DANGERS OF THE ALCOHOL HABIT.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVI, Issue 43075, 30 March 1907, Page 1

DANGERS OF THE ALCOHOL HABIT.

POISON IN FOOD. ' Vj By V. H. Kufcherford, M.A., M. 8., M.P., (Continued from last issue, j Men and women ; who drink moderately or otherwise cannot ; Bring healthy /and* vigors'Children as they wdnld do if they were total abstainers.The mother who drinks while carrying or suckling is guilty ’ of a grave offence against her offspring and her country. These simple truths -require to 7 be taught in the schools, in v the churches, and in the -Senate’ house if our people hqve to be delivered from

PHYSICAL DETEBIOKATIONr ’, _ : This national danger was due to '■! a vicious circle, in which bad “ i housing, improper and sufficient food and drink were the main factors. The drinking > customs ; of parents hit the children at evqry point. To begin with, the children of such'parents are born into the ivorld vvith feeble 77 physique and break wills* which, , together with crowded rooms and scarcity of ! food/ makes them the easy prey of rickets/ tuberculosis, and epidemics. /V Trom the individual and national health point of view, hide-tenths of the working* classes cannot / afford to spend a penny on drink/ Every penny so, spent-* means || robbing the younsters Of - the necessaries of life, * healthy, :ij homes, nutritiousfood, . and satisfactory 1 clothidgi; > poverty nor riches is any... justification for drinking. The poorer the man the more reason for the avoidance of a dangerous luxury; the richer the main, the greater the wealth, the higher " his example should be Of simple % and healthy living.

THE FUTURE. . ' Great Britain oannot be maintained and saved from decay by bloated armaments,and still more bloated, bank balances. On the contrary, these may help to'puli her'down, by puffing her pride and foster- < iug luxuriousness. Nations rise and fall j ust as men and woman do in obedience or disobedience to natural laws If we disregard clean living and clear both of which arc impossiple with our presort alcoholic attainments, we must deteriorate and miss the golden opportunities which lie before us of ..leading the nations of the earth in » path of progress and the wa. S of righteousness.