Blue-grass blade., 1892-02-06
EUROPEAN TEEToTALERs.


the use OF intoxicating liquors is beng
widely circulated on the Continent. 1t
smanates from the Zurich Society FOR
Combating the Alcohol Habit and 1as
translated especially for The Voice. tts
salient features follow: In recent yetrs
the question has been propounded sor
public consideration whether one of cur
most widespread practices, the use, of
alcoholic beverages, does not threaten
serious danger. In the course of Dis
cussion of this question no one has {e-
MED that immoderate indulgence Is m
furious. Science has shown beydnd
question the changes that are wrought
in the organs of the body by the oft re-
peated and free use of such beverages.
It characterizes these as changes octa-
stoned by process of poisoning, IN
many respects akin to arsenical poison
ing, and recognizes them as causes of
degeneration, sickness and death. Not
less clearly understood is the direct PC
ton of alcohol as narcotic, resembling
ether, chloroform and morphine, and,
like them, bringing more or less pro-
found paralysis of the mental functiqns
The close relation of these poisoning ief-
fects to the social consequences thatat-
tend drunkenness and the drink h}bit
begins to make itself manifest to the
general intelligence. If penury and
misery follow the steps of the drunk}rd
it is his weakened mental grasp-wetk-
ened by the workings. of the poiso}- /
that inficts these misfortunes upon him,
just as the destruction of the interAal
organs infiicts pain and disease.
These established and clearly her
ceived facts have not hithexto shaken the
satisfaction with which the moderate use
of alcohol has been regarded or the be-
lief in its benefits. There is no doubt
that this moderate use does not have the
same ruinous results that spring from
the immoderate, and daily experience
seems to teach that the highest mental
and physical performances may be asso-
ciated with temperate indulgence. But
because the blind Milton and the lame
Heine were great poets, is it to be as
sumed that they did not feel their phys
ical deprivations9 Therefore let no one
conclude that alcohol is harmless because
the strong are able to Withstand it.
Should we not give some little heed to
those friends of humanity who complain
that their efforts for the rescue of inirm
and easily seduced natures are brought
to naught by the constant glorifcation
Of this agency of seduction that is so
truly the central influence in our social
life? And should we not vouchsafe some
attention for the peril that is in store for
future generations, if it is true not only
that the drinker transmits to the child an
inferior constitution and nervous sys-
tenn predisposed to all kinds of maladies,
but also that the injurious effects of al
cohol increase from generation to genera
ton?
It was not until our own days that
manufacturing took such strides and the
earth was made to yield alcoholic liquors
30 abundantly as to create a ramifying
and menacing traffic in such liquors as
articles of daily request among the entire
people. Not until now has the problem
been Of a kind to touch the whole nation
instead of separate circles.
We address ourselves to the rejecting
people who look with faith for healthy
and marked development, and to such
we would say, before you lies the fu-
ture, a future which you know viii
make larger and larger demands upon
the activity, the Judgment and the cul-
tivation of mankind. And now, young
men, there is proffered to you an agency
that, if availed of, not only can prove,
but 1--WE may predict) will prove unfail-
ingly instrumental in the struggle which
is ahead for binding you to the condi-
tions of actual life, for deluding you as
to prospects, and for causing you to for
get what you have to battle for. And
this agency is potent to cast about you
the coils Of fascination; it is accorded
all conceivable recommendation and
praise; alike by the sagacious and the
inexperienced it is esteemed at doubly
exaggerated worth; it is devised to take
from you the capacity for discrnni-
mating understanding of the beautiful
and the sacred. Can you believe that
your youth will conquer?
1t will be no easy task to persuade
men to spurn this deceitful poison which
has long been so tenderly cherished un-
less distinct knowledge of its dangers
shall fix the resolve. And now the
truth must be made manifest that even
the entirely moderate person, who has
never been intoxicated and daily takes
his glass of wine at meals for the sake
Of preserving or improving his health, is
in error; for substance that has notice
ably poisonous effects upon those unac-
customed to its use, even if the doses
taken are very small, cannot be consid-
cred means of nourishment.
We beseech all those who have heart
for the future of mankind, all who
watch with sensibility the ever deepen
ing conflict that man is waging with
the conditions of existence, to come to
our side; for the genius of the race can
triumph only by employing the maxim.
"Be not dismayed, but fight"