ESSAYS ON TEMPERANCE.

White Ribbon, Volume 21, Issue 244, 18 October 1915, Page 10

ESSAYS ON TEMPERANCE.

First Prize offered by Woodville W.C.T.1., won by J. Riley.

Alcoholic drinks such as wine, beer and spirits arc not foods such as milk and cocoa arc*. They do not and cannot help the body, nor increase its strength; instead the drinking of alcohol retards the growth of the nund and the body. If taken in small quantities alcohol is a stimulant, but a strong and healthy person does not need stimulants. The old adage that stimulants arc* the whip and the* spur, not the corn and the grass, is very true*. A man who is a habitual drinker may die from disease, which in the case* of a total abstainer might mean only a short illness. No alcoholic drinks quench the thirst as well as water. They are apt to make people more thirsty, and so cause a desire for more which may become irresistible. It has been proved that total abstainers can* endure more hardships and fatigue than drinkers. Many diseases, such as consumption, inflammation of the lungs, cancer and brain diseases are among the diseases to which alcohol may render a person liable. Alcohol hinder> digestion, and therefore tends to imperfrc t nourishment of the body. In the stomac h an excessive amount of digestive juices are created which are of no U't* to a healthy individual, and arc* therefore wasted. Further acute inflammation of the stomach may be caused by the* secretion of mucus. Alcohol also prevents the kidneys from performing their proper duties, by letting good material go and keeping back bad. Experiments have shown that alcohol does not permanently strengthen the ac tion of the heart, but tends to weaken it. Both the nerves and muscles of the* he art may become partly paralysed; this may lead to heart disease in time and end in heart failure. Drinking alcohol often leads to poverty for the money spent in alcohol is a wasteful expenditure. Drinking may end »n insanity for a man or woman who continues to drink to intoxication. The expenditure in New Zealand on alcoholic drinks is very high, being over an average of three pounds for each person in the Dominion. The habit of intemperance affects not only the man or woman but also the State in which he or she lives. A child or young per-

son should not touch alcohol in any form, except by the express orders of a doctor. A gang of navvies working on the North Western Railway line in Kngland, because they were total abstainers did more* work than any other gang working on the line.

2nd prize by Woodville W.C.T.L., won V. O. Laurence. Drink the »‘other of want and the nursi: of r: i»u». L there is one drunkard in ti e family .t renders »he whole home unhappy. Prn.k spoils the nerve of a man, and aLo the working system, for instance, there were a certain number of men wo. king on a railway line, one half were non-drink ers and the other half drinkers, they had an equal amount of work to do, and the drinking party took the longest time to do the work ; this shows that drink has an effect on a man’s working system. Drink leads to many c rimes, such as suicide, murder, etc. It is often the cause* of insanity. “For six years I have watched and chronicled the* number of insanity cases that passed into the mental hospital, and threequarters of the <“;ses arc* caused hv drink,’’ says a well-known London doctor. Lord Kitchener, as Minister of War, is trying to keep drink from the army, for he knows it destroys the marching powers of the men, and it also destroys the nerve, and the men would not be able to shoot straight. If Kngland could be made sober, at least half of her gaols might be closed, says Lord Chief Justice Coleridge. Drink is the ruin of many men who were in a high position, many such have been brought to beggary, and their children have to live in rags and sleen in boxes and barrels. Drink destroys the organs of the body. Drink has been banished from the Russian army and also from the American Navy. People who drink do not live long nor healthy lives. Drink in small quantities is a stimulant, and healthy people do not need stimulants. Alcohol does not quench the thirst as well as water does. Drinks such as wine and beer do not help the body to grow, but help to kill it. Once a man has got into the habit of taking strong drink he finds it very hard to leave it alone. Some people go so., far as to pawn their watch or anything else that will bring money to buy drink. And you read about the Germans killing

and cutting people’s ears and arms off, this is caused by the Germans getting drunk, and thus committing things they would not think of doing it they were sober.