COUNTING-HOUSE ALCOHOLISM.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 1045, 17 June 1871, Page 2

COUNTING-HOUSE ALCOHOLISM.

The Saturday Review follows up its article on Drawing-room Alcoholism with a similar charge against the mercantile community of the city. The American* bar system, which in New York and elsewhere hay been carried to a height at which, through, being so. flagrantly scandalous and intolerable, it has almost began to cure itself, has unfortunately taken ioot in London and others of our chief cities. The habit of taking.., irregular _ "nips/* " P e g s « u u pick-me-ups" or " eye-open-ers," as the Yankees call them, is established among us, and seems to bo rapidly gaining ground. The amount of mischief which is produced among alt ranks of mercantile men by the growing custom of drinking frequent glasses of wine, and especially shen.y, riot at meals and along with.or just after food, but tossed off at odd moments, as a mere " nip," either out of a private bottle or at one of the public bars, is producing inealculable mischief. Ask any doctor who has much to do with city men and he will tell you of the terrible increase of paralysis amongst this class. .A. yearly list of v .the.number of young men who either perish in this melancholy way or are reduced to permanent imbecility v\puld startle those who have never had their attention called to it. Even when the facts are known, the cause is misunderstood. " uverwork" is the usual explanation ; the strain of " business," anxieties of " speculation." iS'o doubt all these things have to do with the mischief. The conditions under which mercantile work is now-a-days carried on are such as tell se'verel on the nerves, but not the less is it true that they are only indirect, not direct, causes of the wasting disease and high rate of mortality which are now becoming such, marked features of City life. it is the free use of stimulants during working homs, enfeebling the mind and paralyzing the frame, which makes the work so fatally exhausting Nor does theevil, stop here. It is impossible that business can rest on a sound basis when it is carried on under the excitement of frequent drams. The tales of ruined character are more terrible even than thosw of ruined health. The recklessness with which business is carried on leads naturally to the desperate and unscrupulous measures which are resorted to in the attempt to avert or retrieve disaster. A cool head and careful prudence are essential to the maintenance of that seoure credit which is the only basis of sound trade. The remedies for the present melancholy state of things must be sought in resolute abstinence from nil stimulants during the hours of work, and in the endeavor to reduce as far as possible worry and fatigue which usually attend the daily life of a man of business. The present movement for curtailing the hours of work, is in every way a mistake. Instead of being shortened they should be lengthened, and city men, as they ceitainly will not go back to the old plan of living over their countinghouses, should at least try to establish themselves within walking distance of their place of business. What they imperatively require is more repose of mind and body and less excitement.