about. However, if Science (which is scornfully refusing to take tho decade of _ holiday advised by a peace-loving bishop) proves that there is something .m the American actuary's statement, the chrpnic lean persons, froui whom fat slides as butter does from a hot upright plate, will have to organise, and either devise ways and means of discrediting fat or get Science to make them fat by hook or by crook. Then when all persons are fat, they will be starting from scratch again in the competition for credit' or overdrafts nt the bank. * * '* If the American accountant's argument is sustained by Science, „will convicted thieves be sentenced to hard labour with knives, forks and spoons, instead of with picks, shovels, and wheelbarrows, in accordance with a State scheme for the promotion of honesty ? - ,

Although few persons (except those whose bones are barely clothed) yearn for fat (in moderation') most people have Caesar's alleged liking for an entourage of the fat. Some of the rotund may look unromantic, and others may look comic, but they mostly look comfortable and comforting. There is a popular belief that the cheerful, contented mind is enthroned in a round tower of fat, and that tho mound at the \vaist is as a monument on the grayo of rancour and hate. Would the author of a melodrama daro to-make his dork villain fat? Yet, alas! in real life there are plenty of fat rogues and bloated scoundrels. But they- may not have the proper fat; it is for Science to say.

What would Friar Tuck and Falstaff have been without their fat? The cherubic plumpness of Pickwick has helped to endear him tp millions of readers. But Dickens did not make all fat lpyable. For example the greasy obesity of Ohadband is repulsive. "Mr Chadband,!' it is written, "is a large yellow man with a fat smile and a general appearance of having a good deal of train oil in his system." Every country has its Pickwicks and Chadbands (the disgraces of fat).

In the preceding paragraph the. beastly word obesity was used, exeusr ably perhaps. Of course, it is vulgar nowadays to apply the term fat tq a hunian being, particularly to a lady-, Advertisements,' addressed in N genteel phrasing to person? of bulbous build, tell them how "obesity" can be abolished by bpttlps of liquid or .dispersed by packets of powder. Yet if the word obese were thrust upon a ripened pig it would put the public off bacon.

The present feminiue fear of fat in, the British Empire would seem very silly to a Moor who likes hia women to be palpably plump. If they lack the ideal curves, they feed up until they gain the desired' outlines. The men would be pained and horrified by any attempts of their women to slip into sHmness, and would regard such elimination of fat as an unholy sacrifice' tq false gods of beauty (or ugliness). Frenchman, {po —although manysqf the fashionable Parisiennes are still devoted to the, fiat slahby styles—have not lost their admiration of embonpoint.

Another aspect of fat, in the case of business men, is in its symbol of material success. Flabby fat, sloppily clothed, is always grotesque, and may be hideous, but firm, well-formed fat (disciplined by a little golf or bowls), well dressed and well carried, is usu-ally-impressive. Such well-ordered fat puts a man on his feet; it gives him the dignified aplomb of prosperity; in fact, it makes him a man of weight in matters of grave import to the country. Such a man's opinions on anything or anybody cannot be quashed by a mpre sneer, sniff, or scoff. Many a man's properly used, has made him a chairman of directors.

Indeed, not many years ago the great majority of young men in the British Empire believed that, no matter what ability they might show to a doubting world, they would not find themselves in full march on the road to prosperity until they were helped by thinness of thatch and thickness of waist.

Let it be said at once, emphatically, that the term "fat-head" is ndt a slur on fat, as seen in a portly gentleman. "Fat-head" is simply a loose, thoughtless variant of thick-head or blockhead, and is" applied indiscriminately to the lean and the corpulent.

Reverting to the New York actuary's discovery of virtue in fat, it is safe to prophesy that his proclamation will not pass unheeded in his country, which gives very serious attention to questions of trustworthiness and efficiency. Some patriotic souls may agitate for a remodelling of the traditional gaunt figure of "Uncle Sain" on the burly basis of "John Bull." Somebody will write a book with such a title as "How to Make the Best Use of Your Eat," and Correspondence Schools may get busy in this field. The outlook for the genuine fat will be bright, if wellqualified Inspectors of Fat are appointed to espose tricky imitations of the real thing. It is another job for Science,

which is ever gog-eyed fov difficult tasks—the Science which will some day blot out the bugbear of cost of living by acclimatising the breadfruit tree in all countries, changing sand into sugar and mud into butter, aiid make us all bigger and better, if not happier.