TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 3886, 4 September 1928, Page 10

TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

(PubHsliecl by Arrangement with the Lmted temperance Reform Council.) ALCOHOL AND SLUM LIFE. “It is not the man who spends his wages in drink who encourages trade and employment It is the teetotal working man, with his constantly increasing desires, unsatisfied needs, who is always "trying to realise a higher and more respected standard of living. It is they who are the best supporters of the staple conditions of the country. It is they who give their children a better start in life. It is they who are self-respecting and selfconfident. When a drinker becomes an abstainer he does not reduce his expendituf.e > but .increases it. The drinker is satished with a miserable existence. The sober workman is always striving to raise hiSpConditions of life.”—Philip Snowden, ALCOHOL AND NATURAL WANTS. Scientific investigation and general observation make it clear that alcohol is a life destroyer, not a life giver; not a stimulant, but a narcotic; not a food, but a poison; not the source of innocentpleasure, but the destroyer of life’s highest joys.”—Dr J. H. Crooker. Is the desire for intoxicating liquors amongst these wants that make for a fuller and better life? It is not. Alcohol, the intoxicating agent in all these drinks, is a poison to all life. The point about alcohol is simple enough. It is a poison.” The late Sir Frederick Treves, surgeon to the King. . “Alcohol kills the largest number of victims by ambush, as it were, in. that it undermines the power of resistance to sickness.”—Dr Buchner. According to Dr T. H. C. Stephenson, of the Registrar-general’s office, London, “Alcohol contributes to innumerable deaths.” On other occasions-he declared that the “ mortality of men engaged in liquor selling is appalling.” “ That this terrible mortality is attributable to drink the figures make incontestable.” ALCOHOL CREATES A CRAVING FOR ITSELF. which can only be satisfied by taking more alcohol, often with disastrous consequences. Alcohol is a habit-forming drug, like cocaine, opium, or morphia. The more it is used the greater grip it has, until the drinker loses all desire for those natural wants which make for the betterment of life, and he sacrifices, everything he once held dear to satisfy the unnatural craving for liquor. ALCOHOL CREATES A FALSE FEELING OF WELL BEING, gives a mistaken sense of bodily and mental comfort. A person is hungry; he takes whisky; his sense of comfort is apparently restored; he feels satisfied, though unfed. He dwells in a slum, and whisky makes him content with the conditions. “Alcohol will give a man an artificial glow of well being; it will make him feel happy and stupid, and the reason why bad social conditions are still tolerated, why there is no divine discontent in the hearts of the people, is because they are drugged and doped with drink.”—George Bernard Shaw. STRONG DRINK UNNECESSARY. Nor is strong,drink necessary. Away back in 1847, 2000 medical men of Britain declared that “ the most perfect health is compatible with total abstinence from all intoxicating beverages.” Dr Carl Binz, professor in the University. of Bonn, confirms this:—“The conviction must 'be expressed that the healthy individual has not the slightest necessity for alcohol at any time or in any form, and that the practice of drink-

ing alcoholic liquors cannot be too strongly condemned.” Millions of persons living in every clime under the sun testify that they can do their work, enjoy their lives, and live their days in health and happiness without touching alcoholic liquors. IS DRINK A LUXURY? “But,” say the drinkers, “the modelate use of liquor promotes sociability and does no harm. Might it not be as legitimate as wearing a gold watch—at least be regarded as a luxury?” The passing pleasure which alcohol gives is purchased at too great a price, and m. an y a brilliant fellow has had the regret , “tst filass under the guise of sociability. Even if we allow liquor to be a luxury, it is a dangerous and expensive one, and one that should be avoided. Besides, .there is no evidence that any use oi liquor is of value to anybody, the evidence is all the other way. Buying or wearing a gold watch would never lead a man to beat his wife, or to turn his children into the streets at night; but drinking alcoholic liquors often leads (nen to commit such outrages. The fact is that alcohol from first to last is a narcotic drug. (See “Alcohol and the Human Organism.”) The British Government’s Board of Education gave this warning:—“ Strong drink is very dangerous.” Beers, wines, ■and spirits are by far the most dangerous things people* are ever likely to drink, lhe best and safest drink is pure water* it quenches thirst and satisfies, which alcohol never does. Alcoholic liquors (1) create an unnatural craving; (2) give a false sense of well-being; (3) endanger health and proseffects 4 ever V time have narcotic drug BERNARD SHAW AND CHAMPAGNE. 4 The nation that spends money on champagne, says Mr Bernard Shaw* “ before it has provided enough milk for its babies, or gives dainty meals to Sealyham terriers and Alsatian wolf-hounds, and 1 ekingese dogs, whilst the infant mortality rate shows that its children are" dying by thousands from insufficient nourishment, is a badly managed, silly, vain stupid, ignorant nation, and will go to’ the bad m the end.”