The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1883-11-15
HELPFUL FACTS.

Those accustomed to do battle against
King Alcohol will find 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-
pletc with arguments that are at once
complete and convincing From all
ages and from all lands the author has
gathered testimony that disperses not
one mistaken proposition only, but a
host of the fallacious theories of the
defenders of alcohol. In taking up the
-question: 'Are the milder liquors a
remedy for intcmperance?" DIR. Dor
chester says:
"On the theory that the current use Of ma
tive wines and beer is promotiVe of temper
ancc, we should logically infer that there was
no gross intemperance in the world prior TO
PRODUCTION into common life, less than four
hundred years ago. But this hypothesis is not
sustained by history. Not only did excessive
drinking prevail among the Germ ins in their
primeval forests long centuries before, but in
France, Charlemagne found il necessary to
restrain it by severe enaCtments; and in En-
gland, as far back as the early days of beer
and mCtheglin-more than one thousand years
ago-cdicts were issued against this vice. Go
ing still further back, we find in Rome. in the
daysof her power and splendor that feats of
excessive and shameful drinking were COM
mon.
In Italy and Greece. the best wine-grow-
ing cDuntr cS of the Old World, wild and
tragic Bacchanatian rpvclricS, exceeding in
grossncss and bloody rage any in our times,
were popular. Characterized by eXtravagant
1ndulgences they led to the cOarseSt eXccSscs,
immortality, and even barbarities. Not Cnly
eating and drinking, but, also, when heated by
liquor, the most unnatural vices were in
dulged in. Every kind of vice found fun
satisfaction. The consequences seriously af-
1ectad society, for false testimonies, denun-
: n
Ccedcd from this focus of crime"
Equally convincing testimony is
found in the records of later wears.
The experience of old times is the ex-
pcrience of to-day. Results recorded
in France, Switzerland, Southern Eu-
rope, Asia and California, all disprove
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 Geneva correspondent
of the London Tins wrote to that
journal as follows:
"Thc vice of intcmperance is growing so
fast in Switzerland as to occasion grave anx-
iety among public men of all classes. So
papable and Dortcntous are the evils TO
which, i'll some dis rIctS, sObriety is giving
rise that people speak of alcohol as the Gu
emy, and of Cdu-de-rie. the Old term for cog
nae, as edu-ttc-nOr 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-
atcd Mayors of AjOie lin the Bernese JuraN to
the CantonAl Government. Failures bank
ruptcieS and forced sales of property are
alarmingly on 1.-THE increase The official
Gazette can hardly contain them. As IA natural
consequence hand is deprCciating i'm value,
and mortgages who are compelled to fore
c'oSe can often find neither buyers nor ten
ans The evil affects ali classes, and is even
THE Associated Mayors of Ajoie are not
a'one in their alarm and denunciatiOns.
Almost every church synod that meets passes
resolutions condemnatOry of intemperance;
the Federal Department of the Interior is now
engaged, at the instance of the National As
sembly. in making inquiries with Il view of
combating the enemy by restrictive legsla-
ton: and no subject more frequently en-
cages the attention of Societies of Public
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 Re free from
intemperance." Much valuable medi-
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
doubtful expedencv. Statistics pro-
uu'Su W hOSp SpitdI pHNSICldHs III Mai
chester and London show that as the
use of alcohol for remedial purposes was
diminished the rate of mortality de-
clined. Thus DR.. EdmundS, senior ply
sican to the London Temperance Hos
pital, is given as the authority for the
statement that the mortality in that in
stitution was four and a half per cent.
lower than in any other hospital taking
the same run of cases.
DIR. Dorchester facts are not all new;
of course not! Some of them are cent
uries old. But only in this respect do
they at all resemble the vented argu-
ments in the defense of alcohol The
age of the latter is surely the only quail
fication that in these days of enlighten-
ment insures 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 forceful as ever. Rea-
sonipg people will read DIR. Dorches-
ter's pamphlet with great interest. Such
are informed that it is for gratuitous
distribution TO any who will send for it,
mclosing two-ceat stamp, to r. b.
Jewell, Room 3, Sc Bromtield street,
BostOn.-M Y. Observer.
a.