“BLIND DEATH.”
RAVAGES OP WOOD ALCOHOL. United States newspapers are still devoting columns to stories of more than a hundred deaths of Christmas drinkers, due to wood alcohol, etulu.btiers’ fluid, and other Jiery beverages supplied by bootleggers in official drv States.
Coming at a moment when public attention is turned to the whole liquor question, the “wets” are making the most of (lie, ravages of “blind death.” The liquor condition in Canada is being widely quoted. The “Montreal Star,” probably Canada's leading newspaper, prints figures of the admissions to the Montreal hospitals, showing that the number of cases of alcoholism have not decreased under the system of prescriptions and prohibition ns in vogue in the Quebec province. One great hospital showed a slight decrease in the number of drink patients, but this has been more than made up by drug sufferers. Stemming the Plague. A message from “Washington states that if the wood alcohol plague continues at. its present pace, action may be taken to declare the poison an intoxicating beverage, and to restrict its -ale under the prohibition law. That step would be taken only as a last, resort, as it ha- been explained by the Bureau of Internal Revenue that the difficulty involved in enforcing the prohibition law v.oulr be thus increased a hundred-fob!. With wood alcohol, however, gathering to its casualty list whole squads and platoons
of an army of desperate drinkers. the ■authorities are preparing for emcr-
geney measures. According to a stalem.eni by Commissioner Hu trey a conference will soon be held, at which several possible courses will be suggested for battling against the new liquor vice.
£IOOO Drink. A requirement that all wood alcohol and denatured alcohol be given distinctive colouring is one [dan. Legal stops for licensing dealers offers another solution. Sailors broke a compass worth 51000 aboard the American batt loship ' Ne- 1 brnska. stationed tit San Francisco, f and drank the alcohol it contained. if
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Bibliographic details
Otaki Mail, Volume XXVIII, 23 February 1920, Page 4
Word Count
324“BLIND DEATH.” Otaki Mail, Volume XXVIII, 23 February 1920, Page 4
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