TEMPERANCE COLUMN

Otago Witness, Issue 2805, 18 December 1907, Page 90

TEMPERANCE COLUMN

THE BLACK MAN'S BURDEN.

(From the " Good Templar's "Watchword.") Are the natives of any part of the world naturally addicted to drink? Is it not the liquor itself that creates the appetite in these lower races, even as it does in the higher ones? Have these people petitioned us to send them strong drink to satisfy their cravings? Did we not, rather, by importing strong drink to their territories petition them to drink? In their natural conditions those people are not addicted to drink — it is we who civilised them into a taste for it. Our entry into their midet is so often made on spirit casks that they are cureed by contact with us. The liquor barrel is becoming the black man's burden, as it has been " the white man's burden " for centuries. It is a sad reflection upon our Christianity that whatever is being done to lighten this burden is at the fathetio petitions of the people themselves, 'rom the Chinese Government comes a cry to the Government of ours for the gradual reduction of the opium exports From India into China. In a short time we will give welcome to the King of Siam, who has had to intervene between his people and the curse of civilisation.. From every place where the white man gains a footing the same tale cornea— drink, demoralisation, misery, ruin, civilisaton a mockery, Christianity- in shame, even the natural evolution of the human race retarded.

DISGRACEFUL WEDDING SCENE— When a Leeds couple arrived at church recently to be married, . the bridegroom and several of the wedding party were not sober. The bridegroom was with ,come difficulty conducted to the altar, and during the service the best man collapsed. The bridegroom's responses became increasingly confused and inaudible, and finally he broke down altogether. The clergyman had to send the party away, to the sorrow of the bride, but two days later the couple returned in a. penitent mood, and were married after the clergyman had admonished the bridegroom for his conduct.

METHYLATED SPIRIT DRINKING.— At an inquest in London recently on Robert Aepland iKatt, 30, photographer and electrical engineer, it was stated that deceased was out of work and had taken to drinking methylated spirits. A doctor said that he did not think drinking methylated spirit would hurt a man more than cheap spirit bought in publichouses. It was simply drinking raw epirit. Death wae due to inoipient pneumonia, accelerated by chronic alcoholism. Verdict accordingly.

"THE RED NOSE BOOK."— People of Bacohnalian proclivities living in the town of Evanaton, Illinois, will henceforth leave their names to posterity iy spite of themselves (aaye a contemporary). The police are compiling a volume containing all biographical details of persons convicted for drunkenness and obtaining beer out pf lawful hourt. It will be -officially dubbed "The Bed Nose Book/ and will provide very interesting reading for the descendants of the more bibulous inhabitants of this progressive town.

•THE ALOOHOUSM OF CHILDHOOD.?' — Sadly instructive is the communication just made to the Academy, of Medicine by Professor Brunon, of Rouen, "The Alcoholism of Childhood," says the Daily Telegraph. He saye that in Normandy the spectacle of countrywomen putting coffee and brandy into the feedingbottles of little children is by no means rare, while .in half ' of the workmen's families' at Rouen they are actually given .to infants on arriving at the- age of six or eight months. The professor has much to. say against the abuse of coffee, which is never drunk without alcohol in Normandy. On the subject of the mischief caused by absinthe in Normandy, »nd, indeed, throughout France, he Is *Uo eloquent, declaring that, as one result, it stunts growth. Alooholiem is increasing among employees, workmen, and peasants, a remark wbioh applies particularly to women. But Prolessor Brunon has, at any rate, ons cheering word to say. The more educated and well-to-do classes are not taking co much liquor. The bourgeois drinks lees, and, officers and students are remarkably temperate. • So it is to be hoped that such good example may tell in the long run.

A WORD FOR DRINKING YOUNG MEN. What Otjbbd Him.

A young man of fine family, of splendid I gifts, was going down fast through strong drink. Bw friends bad pleaded with him, but he had taken their warnings as an insult. One day one of them, who was a court stenographer, was Bitting "in a restaurant when the young man came in with a companion, and took fhe table next to him, flitting down with hiirback to him without seeing him. He was just drunk enough to be talkative about his private affaire, and on the impulse of the moment, .the stenographer pulled out his notebook, and took a shorthand report of every word- be said. The next morning vie stenographer copied it all out, and sent it to the young man's office. In less than ten minutes the latter came tearing in i with the exclamation, " What is this, any- j now!" ' "It's a stenographic report of ; your monologue at the restaurant last evening." his friend replied, and gave : him a brief explanation. " Did I really talk like that? r> he asked faintly. "I assure, you It is an absolutely verbatim t

report," was the reply. He turned p*Mk and walked out. He never drank another drop.

A WARNING RE PATENT MEDI-OINES.-Dr A. P. Grinneil, of the N«w York Medico-Legal Sooiety, has recently been investigating the composition of ft number of patent medicines with the view of ascertaining the amount of alcohol th*jr contain. Over 60 so-called ""•emsdiesV were analysed, all of which contained 1 alcohol, the range being from 6 to W.S pep cent. One sample, which vu advertised as a cure for inebriety, yielded 41.6 per cent, of the epirit. v