TEMPERANCE.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXII, Issue 42799, 31 October 1905, Page 1

TEMPERANCE.

ALCOHOL, DISEASE ANI) CRIME. (Written especially for the T© Aroha News). (By Truth.) It is now generally admitted that alcohol is not a fond'/MB from daily observation and general experience in the hospitals" by honest medical men it is not considered a medicine true sense of the word. We have never heard of a sing||| case of disease cured by alcohojff but we certainly have seen .and heard of'many patients, even under doctors’ treatment, to be carried off by the use of it. It is the most fertile producer of disease and may be termed the bane of medicine and the

seed of many diseases.. Alcohol is entirely destitute of any medicinal principles implanted by the Creator: as in genuine medicine such as emetia in ipecacuuha, rhein ?u rhubarb, galapin in galap, quinine in Peruvia bark, etc. Alcohol is the invention of man in the form in which it is generally used, by the destruction of the good food which God has given us in the grains, roots and fruits. In cholera andj all epedemu @ the liquor drinkers are the first to die. The drinking of beer is the greatest cause of gout, whilA ardent spirits and wines iuflame the blood and tear the under

vessels of the' lungs to pieces' while they coagulate a portion of the gastic juices, and thus are hurtful to digestion. Wine is a treacherous healer. It promises health but gives disease, good cheer but gives despair, mirth but produces wailings fierce and unmending. Wine cannot be satisfied. Give it your money and it demands your wits , and it . requires your virtues : your virtues then happiness and re putation are gone. It is the most subtle and diabolical eyil||§ that afflicts mankind. Britain disgraced and amazed the world by farcing opinion on. the Chinese, but now she: committing a more • flagrant crime by taking liquor into - Africa. Some time before his ‘ H death Archdeacon Farrar, in the ‘Review’ had an article of thrill-; ing power ®n the drink traffic. He wrote :—‘The old yapaeity of the slave trader has been followed by the greater any more ruinous rapacity of -the*/ 1 drink seller. This drink, which is the chief cause of assault, of incest, prostitution, suicide, . - murder and of nearly every horrible crime on the black list. He piles 'up evidence to show that the horrors of the slave trade are outdone by the drink traffic. Even among the Mohommedans, whose religion commands abstinence the des- " truc'ive traffic prevails under British occupation. There are no restrictions, and poisonous compounds are creating a dreadful mortality among tribes once notably stroug and healthy. Old people are rapidly dying out Kings, chiefs and leaders; have besought in vain for restrictive legistation. And this by the most Christian country the world has ever seen ! May God in His mercy soon open our eyes to realize the awfulness ‘ of this condition of things, and * awaken us to our responsibilities. ijm iihiii ■■■Mjjgiw _ij ;■