The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1888-02-24
THE GREAT FOE OF RUSSIA.

1t Is Alcoholism Enervating, Depraving,
CONSUMING Enemy, and One Fatal to
the Best Powers of the People.
One of the lead ing journals of Rus
STA, the St. Petersburg Zeitunq, has a
remarkable article in advocacy of the
abandonment of intoxicants, with cita-
tons from a powerful pamphlet by Dr.
Bunge, a native Russian. From an
English translation by Joseph Malius
we quote the following telling words:
So to-day, during the fas, we make
use of the favorable opportunity it af-
fords us for little preaching upon this
widespread source of misery; preach
ing whose aim is to revive the crusade
against our national enemy-an enemy
which has been often preached about
and assailed, with insignificant results,
and has never been overthrown. We
know of certain ideas in relation to
movements which are not unheard of
in public, but we do not at this mo-
ment join in that war-cry which has
been so, often heard that we are weary
of it: The German is the foer-a cry
which the great Skobeloff once raised
with a powerful voice, and which his
petty imitators arc so frequently re-
peating in public and through the press.
No, we are brought to the conviction
that Russia's great foe is not the Ger
| man. 1t is alcohol which is the dan
gerous foe to Russia and to the Russian
nation-an enervating depraving, con-
Stunning foe, and one fatal to the best
powers of our people
"We take the field then against
spirits, against alcohol in all its forms;
and we find weapons for this struggle
in an excellent pamphlet of DR.. Bunge,
who is professor of physiological chem
istry at Basic, and is a countryman of
ours from Dorpat.
"Prof. Bunge first of all views al
cohol from the physiological stand
point. He shows that in the broader
sense alcohol is no means of nourish-
ment; that the warmth arising from
the com bustion of alcohol in the sys-
tenn of a drinker gives no living force,
for the increase of warmth on the one
hand is neutralized by the increased
departure of warmth on the other hand.
The thermometer proves that alcohol
lessons the temperature of the body.
All the effects of brandy, which are
usually regarded as mere stimulation,
are really symptoms of both physical
and mental paralysis under the guise
of serenity and vivacity of mind. The
beginning of this brain-palsy at once
shows itself in hasty gesticulaticns
which are accompanied by an increased
pulse and quicker beating of the heart.
Under the influence of intoxicants the
man talks aimlessly; he gesticulates,
he wakes hot, and thus accelerates the
beating of the heart. The feeling of
WEAKNESS, which so often occasions
the desire for alcohol, is also paral-
ysis.'
The paper then goes on to declare
more fully its settled campaign of hos
tility to the traffic and use of alcoholic
liquors. The utterance is significant
of a grand onward step in country
1ltre Temperance doctrines have
heretofore had scarcely foothold or
hearing. The verdict of travellers in
Russia bears out the sweeping asser-
tons of this journal as to the fearful
ravages of intoxicants among all
classes there. May this voice, crying
in the wilderness, awaken many an
echo! What if Tolstoi should write a
novel that would work for the slaves
of alcohol in that land what "Uncle
Toms Cabin" did in this countryi--
Baptist Weekly
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