REID AND ALCOHOLISM.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 166, 15 February 1902, Page 3

REID AND ALCOHOLISM.

TO THE EDITOR. -1 have been touch struck by mint: article under date February rhich you state some of the con* i s i cached by Dr A. Reid in bio of the drink question entitled : lolism;” He must be a very ind sensible man, this Dr. Reid. ■ , a t he states, according to your on from him, “ that every scheme trance reform hitherto enunciated Spends upon the diminution or ion of the supply of alcohol, total lion, local option, the Gothenburg , etc., is io effect a scheme for the iion of drunkenness. He shows ) qu-its some of your sentences, ‘(•lcoliolij'm is a disease, and is the great agent by which the ion of man is carried on.* It kills <e with the least power of resistand the children inherit the s’ power of resi-tanco “ disease acts as a breeder would, ils oil the weaklings of the flock. . is a splendid line of argument, , o ily regret is that Dr. R-id has e full courage of his convictions to • [•„ the logical ‘•arrying oft of his pies I grieve to s--y thaTwa have midst in Nc.v Z'-a.and to-day a ■> of temperance reform depending the diminution) at least, o£ the r of alcohol, ami according to Dr. hhis in effect •* a scheme for the ition of drunkenness.” I refer t> leasing syst-m. Why should there ily four public house licenses in isle ! Why not i-»ue twenty or or a hundred? We are at present y mid ruinously diminishing the y of alcohol, prqmoriog drunkenness lingering the evolutitm of the race, every man tnat pleases have a ;e; or, better still, let every min bin own spirit-sail at h 'me without S - action. The remit will bo that c-1, iiDM-who cannot stand linlimi ted r will be killed off ; we shall have iirviva! of the fatteot, and the outwill he a grand, deep-chested, g-limbed, upright and intelligent lation. The only hesitation I feel t the immediate adoption of " Free, e in Alcohol ” a* our battleis theTiCt that Sweden and Norway,; e first half of this century, practiotrieJ the experiment, and I fear that result was not altogether what Dr. and I would desire. The manuire and sale of both .distilled and anted liquors were practically free, weder. in 1829 the number of stills ng a (merely nominal) license fee was 124. Dr. Eigfvid Wieselgren, Director rifons in Sweden, eta css “Before i (Swedish) brandy could bo bought ilmost every ottage.” Mr David .egie, a Gothenburg brewer, stated in fence before the Lords’ Committee on rapomnee ; * * When the home illation was allowed it was a miserab e eof things. One peasant would set still r'oing one and invite his ;hb urs to come in, and they wore i to do so, and all would jget drunk ;ther, and the following week his •hbour would begin.” Dr. Wieselgren. ;cs that just prior to 1855, about six loas of native brandy were consumed head of the population. As the '-didi women oid drink, since In so was as much opposed to custom iov English women t* smoke, and as )ws.andehildrea also did not drink,' s plain that the Swedish men must; consumed at least 12 or 16 gallons spirits per head, and soma say 21Ins. But say 16. That is 64 quarts,, ! pints, or more than one-third of a i it of spirits for every day of the year, lore was a splendid field for alcoholism < prove its poiyer as a disease to carry , the evoludon of man and kill off th* aklings. What was the result? “Theact,” tays Mr Samuel Laing in his, >k, A Tour of Sweden, “ was fearful tional drunkenness bey on 1 the excess < other notions, and the whole country; ty be said to have been deluged with; irita. The physical aspect of the ople was wretchedly deteriorated, and e criminal calendar is said to have 3n without a parallel in modern itory.” The Diet of 1853 reported that; [Seldom, if ever, has ■ a conviction so ( ne; ally, so unequivocally, been prouncsd with regard to the necessity of Koruna measures against the physical, i bnoraical and moral ruin wi h which :e immoderate use of spirits threatens le nation.” . '

Since i hat data many restrictions have ‘oa placed upon the distUKtiou and la nf liquor in Sweden, with tha .remit tat the consumption of spirits had been. ditri nshed * in 1890 to about ono-fttth 3r head of what it was in: 1855. The laaeqaence'of the* diminution ’ has be n, vaai/improvemsnt in the condition of P« people! ' I find auchfaots as these very awkward, at still I would put • my faith in Dr. laid as & wise and eoieotifib man.]: ' Lat la also state what a jdaojjsterfbr* Jentier rag for introducing T*ooina<il^ n i aQ<^ has,putting down fcWdUwaW' rf, wx ; his time oi.

of the race. I would also apply Dr. Reid’s principles to consumption. Way build sana tori as ! Let consumptives bo hired to expectorate in the streets on Saturday nights. Let the disease spread, the weaklings bo killed off, and the great designs of Nature in evolution go on.—Yours, faithfully» Logic.