TEMPERANCE COLUMN

Evening Star, Issue 20510, 14 June 1930, Page 8

TEMPERANCE COLUMN

(Published by arrangement with the United Temperance Reform Council.) ABSTAINING DRIVERS. Were wo to print all the cases of accidents caused by drunken motorists which appear in tho daily Press, we should require several _ temperance columns weekly. _ We believe there is a growing conviction in the community that men should abstain from intoxicating liquor while in charge of cars, and wc hope that Parliament will be asked to legislate accordingly. Some time ago wo were travelling on a service car, and tho driver informed us that abstinence while in charge of the car was a condition of his employment. J f abstinence is good for drivers of service cars, it is good for other drivers. We print a few cases to show what is happening. PROHIBITED HIS CHAUFFEUR. Mr A. W. Taylor, J.P., in giving evidence before the Royal Commission in England, expressed himself as m favour of a bona-fide traveller privilege ; he wanted it for himself when motoring, but asked as to whether it should be extended to his chauffeur, lie almost explosively objected on the ground that under his chauffeur s terms of employment he was prohibited from drinking when driving. A PERTINENT LETTER. To the Members of the Automobile Associations; Gentlemen, —Your associations have clone much good work in making travelling safe and comfortable. “ Safety first” is a very fine motto, and we would suggest that you extend the principle. You will doubtless have noticed that almost every day motor accidents are being caused by drunken drivers who are fined for drunkenness, their licenses cancelled, and many of them prohibited from taking intoxicating liquor for a given period. So numerous are drink-caused accidents that many private persons who employ chauffeurs, or owners of service cars, have, for tho sake of safety, decided that such persons, when in charge of motor cars, must abstain .from intoxicating liquor. Tho sober driver may at any time bo run down by the drinking driver. In your commendable efforts to secure the safety of the travelling public, would it not be wise tor you to request that all persons shall abstain from intoxicating liquor while in charge of motor cars? Safety has demanded it. All drivers of trains running upon our railways are compelled to be abstainers while on duty, and there is far more danger attached to the driving of a motor car through busy city streets than tile driving of a railway engine on metals. It would give an added sense of safety if it was known that all drivers of motor cars within the dominion were abstainers while in charge of cars. Will yon please advocate this principle, and so secure a much desired change?—l remain, yours sincerely, J. Cocker. ALCOHOL A DEPRESSANT. Dr Hare is one of those who does see a very definite use for alcohol in the treatment of certain symptoms, hence the value of these categorical statements. “ Notwithstanding tho almost universal use of alcohol as a stimulant by the laity and medical profession, it cannot be denied that evidence of scientific character and w'eight is constantly being brought forward, which shows that its dominant action is depressant on all parts of the body.” “ Alcohol never acts as a true stimulant to tho brain, the spinal cord, or the nerves. The increased activity, of thought and speech after its use is not due to stimulation, but to depression nf the inhibitory nervous apparatus. The activity is therefore that caused by lack of control.” “ Alcohol is in no sense a true stimulant to the circulation in healthy persons.” “ Alcohol never increases the number of heat units in the body, for though in its oxidation more heat is mado than when no alcohol is used, tho increased loss of heat under its influence more than counter-balances the gain.”—Hare’s Text Book of Practical Therapeutics, twentieth edition, 1927. NOT A FOOD, BUT A NARCOTIC POISON. “ Tho time has come when the members of the medical profession have satisfied themselves, after careful experiment and exhaustive inquiry, that alcohol is no longer to bo regarded as a food of any value. _ Alcohol is, in fact, a narcotic poison; it stimulates because it paralyses the sense of fatigue and weariness, which is Nature’s warning signal. It abolishes self-restraint, which is one of man’s highest attributes, and the only courage which it gives is a misdirected and useless recklessness. There is not an organ of the body with which alcohol comes in contact which is not irritated and injured by it. As for tho effects of excessive drinking, little may here be added; they are unfortunately too obvious in our” hospitals, asylums, .and gaols.”— Dr W. A. Osborne, professor of physiology in tho University of Melbourne, Australia. CO-OPERATIVE VICTORY OF THE GROUP. How understandable is tho loyalty of a football player for his team? The reason for the coach’s rules is obvious. Tho object is tho co-operativo victory of the group. The process is simple and direct. Tho team is tho important element in democracy. In tho beginnings of American life the old town meeting mado its decisions after consultation and discussion. Tho vote of tho majority was final and authoritative. Society has become complex and complicated, but tho “ power ” of action comes through the same processes as tho old town meeting. Millions instead of dozens have to be included in the “ meeting,” but still tho first and most important factor of democracy is that tho will of majority should prevail. There must still be loyalty to team and its rules and laws even if society bus become vast and intricate. One is reminded hero of Kipling’s words: — “ Tho game is more than the player and the ship is more than the crew.” —Youth and the Law, Committee of One Thousand. GOD’S BEST GIFT. Some people mistakenly talk about wine as a gift from God. It never is. Beer, wine, and spirits are manufactured by man. We do not find in Nature any running streams of beer, any lakes of wine, or pools of spirits. The birds and tho beasts, from the strongest to tho weakest, drink water only. Pure water is God’s best gift to us to enable us to quench our thirst, cleanse ourselves, and to provide the moisture that makes the beautiful green earth, the trees, and the flowers. Man poisons this beautiful water by turning it into alcoholic liquors. Man, by fermenting the pure juice of the grape, turns it into poisonous intoxicating

wine. These are foolish things to do And people are slowly discovering th folly of it. Unfortunately alcoholic bev erages have a way of creating an app: tite for themselves; that is why it i dangerous to start drinking them a all. By and' by, however everybody wifi come to understand that it is foo ish and injurious to drink these intoxi eating liquors, and that health and hap pi ness are best assured by total abstinence from them.