TEMPERANCE COLUMN

Evening Star, Issue 20056, 22 December 1928, Page 15

TEMPERANCE COLUMN

[Published by Arrangement with tbi United Temperance ..Reform Council. WHAT IS MODERATE DRINKING; “It is the doctor’s easy chair, inei, with' yellow,' white, ami brown, in which all the patients feel quite happy. It 1 is the; light-fingered gentleman who intends (o feel every corner ol the drawer, and the very bottom of the purse. .It is a beautiful serpent, whose langs and deadly venom . are concealed in the dazzling of its coils. It is a ship on a troubled sea, .without an anchor or rudder or compass.. It is the landlord Is bird-time, by which he secures Ins victims and shuts them up in his cage. It is a delightful avenue, lined with beautiful flpwers, filled with melodious sounds, but leading to the cavern of the dead.”—‘ National Temperance Almanack.’ A PI {0 OJ i\ M A TlO N (Issued in England During the War), I have killed more men than have fallen in all the wars of the world. 1 have turned men into brutes, and have made millions unhappy. L have transformer! many ambitious youths into hopeless parasites. J make smooth the downward path for countless millions. I destroy the weak and weaken the strong. I niake the wise imm a fool, and trample the fool into his folly. I am known to the abandoned wife, the parents whoso child has bowed their grey heads in sorrow, and to the hungry children. 1 am a greater foe to the Empire than the Germans. I have almost brought defeat on the Empire through drunken workmen. I. am doing my best to bring this about. 1 am still “ Going Strong.” I AM ALCOHOL. LIFE REDUCED BY MODERATE DRINKING. The extensive experience of life insurance societies has proved that in various climates, occupations, and in every grade in life, alcoholic drinks as ordinary beverages are not only absolutely unnecessary, but productive of mmnxed evils. The question is not one between drunkenness and total abstinence, but between the moderate use of wine, beer, or alcohol in any shape. The temperance insurances companies’ officers and experts of Britain have proved by experience, extending over several generations, and at least a million of lives, that mortality is increased one-third and sickness one-half by the amount ordinarily drunk by the industrial classes who insure their lives, and who are certified as strictly moderate. They prove that the life of a total abstainer is worth upon an average 20 per cent, more than that of a moderate drinker. SCIENCE AND ALCOHOL. A .MEDICAL MANIFESTO. The Scottish Temperance Alliance 1 have prepared a medical manifesto, which is being circulated throughout Scotland. The manifesto is on the following terms;—“Wo, the undersigned, arc of tho opinion—“l. That the use of intoxicating beverages is responsible for a large proportion of unhappiness, disease, and crime. “2. That, in the normal human being, such beverages are not necessary tor health. “d. That modem scientific research has proved that many former beliefs concerning me value of alcohol are no longer tenable. “4. That much good would result, to the community from the resi notion of the use of alcoholic liquors to that advised by medical practitioners.” This manifesto has been signed by thirty-four professors and teachers in Glasgow. This is only the first list, others are to follow. ALCOHOL A SCOURGE. It is worth a life effort to lift a man from degradation, but to prevent his fall is far better.—John B. Gough. Notwithstanding great improvement in tho last few years, it still remains with alcoholism one of our greatest national scourges. And tho virus of syphilis, especially in young beginners in vice, is commonly acquired when the recipient is under the influence of alcohol. A main physiological effect of even small doses of alcohol is to create a feeling of self-satisfaction and to lower tho capacity of the higher brain centres to inhibit impulses, which in the absence of alcohol might have been restrained. The Royal Commission on Venereal Diseases had no doubt on this point, regarding the association between drink and venereal disease as very close.—-Sir Arthur Newsholme, M.D. 'THE NATIONAL ADOLESCENT CAMPAIGN Was referred to in a sympathetic speech by Sir Alfred Pearce Gould, K.C.V.0., F.R.C.S., who, from his own experience, said he was quite sure that tho meetings which had been already bold were capable of doing a very great deal of good. To get the class of people represented on each of those occasions to listen to a talk on ■ the scientific aspect was a very great gain, especially when it was realised that so many were absolutely unconscious of the barm that was done by small doses of alcohol. The striking thing about all recent, scientific research was that the effects of alcohol on tho human body were all concentrated round the injurious influences: of the single glass. He felt that that was an enormous gqin, and that if they could tell the people, as the league had been doing .up and down the country, what had been proved and actually demonstrated by scientific men hi this matter of the small dose, then surely much good would be accomplished.