G.H.M. AND CRASS IGNORANCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 November 1917, Page 3

G.H.M. AND CRASS IGNORANCE.

• To the TMltor. Sir,—Arguments pro and con on the prohibition question are worn threadbare, but when moderate men are stigmatised ns grossly ignorant, "perhaps you will find spare for one of them to stale reasons for his unbelief. Tn an artiele in the .Time issue of the New Zealand Times. Dr. Beverley Robinson (one of New York's most celebrated elinies. says, inter alia: "Though I recognise the evils of excessive, drinking, I deplore the attitude taken up by some of my con-' freres on this question." "The French Government have commandeered the output of wine, because lliev know that, their soldiers'are the better for it." "Dr. Jacobi and I have come to the conclusion that there are hundreds of thousands of men and women in the world who arc continually overworked; in their case pood alcohol is a necessity." "I despise cold water. It gives me dyspepsia. I am drinking a little whisky and water with my meals." "T have gained my forty years' experience, not by experimenting on guinea pigs, dogs or eats, but by the study of human beings, in all stages of health and disease, and 1 sav the medical profession is an art. not a science, because the differences ii> human temperament arc infinite." Now follows an article on the same lines from Dr. Capri. It, lies on the public readiirr room table, and I trust ft.H.M. will read it. T have also authority for stating that Sir Wni! Morris, the great London kidney expert, said to a w.ell-kitown business man: "You have been too abstemious. Had you taken a little whisky and water dailfr vou would not have lo.it one kidney." When reading Foster Fraser's interesting book, "America at Work." I came across the statement that business men insist on total abtinence because they find cold water spells efficiency. Then he goes on to speak of nerve-wracked managers, and the total absence of middle aged workmen. When he enquired "where arc your men of forty and over?" the manager took him for a drive, and, passing a cemetery, said: "There lie the men o> forty and over." f am not going to assert that alcohol would have saved the lives of these men, though taking the evidence afforded by the British workman it might have done so. What struck me was the rank failure of eohl water to do so. It may aid efficiency, but if that American fetish can only be attained by the slow murder of the industrial population at the prime of life they are paying "too denrlv for, their whistle." Men working at high pressure cannot assimilate enough food to repair waste tissue, and it has been proved by workmen, big game hunters, soldiers and hosts of other people that in great and prolonged physical exertion there is nothing to take the place of alcohol, because. as Dr. Capri savs, it is in one sense a food. —I am, etc.. J. .T. HARKER. ( Lemon Street, New Plymouth.