Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1889-01-25
w. C. t. u.
[ 7hisOoiumnis Ediiedunderthe Direction
ofthcw. @. I, Union % fPerrvsbur
nTUE ALCOHOL UaRrT.u
felix l.. Oswald, NJ. d. 10 Good Health for
Januarv1

1.-THE ALCOHOL HABIT"
Felix l.. Oswald, NJ. d. 10 Good Health for
January.)
The friends and adverparics Of Christ-
inniiy must agree that the mission Of
Christ and the moral metamorphosis
which, Tor better or worse, eliminated IN
the conversion OF the Roman Empire, were
the most important events in the history of
/ e human race, Yet no fact in history ip
more clearly established thAn the Truth ol
the late Dean Milmnn's remark, that,
without single exception, the great |
philosophers nnd historians OF pngnnirm
were completely uncontcious Of ;he doc
trine dpslined to transform the destiny OF
the moral universe for II long rcrlCs Of
centuries. Seneca aud Apollonius never
even mention the name OF the great He
brew reformer. Tacitus, IN single pas
sage, alludes to his dogmss with con
tempiuous sneer. For more than two
hundred years the followers Of the new
religion were regarded as n mere pecl Of
the deapised Jews. The possibility Of
their ultimate triumph seems never to
have entered the mind Of a pagan moral
lat, even when the energy oil their mission-
nries began TO attract the attention Of the
civil magistrates. A strangly similar
infstuatiop seems to blind the social phil
osophers Of the present age 10 destiny OF
the temperance movement. The time is
past when the appeal of its apostles could
be entirely ignored, aud Statistical records
conde.cend TO notice the progress Of its
propaganda, but the Significance of that
progress seems to escape the attention even
Of the slirewd observers. Thousands OF its
active adversaries treat IL rs pernicious
delusion. A peihaps still larger number
OF neutral contemporaries consider it's
doctrinean amiable but hopeless chimera.
They admit the power of moral enihusi-
Ssn hut point TO the entrenched strong
hold OF our adversaries: TO the unity and
thorough organization Of the licensed
poisonmongers, TO their vast material re-
eources, to their interruptions nee Of that
advantage, TO the fatal strength OF the let
ters that chain The poison-slave to his
deep-roo,ed habit. They also point 10
the legal and social persistence of estab-
ished customs. Reform" Gays an able
political writer, "is ever unpopular. All
wrongs lie in the consent Of the wronged,
and what with the free support of those
who thrive on the abuse, and the dull,
heavy, ignorant conservatism OF the masses,
9 il is n sad delusion to suppose that
the cuuse is won when the argument is
made" An unquesiionable prcponder-
ance of power, they argue, favors the side
OF the law-venders, and In this world, at
least, might always finds way TO assert
itsell rs right. The lsst link OF that syl-
logism, however, is rule with occasional
exceptions. No unqualified evil has ever
succeeded in muintalning its supremacy,
aud the evils Of. the alcohol-vice are Offset
10y no benefits. Alcohol has been called O
negative food" because Its physiological
influence torpifes the functional energy
Of the digestive organs, and thus, for =
time, renders the topper insensible to the
cravings of hunger. The same effect, how
ever, can be produced by stunning blow,
and we might ne well claim that the in
terest OF political econmy could be pro-
NOTED by a free war, because knock.dowr
stroke with the buti-end of a musket il
apt to leqen the appetite Of the afi cted
soldier. No real benefit can result iron
the lethargizing effect Of poison-doss
the retardntion Of the digestive function
being In every case morbid and abnorma
process, avenging It's repetition by the fati
degeneration Of the tissues and the i'm
poyerished condition OF the blood.
During the horrible food which fe,
months ago devastated the two riches
provinces of the Chinese Empire. mum
Der of vile marauders eked out an exiStenC
by fishing out reckage and plunderin
floating corpses. The idea OF meniionin
the profits of these wretches as a com
pensaling Offset TO the horrors of publ
calamity would justly consign its propount
er TO the custody OF lunaiic commission
Yet, by an exactly analogous line of argr
/. ment, many Of our political economist
y, continue to defend the legal sanction {
the liquor traffic. Nay, it might be serl
ously questioned il the total loss (,y fl
or water) OF billion bushels of graf
would not be financially and morally pre-
ferable 10 their conversion into n iii
, blighting poison. According to the eta
tisics of the Treasury Department, til
alcohol drinkers OF the United States IRE
presenting hardly one-ffth OF The alcohol
,zed nations OF Christendom) spent durin
I The last ten years yearly average {
4 $3.50, 100000 for whisky, S5S,000, 600 fc
8 other distilled liquors, $56,0O0.OO0 fc
wine, and $40 600, 900 for ale and beer
together, 1924 900, 900 year. That enor
nous gum has been far worse than wasted
1t has been invested in the purchase @
disease. 1t has been devoted 10 the de
velopment Of idiocy, crime, and pauperisn
has turned blessings into a concentra
1 L. IL.