AVOID ALCOHOL FOR HEALTH AND EFFICIENCY.

White Ribbon, Volume 20, Issue 234, 18 December 1914, Page 11

AVOID ALCOHOL FOR HEALTH AND EFFICIENCY.

(My l)r. F. Keller.) According to Professor Irving Fisher’s report to the United States Hovernmer.t, 600,000 lives are sacrificed annually in the l nited Stale?, aiul these deaths, he says, tan be prevented by preventive measures. The National French League against Alcohol, with headquarters in Paris, makes a special appeal to the industrialists, on the ground that the habitual u-c of alcohol lessens the skill of the workman. My depriving him of sell control, he becomes clumsv in his movements, whereby the tendency to accidents is augmented, not only for himself, but tor his fellow?. Alcoholism utlac ks all the organs of the body, especially those which have the least power of resistance. The workmen who indulge 111 the use of alcohol are more liable to tuberculosis and disorders of the nervous system. Alcoholism takes away money which should go for food, < lothing, and shelter of the family. It is, therefore, in the interests of the workman, his family, industry, and society that the evils of ahoholism should be combated. As means to this end, the League recommend?: Verbal hints and suggestion? to the workmen; anti-alcoholic posters m the workrooms ; annual lecture? in the factory itsell for the worker?; prohibition of all alcoholic drinks during the hours of labour; sale of low-priced, non-alcoholic beverage?; establishment of temperance societies among the workers; and the provision of temperance restaurants. Kvery year the State of New \oik receive- into it? State asylum? (>OOO lunatics, a large percentage of whom a re the victim? of ahoholism. Healthy family life i? the bad- of a sound nation. State and community. That this is being accepted universally is shown by the various measure's for the promotion of healthful living. At hist efforts were made for the restoration of the sic k ; now prevention 1- the rule of action. When the strength is used up it inot enough merely to add to it, but reserve force must be stored up. This is best accomplished by periods of rest for mind and body. Only a comparative few recognise this, and have the means to do it. The great

majority of the community do not ap prcciate thi-, and are in no position to avail them?elves of periods of rest and recreation. Mr Carnegie, when speaking to students of Aberdeen University, said; — “There is, no doubt, among you a class which intends to entei the domain of business to win Dame FOl tune’s golden smiles by as-iducu?l) waiting upon hei would-be millionaires. This was the dass in which 1 toiled, not at the University, unfortu natcly, but in the home of poverty; whi< h, however, was never inclined to hang it? head, I assure you. My experience with young men pursuing their careers soon led me to the conclusion that the use of liquor was the rock upon which more were hopelessly wrecked than on any other. The rule for the young men of Scotland — ‘Touc’_. not, taste not, handle not’I hope is becoming more popular each succeeding year. One rule 1 have often suggested to youth, ‘Remain teetotallers until you have become millionaires. Certain am 1 that this would greatly accelerate the victory. Believe me, the young man who drinks or smokes voluntarily handicaps himself in the race of life. That he does either or both shows that he lacks something; he does not know how best to train himself for the race. The coming mail leaves nothing to chance; nor, mark you, does lie spend his slender means foolishly; certainly not if he is to prove the coming millionaire. You find him stripped for the* race, carrying no superfluous weight in the* day of trial. Trifles these, no doubt some of you may be thinking especially smoking —but, re member, we have seen it is almost impossible to know what are trifles. In the race of life a foot ahead wins the race; a pin turns the scale.” Davies, in the “British Medical Journal” of August Bth, 1908, asserts that, as an article* of food, alcohol cannot be considered necessary, or even from a dietetic point of view. There are some special conditions that need to be considered in regard to it? u-e, especially from a military service standpoint. These are: — (1) Kxtremcs of heat and cold. ( 2 ) Excessive labour, bodily 01 mental. (?) The peculiar fatigue? and exposures incident to war.

(1) Extremes of Cold. Sir John Ros? wrote: “l'lie most irresistible proof of the value of abstinence was when we abandoned our ship, and were obliged to leave behind us all our wine and spirits. It was remarkable to observe how much strong «-r and more able the men were to do their work when they had nothing but water to drink.” Dr. John Rae maintained that “the* greater the cold, the more injurious i- the use of alco hoi.’* Extremes of Heat. The amount of disease ascribed to intemperance was described by Dr. J. MacJellan as “something appalling.” One-tenth of all the admis-ion? to hospitals for sickness in Bombay were on account of delirium treirens or drunkenness; the numbers admitted for these causes were greater than for any other disease, except fever; and as to deaths, “alcohol destroyed more than either fever, hepatitis, or diarrhoea, ar.d nearly as many a? cholera.” (2) Excessive Labour. A Herman observer, Schneider, has recently (1907) examined 1200 mountain climbers, and found that, according ’o their testimony, as long a? continuous efforts and difficulties are to be expected no alcohol should be taken. (?) Fatigues and Exposure Incident to War. Ihe experienc e? of the British forces in Egypt in 1800, when a body of troop? under Sir David Baird marched across the desert from the Red Sea to the Nile* (Ko??ier to Kemh): Of the Red River expedition in Canada in 1870; of the Ashanti campaign in 1874; and of the Nile expedition in 1885 the three latter under Lord Molseley- all prove that very great exertion and exposure to extreme? of temperature can be bette r borne without alcohol than with it, and that arduous campa gn? can be carried on without the u-e of alcoholic drinks of anv kind.