TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 3862, 20 March 1928, Page 16

TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

[The cutter under this heading 1» pubh.bed at the request of, and is supplied by. the United Temperance Reform Council in pursuance of the desire to inculcate the principles of temperance.] PREPARE FOR THE WARFARE. Alcohol is a silent, subtle, _ secret foe; it lurks in alluring shelters; it masks its approach in friendly guise; it deceives before it dethrones; it delights before it delivers the death stroke. Alcohol plays the traitor’s part. It opens the gate of the sacred citadel of man’s inind; it dulls the watenman of the will. The guards of the body are lured into neglect and forgetfulness; the city may be in the hands of the enemy ere a blow be struck in defence. The results of the physiological and psychological study of the action of alcohol may be well expressed in terms of modern warfare. In this conflict every unit must be maintained in fighting form. It may be that many may be spared the struggle, but no tnan knows who may be called to enter the strife. Let us prepare for war—the issues of which are life or death.—T. N. Kelynack, M.D. MORE MILK, LESS BEER.

Under fhe above heading there appeared in the press a statement by Dr Arthur, Minister of Health for New South Wales? in which he said if he could only lay hands on some of the £12.000,000 spent annually in New South Wales on beer and spirits, and spend it on milk and fruit for the men and women of to-morrow, the children would be infinitely better off, and the beer drinkers would be none the worse.

ALCOHOL. V.D., AND MENTAL DEFICIENCY.

Sir George Newman, Chief Medical Officer to the Ministry of Health, associates these three together as destructive to the physique, mentality, and morality of a nation. In his paper on ‘‘Preventive Medicine,” report to the Ministry of Health, Sir George says:— “ If we are to grow a sound and healthy race of men. we must begin, where all true breeding begins, at the source. t we permit ourselves to favour and provide for the unguided propagation of a population of poor physique or of persons marked from birth with the st.gmata of alcohol venereal disease, or mental deficiency, we shall sooner or later d ,s co' er that we are building on false foundations, and without taking sufficiently into our reckoning the laws of heredity of sion, and of ante-natal infection. —Temper ance Advocate. COCKTAILS. The pernicious practice which has come into fashion of the drinking of cocktails before meals, and is not limited to men, for women and young girls have adopted it, is the very worst form of alcoholic indulgence. Locally spirits act as an iri itant, and by rapid absorption from an empty stomach soon reach the blood and central nervous system. ALCOHOL. In tuberculosis alcoholic liquors are always harmful, even in moderation. The patient with active disease who goes on leave and celebrates 'the occasion with even a mild spree always returns in worse condition. He cannot take up the cure where he left off, but is set back weeks, or even months. Even when the disease is apparently arrested, and the patient begins to take enough every week or two so that he is “ feeling good,” we always expect to see him back in the hospital sooner or later as an advanced case —usually sooner.”—United States Health Service. TUBERCULOSIS. An interesting point is raised in the report of the central tuberculosis officer for Lancashire, in which county the death,rate from this disease has been reduced by nearly one-third during the last 12 years. In this report, referring to the question of housing and overcrowding,- it is stated that this is a contentious statement, and absurd statements : re made on it. A not infrequent one is that money spent on the measures for the prevention of tuberculosis would be better spent oi. housing. This view is clearly fallacious, because women who spend more time in the home than men, have a lower deathrate from this disease. The greater mortality of males must be regarded as evidence that the dangers of infection are not so much domestic as: (a) industrial; through place or nature of occupation; and (b) convivial, through resort to a public house or club.

DRUNKENNESS IN ITALY

It is often asserted that the winedrinking country of Italy is free from drunkenness and the evil effects of drink. The new Italian penal • code, however, shows by its provisions that this is far from being true. ’ The new code provides that a person who, through complete drunkenness, has lost consciousness of his acts, is not held responsible fqr the offence committed bj him. With this exception, drunkenness neither aggravates or condones the offence in the eyes of the law. On the other hand, if a person deliberately gets drunk with the intention of committing a crim.’, this aggravates the offence, and the penalty is increased. Habitual drunkards or el-tonic alcoholic!? find the penalty for an offence through drunkenness increased, and they have to serve their sentences in special establishments, where they undergo treatment for drunkenness. Internment in inebriate homes is a penalty that t)iay be imposed on habitual drunkards. There is also a system for prohibition orders lasting, over a period of one year. Drunkenness in a public place carries a liability of six months’ imprisonment. _or longer in the case of habitual drunkards. Persons inciting others to drunkenness are liable to imprisonment for six months, and an ’finkeeper serving alcoholic beverages to those under 16, or the mentally deficient, is liable to thersame penalty. An innkeeper serving an intoxicated person is liable to imprisonment for six or eight months. It is clear that all these provisions would not be incorporated in the penal code if there were not the drunkenness

and other offences making them necessary.

BREAK THE CHAIN.

Four young men were riding in a Pullman car, chatting merrily together. At last one of them said: “ Boys, I think it’s time for drinks ” Two of them consented, the other shook his head and said, ‘•‘.No, I thank you.”- “What,” exclaimed his companion, “have you become pious? Are you going to preach? Do you think you will become a missionary?” “No, fellows,” he replied. “ I am not specially pious, and I may not become a missionary, but I have determined not to drink another drop, and. I will tell you why: I had some business in Chicago with an old pawnbroker, and as I stood before his counter talking about it, there came in a young man about my age. and threw down upon the counter a little bundle. When the pawnbroker opened it he found it was a pair of baby shoes, with the buttonholes a trifle worn. The old pawnbroker seemed to have some heart left in him, and he said, ‘ Look here, you ought not to sell your baby’s shoes for drink.’ ‘ Never mind, Isaac, baby is at home dead, and does not need the shoes. Give me 10 cents for a drink.’ Now, fellows. I have a wife and baby at home myself, and when I saw what liquor could do in degrading that husband and father. I made up my mina that, God helping me, not a drop of that demoralising stuff would pass my lips again.”