Arkansas weekly mansion., 1883-11-10
HELPFUL FACTS.

1hoSc accustomed to do battle against
King Alcohol will find a whole array of
helpful facts in a pamphlet recently is
sued by Rev. DIR. Daniel Dorchester.
1t is entitled --latest Drink Sophistries
versus Total Abstinence" and is re-
plete with arguments that are at once
complete and convincing From all
ages and from all lands the author has
gathered testimony that disperscs not
one mistaken proposition only, but a
host of the fallacious theories of the
defenders of alcohol In taking up the
question: care the milder liquors a
remedy for intemperance"' Dr. Dor
chester says:
''On the theory that the current use OF ma
ance. VIC should logically infer that there was
no grOe intemperance in the world prior to
Into OF common fe sss M than e't
hundred years ago. But this hypothesis is not
drinking prevail among the Gee Germ1ns in thcir
prmeval forests long centuries bel ore, but in
restrain it by severe enactmcnts: and in En-
gland, as far back as the early days of beer
agO-edicts were issued against this vice Go
ing still further back, we find in Rome. in the
days of her power and splendor, that feats OF
excessive and shameful drinking were COM
mon-
In Italy and Greece, the best wine-grow,
ing countries of the Old World wild and
tragic IBacchanalian revclrieS, exceeding in
grossness and bloody rage any in our times.
were popular characterized by eNtravagnnt
indulgences. they led to the cOarsc9t excesscs,
immortality. and even barharities. Not only
liquor, the most unnatural vices were in
dulgcd in. Every kind of vice found full
faetnd Society. for faise entim6Hies' denun
ciat:ons: poisonings and transformations pro-
cceded from this focus of crime"
Equally convincing testimony is
found in the records of later years.
ny nf al 6 n
perience of to-day. Results recorded
in France, Switzerland Southern Eu-
rope, Asia and California, all disproye
the wine theory, and the records of
Germany and England annihilate the
beer fallacy. Taking Switzerland, for
example, we learn that 50 recently as
December last a Geneva correspondent
of the London Times wrote to that
journal as follows:
1.-The vice of intemperance is growing so
fast in Switzerland as to occasion grave anx-
iety among public men of all classes. So
palpable and pOrtentOuS are the evils TO
Which, in some DIS rlets - nsobrety is tS giyins
envy. and of edt-de-ric, the old term for cog
mac, as eau-fe-mort water of death: Even the
public fortune is compromised by the excess
i've drinking of the population runs report
on the subject lately addressed by the Associ
ated Mayors of AjOie dn the Bcrncsr Jura' to
the Cantonal Government. Failures, bank
ruptcies and forced sales of property are
Gazette can hardly contain them. As natural
consequence. land is deprcciating in value,
close can often find neither buyers nor ten
ants The evil affects all classes, anu is even
rife among the other sex
1.-The Associated Mayors of Ajoie are not
alone in their alarm and denunciations-
resolutions cOndemnat of intemperance;
the Federal Department of the Interior is now
semhIy. in ~ making injuries with a View of
combating the enemy by restrictive lcSsla-
t1on :s anm h no subject more irsq"cRsy en- h,c Gn
Utility and the press than the war against
drunkenness.
In the words of our author "Such is
the condition in wine producing Switz-
erland, often declared to he free from
intemperance." Much valuable mcdi-
cal testimony is gathered that certainly
upsets the theory of the sanitary utility
of alcohol. Indeed, the facts presented
in this pamphlet suggest that even for
curative purposes alcohol is often OF
| doubtful expcdency. Statistics pro
duced by hospital physicians in Man
chester and London show that as the
use of alcohol for remedial purposes was
diminished the rate of mortality de
clined. Thus DIR. Edmunds, senior ply
sician to the London Temperance Hos
pital, is given as the authority for the
statement that the mortality in that i'll
stitution was four and half per cent
lower than in any other hospital taking
the same run OF cases.
DR.. Dorchester's facts are not all new
of course not! Some of them are cent
uries old. But only in this respect dc
they at all resemble the wonted argu
mcnts in the defense of alcohol. The
age Of the latter is surely the only quail
fication that in these days of cnlightcn,
ment inS,reS for them shred of respect
They may appear plausible, but investi
cation proves them fallacious and per
nicious. They have been worn thread
| bare, while the oldest of the facts which
are presented as arguments upon the
other side are as forccful as ever. Rea
soniug people will read DIR. Dorches
ter's pamphlet with great interest. Sucf
are informed that it is for gratultous
| distribution to any who VIII send for It
| inclosiDg a taco-ce'1 stamp, to X. b
| Jewell, Room 5, Sc Brom1eld street
| Boston.-N. y. Observer.
Keen AWAY from Danger.