Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1899-04-06
All Use of Wine Condemned.

To the Editor: Sir-A writer who styles
herself "a temperance woman, but not a
teetotaler," recently filed two-thirds OF q
column on the Woman's Page In the New
York Tribune with suggestions rs to the
kinds of wine and the manner OF serving
the same.
Growing enthusiastic with her subject,
she arabes qued it with the sparkle of gilt
and cut glass, Bohemian and Roman, and
east about it a spell Of aroma and bouquet,
until the reader is reminded OF descriptions
)f bacchanalian feasts in the history Of the
lead nations.
Her advice Is decidedly belated; it does
lot fit the Intelligence of our times Chem
!stry shows that the zone wine, red or
white.' which this writer says should be
1sed straight through" a home dinner
contains varying percentage Of alcohol.
Whether there be in this wine much or lit
lie alcohol the character OF that alcohol Is
The same. 1t is an irritant, narcotic poi
ION. It's best friends cannot deny that 1t
1as the power, when taken even in small
quantities, to create progressive. uncon-
rollable and destructive appetite for more
This appetite grows stealthily upon the
lriuker. The ability to resist it varies with
he individual, and is dependent upon
physical conditions, in which hereidity is a
powerful factor. John b. Cough said,
My father could be moderate drinker,
)ut can be only total abstainer or
gutter drunkard."
The qualification of this appetite ends in
Drunkenness. crime, poverty, misery and
madness. Therefore, the family or indi-
7idual who Is drinking the red or white
vine which this so-called temperance
woman recommends for the daily home
Inner is trying a very dangerous expert
nent. Eightyfour per cent. OF our Grim.
mails, seventy-fve per cent. OF our paupers,
! ifty per cent. of the inmates of our insane
| isylnms began their careers with so-called
| Moderate drinking. No human being can
! 'oresee when he begins where such tipping
will land him. He IS dealing in futures,
With no knowledge of his chances beyond
he fact that the drink he is imbibing has
IN enticing power for destruction; but this
! TACT he generally ignores.
| Modern chemistry shows that the four
Kinds of wine this writer would have
served with r more formal course dinn@
are the same sort of liquors, differing only
! n flavor and thu amount of alcohol they
contain. Providing for guests four differ
| ant kinds OF poisonous drinks which have
| The power for harm that alcohol has Is. to
;ay the least, a barbarian sort of hospital
lty relic of the days that had not the
light OF modern science.
Through its action on the nerves and
,rGin, alcohol, OF all agents, is the most
powerful for the destruction of those quail
lies of mind and character that make
| people capable of self-government. 1t Is,
| therefore, the most dangerous of all foes
20 our free institutions. which rest upon
! he capacity of our people. for self-govern.
ment.
To follow this wine- bibbing advice is an
invitation to disaster to that which we hold
mcst dear-liberty under law. The ca
| pacity for government of the American
| people will stand the strain OF the colonial
expansion has thrust upon us, If alcohol ia
abolished from our habits. Commenting
On this probability, Adolph Flick. professor
Of physiology in Wurtzburg University
Germany, in public lecture said:
There is good reason for asserting that
The Anglo-Saxon race at nc very distant
lay will free itself from the yoke OF alco-
hol. Whether it will then be possible fol
those races still submitting to its use to
compete with the Anglo-Saxon in their
economical pursuits is question to be
;houghtfuliy considered.
MARY Il. HUNT.