TEMPERANCE COLUMN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14084, 12 December 1907, Page 5

TEMPERANCE COLUMN

TUB BLACK MAX'S IU "I! 11 EX. 11-'rom the " 1 iord Templar's Watchword.") Are the natives of anv part of tho world naturally addioied u> drink? Is it not the liquor itself that creates the appetite in these lower run's, oven as it. doe* in tho higher ones? Have iheso people petitioned us Jo send them strong ilrinlc lo satisfy their cravings'; Did wo nol, wilier, by importing strong drink to their territories petition thorn to drink? In their natural eomlitions those people are not addicted to drink—it is no who civilised them into a taste for it. Our eniry, into their midst is so often made on spirit casks that they are cursed by contact, with us The liquor barrel is liecoiniiis: the black man's linnlen, as it lias been "the white man's burden" for centuries. It is a sad ivtl-'ciion ujjon our Christianity that whatever is being done to lighten this lmnleu is at the pathetic petiiions of the people themselves. From tho Chinese (lovonnni'iit tomes a cry lo the Hovernmen' -.if ours for llto gradual reduction of the opium exports from India into China. In a ,-liort. time we will give welcome lo the King of iSiam. who has had to intervene hot ween his people and the ctir*> of civilisation.

l'Yom every place whore tho wltiie man gains a. footing tho same (ale comes—drink, demoralisation, inisory, ruin, eivilisalon ;i mockery, Christianity iu shame, even tho natural evolution of (he human race retarded.

DISGRACEFUL \YKDDIXC! SCEN'K.Whon i a Loco's couple arrived at church recently in ho married, tiie. bridegroom and several of the wedding parly were not sober. Tho bridegroom was with some didiiulty conducted to tho altar, and during the service tho host man collapsed. 'Iho bridegroom's responses became increasingly confused and inaudible, and dually 'ho broke down altogether. Tho clergyman Hail to send the parly away, to tho sorrow of the bride, but (wo d-avs later (he couple returned in a penitent mood, and were married after the clergyman iiad admonished the bridegroom for his conduct.

METHYLATED HIMRIT DRINKIXf!.At an inquest in Loudon recently on Robert Aspland Ilatt, 30, photographer and electrical engineer, it was slated that deceased was out of work and had taken lo drinking methylated spirits. A doctor said that, ho did not think drinking- methylated spirit would hurt a man more than cheap spirit bought in puliliciwtisos. It was simply drinking row spirit. Heath was duo to incipient pneumonia., accelerated by chronic alcoholism. Verdict accordingly.

" TIIIS RED XOSK ]iOOK."-IVople Of Biirr.hnnliiin prociiviiics living in tlx? (own of Kvanston, "Iltinois, will henceforth leave their nanny to posterity in spite <,E themsolves (says u contemporary). The police are compiling n volume containing all bioyniphical < 1 oi:ii 1 s of convicted for drunkenness and obtaining beer out of lawful hours. If will lio' officiallv dubbed "The Ked X 0.50 Book." and will provide very inf cro-si inpr reading for (lie descendants of tiie mpi'(\ bibulous inhabitants of this progressive town.

"Till'; ALCOHOLISM OP CHILD11001).'°—Sadly instructive is (he communication just" made lo till! Academy of -Medicine by Professor litunon, of Rouen,

'•The Alcoholism of Childhood,'' fays tli«. "illy telegraph. Ho says thai in Xorllt.nuly the spectacle of eountrvwoinen putting i-otfe.e ;,nd brandy into the feedingbottles ot little childrwi is by no means Hire, while in half of the workmen's families at Rouen they arc actually L r ive.n to infants on arriving at the ag\! of six or eight monihs. The professor has much to say against tho abuse of coll'on, which Li never drunk without alcohol in Normandy. On the subject of the mischief caused bv absinthe in Xornundy, and. indeed, throughout France, lie is also eloquent, declaring that, as one roriilf, it stunt.i growth. Alcoholism is increasing ivmoug employees, workmen, and peasants, a remark which applies particularly to women. ]iut I'm; lessor Tirunon has, at i.ny rate, one elisoring word lo fay. The more educated and well-to-do classes are v-ot talcing eo liuicii liquor. The bourgeois drinks less, and officers and students are remarkably temperate. So if is to be hoped tliu't. such good example may tell in the long run.

A WORD FOR MUNKINO YOI'XC! MEN'. What Coked Him.

A young man of lino family, of splendid Kifts. was going down fast through strong drink. Ili.s friend! bad pleaded with him, but he had taken their warnings as an insult. One day one, of them, who was a court stenographer, was sitting in a restaurant when tile young man came in with a companion, and look the table next to liini, silling down with his back to him without- seeing" him. He was just drunk enough to be talkative about his private affairs, ami on tho impulse of the moment, the stenographer pulled out his notebook, and took a shorthand report, of every word he said. The next moriiiiip the -.stenographer copied it all (nit. and sent it to the young man's ollice. In less than ten minutes the latter came tearing in with tlie exclamation. " What is tliis. anybow'/" "It's a stenographic report of your monologue at the restaurant lasl. evening." his friend replied, and gave him a brief explanation. " Did I really talk like that?" lie faintly. "I assure yon it is an absqlntely verbatim report." was tho reply. He turned pale, and walked out. lie never drank another drop.

A WARNING i!lv PATENT MEDICINES.—Dr A. I'. (iriniiell, of the New York Medico-Legal Society, lias recently been investigating Hie composition of a number of patent medicines willi the view of ascertaining iho umou::t of alcohol they contain. Over 60 so-called ''remedies" were analysed, all of v.hicli contained alcohol, the range luring- from 6 to 47.5 per cent. One sample, which was advertised as ;i cure for inebriety, yielded 41.6 per cent, of the spirit. DK SHIMON'S ADDRESS OX PROHIBITION IX KANSAS. Dr .Sheldon, who was accorded a most enthusiastic welcome, went with clinraeteristio directness to his subject. Speaking in clear-cut tones anil sharp staccato sentences, lie caught lho attention of his audience right away, and held their interest to the end. The tale he luuj to tell—from actual experience and okervation—that prohibition! had come, had provcxi practicable, and in his belief would stay, was evidently to the liking of the audience, who appreciated every point, made in n humorous, piquant address. Hoio and there they applauded lo the cello, as when the speaker declared that it Kansas wero divided into 105 squares!, equivalent to counting, 100 of them could bo written otf as "dry." There were only fivo where the law was broken. Then", again, when bo raised ilie cry of "No compensationwhen you think lew of property and more of ,-ouis. the Kingdom of (nxt will be nearer,"—and again oil tile lack of pauperism, ho was quite in touch with his auditors. Ho said it was poor economy, poor Christianity, poor statesmanship, to keep on putting up big building to shelter wreck-: of Drinkdom instead of cutting olf that which made Ihe.-'e wrecks. His definition of a Christian as "one who loves those he does not like " was received with laughter, changing into applause as he delllv applied the moral to the work on which they Mere all engaged. The greatest result iu Kansas was lives saved, young men and ytmng women saved for Christ anil God and country. That was the greatest of all. In closing he appealed to Hollanders to make the crooked ways straight and set right, their wrongs.

(The Kev. IJr .Sheldon, tlio author of "In His Steps," etc., has lately (ravelled through Kngland on a phenomenally successful lecturing lonr telling of the benefits received from prohibition in Kansas.]

The Pro-alcohol Manifesto.—As an illustration of the u-e to which Ihe s,o-calbd manifesto of tho 16 doctors i.j being put by "tlio trti«le," we ma.v «tat<> that tlio windows anr] cntramo to a wine ;vnd spiritmerchant's in Mo<lcy slrw-l. Marichosior, onr> of tho loading busine,-; thoroughfare of the city, are plastered wilb a largo olacard containing the full text of flic said iiwiifesto. Tho tlirce window fronts arc nearly covered with thnm, and there is one besides by the entrance.

French Wine-growers' Threat.—The low price of will!, of recent years haseverely felt in the South of France, whore this industi'V. now rendered unprofitable, is tile principal resoune of the inhabitants. Many land owners have'ceased to employ hlxiiir. and much mi.-ery is apparent in trio lower Languedoo anil the Roussillon district.-. To secure some relief from tho UovyxamAi". biul. owe»"<,l

labourers have united. nml a committee has been formed l<> pro's certain measures upon the Uovernment, priucipa.llv tho total prohibition of iirtilioial wines and tho taxing of sugar used for this purpose at the santo tato as alcohol.