The Penn's Grove record., 1899-03-17

To the Editor: SRA writer who styles
herself "a temperance woman, but not a
teetotaler," recently filed two-thirds OF a
column on the Woman's Page In the New
York Tribune with suggestions as 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
cast about 1t q spell of aroma and bouquet,
until the reader Is reminded of descriptions
of bacchanalian feasts in the history Of the
. dead nations.
Her advice is decidedly belated; 1t does
not fit the Intelligence Of our times. Chem
istry shows that the Zone wine, red or
white" which this writer says should be
used straight through" a home dinner
contains a varying percentage OF alcohol.
Whether there be in this wine much OF lit
tie alcohol, the character OF that alcohol Is
the same. It is an i%rritant, narcotic poi
son. Its best friends cannot deny that 1t
has the power. when taken even in small
quantities, to create a progressive. uncon-
trollable and destructive appetite for more.
This appetite grows stealthlly upon the
drinksr, The ability to resist 1t varies with
the Individual, and is dependent upon
physical conditions, in which hereidity is q
powerful factor. John d. Cough said,
"My father could be a moderate drlnker,
but lean be only a total ~abstainer or a
gutter drunkard."
The qualification OF this appetite ends in
drunkenness, crime, poverty, misery and
madness. Therefore, the family or indi.
yldual who is drinking the red or white
wine which this so-called temperance
woman recommends for the daily HON
iinner Is trying a very dangerous expert.
ment. Eighty-four per cent. Of our Grim.
lnals, seventy-lye per cent. OF our paupers,
fifty per cent. of the inmates OF our insane
-t,,r hnran ttnfr M rrfth ~, .na1Ial
moderate drinking. No human being can
toresee when he begins where such tipping
will land him.. He Is dealing in futures,
with no knowledge of his chances beyond
the fact that the drink he is imblbing has
an enticing power for destruction; but this
TACT he generally ignores.
Modern chemistry shows that the four
kinds OF wine this writer would have
,erved with a more formal course dinnsI
are the same sort of liquors, differing only
In flavor and this amount of alcohol they
contain. Providing for guests four differ
snt kinds OF poisonous drinks which have
The power for harm that alcohol has is, to
say the least, a BARBARIAN sort of hospital
lty, a relic of the days that had not the
light of modern science.
Through its action on the nerves and
brain, alcohol, of all agents, is the most
powerful for the destruction Of those quail
ties of mind and character that make a
people cdldUlb VI Seil-bONtFhHltHls II 49,
therefore, the most dangerous of all foes
to our free institutions. which rest upon
the capacity Of our people for ~self-goyern-
ment.
To follow this wine-bibbing advice is an
Invitation to disaster to that which we hold
most d~ear-liberty under law. The ca.
pacity for government of the American
people Will stand the strain of the colonial
expansion has thrust upon us, II alcoholis
abolished from our habits. Commenting
on this probability, Adolph Flick, professor
Of physiology in Wurtzburg University.
Germany, in a public lecture said;
"There is good reason for asserting that
the Anglo-Saxon race at no very distant
day will free itself from the yoke OF alco'
hol. Whether 1t will then be possible ioI
those races still submitting to Its use to
compete with the Anglo-Saxon in their
economical pursuits is a question to be
thoughtfully considered"
MAR H. HUNT.