TEMPERANCE COLUMN

Evening Star, Issue 20778, 28 April 1931, Page 6

TEMPERANCE COLUMN

[Published by Arrangement witli (ho United Temperance Reform Council.] Afanufaeturcrs generally estimate the Joss of productive power, duo to’ drunkenness and the inefficiency arising from drunkenness, at S to H per cent, of tho total wages.—Alexander Johnston, ‘ Labour’s Cyclopedia of Political Science,’ volume 3, page 379. DRINK AND WAGES. The ‘ New Zealand Year Book ’ allows that tho total wages paid in New Zealand for the year 1928-29 was over £17,000,000. in that year the drink'bill was over £8,000,000, that is to say equal to nearly half the total wages bill for tho dominion. It is tragic to reflect that habit and appetite combined 1 should close the, eyes of statesmen and otherwise intelligent individuals to this glaring example of national waste.

Important as the economic, the bookkeeping side of the question, is, more appalling a - hundred times is the fearful havoc wrought upon human character-by'tho drink habit, and this is the primary basis of the condemnation of tho beverage use of intoxicating drink. The newspapers record case after case of degradation, moral lapse, and crime resulting from the alcohol habit.

The debasing and demoralising era. - mg for alcohol corrodes and blasts home life from ono end of the dominion to tho other. . It spares neither young nor old, and is no respecter of sex. Tho mills of intoxicating drink continually grind the bones of human beings to powder. Huge financial dividends are pocketed by recipients, careless of all the suffering, and ruin that the dividends’ production represents. Surely these existing evils and facts make the most direct appeal to the consciences of all the dominion’s patriotic well-wishers for the adopting of the principles of individual total abstinence. YOUTH MOVEMENT AGAINST ALCOHOLISM. Some three or four years ago this movement was founded in tho dominion. A local branch of the organisation has been formed, its officers there keenly interested in the physical and moral welfare of the young people of Otago. Following is an address delivered by tbo dominion president (Rev. J. R. Blanchard, 8.A.) The honour of being president of tho Youth Alovement against alcoholism’ has .been conferred upon me, and I desire to take this opportunity of expressing my appreciation of the confidence thus shown in me and of the responsibility which that entails. It is my sincere hope that together wo may achieve something great for the cause in which we are enlisted in the sphere of youth to-day, and thus create a strong and well-equipped leadership for to-morrow. To my mind three things at least are fundamental to our purpose:—(l) Knowledge of the facts of our case; (2) personal loyalty to that knowledge in our.own lives; (3) endurance to the end in the task of disseminating . that knowledge and securing loyalty to it in the lives of others.

One thing which should be definitely clear to ns each on is that we are a movement against alcoholism, not against alcohol. Alcohol is a drug which lias a legitimate place in human affairs. Alcoholism is a problem—personal and social, national and international—which is created by the exploiting of that drug in the form of a beverage for human consumption. Tlmse two facts should be clearly differentiated by us when stating our position. Alcohol may be used to advantage in the industrial sphere, and like strychnine and other poisons, like cocaine and other drugs, in the medicinal. But it is tragically abused when made into a common drink for men and women freely to purchase and consume. The more one studies the nature of alcohol from a scientific point of view and the effects of alcoholism in social life, the more convinced he becomes that the facts which I have emphasised are right. Conviction, which is essential to spreading the truth about anything, is fundamental to our task, and may be had by anyone who is honest and persevering m his study of,the facts. One of the great difficulties wo have to face is that people are apt to sweep the whole problem aside by saying that the problem of alcoholism is not as acute as it was fifty years ago. They tell you that things are gradually getting better, and will continue to improve, so why worry? That attitude rests on the belief that progress is automatic, and will inevitably come to pass independent of what people think and say and do. Nothing could be farther from the truth. There can bo no progress in anything which affects human nature without the leadership and drive of individual men and women. Progress does not come; it is won. It is not a gift, hut an achievement. Wo have to gird up the loins of our minds and all our energies to secure it.

Another fallacy of this attitude with which wo have to contend is that it ties us down to a one-sided view of progress in tho tasks which fall to our attempting. It measures our obligation by tbo distance between a point in tho past and the point where wo stand to-day. While there may be a certain amount of encouragement in that view of things, there is a greater truth in another way of regarding our position. We have to measure up to the distance which lies between where wo are to-day and where we might to bo. Not the backward look at achievements already made, but the forward look at tho achievements which still await our making and challenge our adventure is the attitude which must bo ours.

Taking that stand, wo are brought face to face with certain facts. Every day in New Zealand, on the average, seventeen people are arrested and convicted on a charge of drunkenness—sixteen men a da. and one woman every twenty-seven hours. Every twenty-six hours that happens to somebody under tho, age of twenty-five—-which fact hits ns 1 ard as youth! In addition to this; a prohibition order is taken out against four men every day and one woman every fifth day. Further, every third day some man is proceeded against for a breach of a prohibition order already issued, and the same happens to some woman every fourth day. Again, every twenty-five hours somebody is charged with being drunk while in charge of a motor vehicle. An examination of our hospital records reveals tho fact that in 1928 the latest figure available—somebody was treated for alcoholism every twenty-eight hours, and every six days somebody died, the assigned or contributory cause of whose death was set down ns alcoholism. To carry onr statement further, during the three years 1925-28 somebody was committed to a mental hospital every eight days because of tho same affliction. Can wo as a body of youth, who are proud of their country, be content with that record against public order, public safety, and public health? Ido not sec how wo can, which fact commits us to a whole-hearted crusade against alcoholism.

But while it may be said, and said with truth, that the problem is not to severe as it was fifty years ago, we have to examine tho directions along which that truth is applicable. When we do that we find that there ate lines along which it is positively untrue. Tho beverage use of alcohol is more common and widespread among youth to-day, for example, than it was then. The cocktail ” habit has increased so rapidly that in many quarters it is believed that no party is complete without it, Many young men and women, who do not desire to indulge in that habit, are being put in most embarrassing positions every week by unsociable hostessses who provide an alcoholic drink, but provide them with no alternative. It is said that a “ cocktail ” is a more or less harmless sort of thing. But it is established that the amount of alcohol contained in a “ cocktail ” produces a greater effect on the central nervous system than three or four times its alcohol content administered as beer. Professor Dixon, examiner in pharmacology for Cambridge, Oxford, and London Universities, has it on record: “ All will agree that cocktails are utterly bad for the young. Their use injures the stomsich, and lays the foundation of a habit. . . . ” They cultivate the habit of drinking in a way and to a _ degree which, in my opinion, can bo induced by no other type of beverage.” Can we then bo proud of our progress when such a habit is growing among youth to-day ? Will not tho problem of alcoholism bo aggravated thereby? Surely that commits youth to a whole-hearted crusade against alcoholism! - ‘ There is evidence that sober-minded and responsible observers of our day are becoming alarmed at the trend of things in the problem of alcoholism. There is nothing “ wowserish ” in their outlook or in their utterance. The Dunedin 1 Star ’ is not a paper which could be indicted for being a journal of “ wowserism ” or any such “ killjoy ” spirit. Yet hero is its statement made on August 19 of this year: “In Dunedin tho practice is being carried on. to such an extent that it is almost impossible for any young lady to dance regularly throughout the season and not yield to the übiquitous urging: 1 Have a spot; it will buck you up.’ . , . If the same conditions prevail in other towns of the dominion, the Government will seriously have to consider amending the constitution of the law in such a way as to give its police department a chance to take a hand - in the education of the country’s young.” i That is a drastic proposal, and no youth desires to see it given effect to. Cannot youth take this matter in hand itself? Surely it can if it throws itself into a whole-hearted crusade against alcoholism!

As tfie president of such _ a crusade for the whole of the dominion, I content myself for the moment by leaving youth face .to face with this terrible challenge and great call to adventure. This practical stop I would suggest. Let each present member of the. youth movement against alcoholism pull his and her whole weight just where they are, and give _ effect to that determination by taking a stand themselves against indulging in these beverages, and win another and yet another to take the same stand. Know the facts! Be loyal to them in your own personal lives! Be not weary in securing the loyalty of others thereto! That way lies our getting a grip on this evil, which grip will in a not far distant day, if we are faithful, prove a stranglehold.

YOUR BIT. Yet do thy work; it shall succeed In thine or in another’s day, And if denied the victor’s need Thou shalt not lack the toiler's pay. —Whittier.