Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1882-08-17
Alcohol and Health.
THE WHOLE QUESTION BRIEFLY AND
FORCIBLY STATED.
CFrom tho London Sanitary Record. |

EfFom the London Sanitary Record.
DIR. Bacr's address, of which the following
is partial synopsis, is pronounced by
high authority the most important recent
contribution on the sutjcct
Dr. Banr discusses in order the effects
of alcoholic excess on the several organs of
the body, its bearing on insanity aud long
cvity, and Oh the viablity and health of
tho children Of persons addicted thereto.
Ho shove that murders, assaults and crimes
against the person aud suicides prevail
everywhere directly as the consumption of
spirits, rising and falling with it, even 10
such homogeneous populations os that of
France. Tho most striking example of
this was given in Ireland, whcrc, through
the excrtions of Father Mathew, tho con.
sumption of whiskey fell during tho five
years l83S-lS42 fifty per cent, the crimes
Of violence falling from GI 500 to 47,O27,
and the executions from Gt:y-ninc in the
first year to one in the last. Scarcely less
valuable nrc the criminal statistics OF the
several provinces and States of Germany
and Austria. The mutual relations of drunk
cnness and paupcrism, each acting os cause
and effect and oggravating tho other, are
fairly discussed and illustrated in like map..
ncr. ln considering the remedies, LEGAL and
social, preventive, repressive and, penal Dr.
Baer shows, from the experience Of the
countries where no restrictions arc imposed
on the manufacture of fspirits, that the II um-
Der of distilicrics has no effect on the pro :
duction or consumption. In Galicia 51S
distilleries produce 100000 hectoliers
while in the Tyrol 9,732 make but 5000,
and tho suppression in Sweden of 173 coo
private stills had no effect on the consump
tion df spirits. The chief evil of the pri-
vato distilcry is that tho product is more
highly charged with fusil oil, which inten-
sites oil the i'll effects of alcohol.
lie advocates tho imposition Of the heay
lest possible duties on spirits, SO rs to place
them, if possible, beyond the reach of the
poor, except as medicines. At the same
time he would encourage tho consumption
of wholesome beverages by reducing the
taxation of beer and light wines and abolish
ing a dutie son tea and coffee. Though pe.
nal laws are useless for the reformation of the
drunkard, they may act us dcterrcnts 10
others and should be especially enforced
in the army and other branches of the
service of the State.
But in the limitation Of the number of
houses for the retail sac Of Intoxicating
drinks We have the most ci1cctual of lcyis-
lative remedies. True it is that the con
tirmed drunkord will not be influenced by
any impedments in the way of obtaining
his indulgence; but equally truo it is
that the removal of over present opportu
mites and temptation would save thousands
from falling into habits Of intomperancc.
NO ono can pretend that the countless
drink shops in every town represent the
ronl needs of tic population, and there
is no doubt that, could their numbers be
reduced to anything like that of butchers
and bakers, pnd retail sale on credit pro
hiblfed, the effect on tho common forms
Of drunkenness would bo immense. DR..
Baer adduccs the case of Gothcnburg,
where since company bought up the
spirit shops, reducing their number from
sixty-onc to thirtyrfvc, prohibiting credit
and handing over all profits to tho town
council, thus taking away all inducements
to "pushiog the BUSINESS" the charges for
drunkenness and the cases of dclirium
trcmens have been reduced to onc-third
OF what they were before In Belgium
on the other hand between 1888 and 1868
tho number of retail increased from As.
QUO to $4,000, and the consumption of
spirits from 4,42 toll litcrs per hcod.
In tho same way (i. Q. removing tho
tcmptation) will drunkenness bo lcsscncd by
limiting hours Of sale on Sundnys In Ger.
ma0y, where there arc no SUCH restrictions,
thirty,two per cent of murders and crimes
OF violence arc committed on Sundays and
ffty-cight per cent. on Saturday and Sun
day, tho idlo days of the workingman. In
Scotland tho Forbes. Mackenzie Act has
been followed by considerable dimiDution
in those offences.
DR.. Bacr, in common with many of the
leading physicians Of Germany, views the
establishment of asylums or homes for in
obriutea (not only for such as can pay, but
for all casscs) as movement of the highest
Importance, only he would have tho magis
trates empowered to commit tho habitua]
( and repeatedly convicted drunkard thereto
ns Juvenile criminals arc to reformotory
schools.
Tho question of intempcrapco in
the army is troated at some length,
the territorial system of Germany again
affording interesting data, and tho rcmaiu-
der of the touches on social enterprises as
coffee palaces, Temperance societies, tc,ppcr
ance schoolbooks, the influence of the clergy
medical profession, tea chor, and that more
r less possessed by every mombcr of so.