The people's recorder. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1893-1925, 1901-12-21
THE GRRA RlRa DESTROYER
SOME srAsTl,xn FACTS ABOUT
THE WcE&oF slAJgMPERANcE:

SOME y N0ylsN&1SSIk ACl . t6SO
THE WcEsoF lNJgMPERANcE:"
Tho blood Of tho iNa,ion-nIo.t Excess in
tito Use OF Alcohol fs Not Duo to
Primitive Aphotito - Tho Power OF
Bad Influence.
President David Starr Jordan. Of the
Leland Stanford University. has pub-
lish!ed in the Popular Sciencc Mn"thiv q
the Nation: A Stndv of the Decav Of
Races Through the Survival of the Unfit" :"
That class of phiIosophers who are en-.
deavoring to establish tho theory that
drunkenness and it's ATTENDING vices and
miseriess are clearly rart Of tie progress
in DR.. .Tordan's article. Conceding to
those gentlemen certain amount 1T truth
which it would he extremely difficult to
nrove in behalf Of their theories, DR.. Jor-
dan says:
prorrcss should he considered in this con.
nectinn. Authorities do not agree ns. to
the final result Of alcohol in race se1ec-
ton. Doubtless. IN the long run. the
druntard will b. hla;nated. and nerhn,n.s
Il there is great sofss Sin Dr. Amos G. War.
is the most expensive: The people Of
Southern Euronei iareyr yrelatively temperate:
hfS SosS hsss ssd Sy Red sss slS seis
that the cause Of their ternperance is to
be found in this Id .ie ,,se of alcoholic bev-
eraees. All those With vitiated or uncnn,
trolleble appetitesl have heen DESTROYED in
the long cxnarie1;e with wine. leaving
orlv those with nd:mnl tnstes and normal
ability of resistancE. The free Use Of wine
ia. therefore. in this view. n cause of
final temperancel while intemnerance
RACES on:v among those races which have
not long known apoho1. and have not he
come by selectinIl resistant to it. The
savane races whicH~have never known al.
coho! are even ]eseIresistant, and are soon
cr destrovrh br it'll
"In nli this ther{ must be q certain c!e-
ment of truth. he view. however. ig-
pores the evil eff3ct on the nervous sys.
fem Of lono-cont;Hucd poisoning. even if
the noison he only in moderate amounts.
The teronerate italian. with his daily s"mi.
satura tior. If no more n normal man than
the Scotch farmer with his occasional
snrens. The ner'.e disturbance which wine
effects is m evil. whether carried to ~.
cess in rer1,farity or irregularity. We
know too little Of it's final result on the
race tn give certainty TO our snecu'atiors.
It. is moreover true that most excess in
the rec of alcohol 10 not due to primitive
annette. It 10 drint which causes apne-
tite. and not apnctite which seeks for
drink. In n given number of drunl:ards
hut verv few he"oIre such through in
born ahpctitc. IT q influence of had en-
annie, lack Of cnrr,oe. fa'sc idea os man
illness. o. some defect in character or n, s.
fortune in envirorre"t which lcods to the
first stems in drunkenness. The. taste
ouc- established takes care Of itself. In
ear times. when the nature of alcohol
was unknown and total % obstinence was I'M.
dreamed Of it was the strong. the bolster
ous. the crergetic$ the anost'e IF 'the
e~cesa The wassail bow. ). the bumper OF
ale. the favor Of wine. ali these were the
attribute of the strong, we. cannot say
hat those vliolsnr,s in alcoholism therehv
.a!nstratsd The. surN:rss1 of. the sfttPst WHO
can say that as'the Latin races ~
ter"uerate thew did not also become dorils
and weak? In: other words. considering
the Influence cf alcohol n'one. unchecked
by m educated conscience. we must nd
nit that it is the strong and vigorous, not
the weak md nerverted. that are de-
stroved by it. At the hest, we can only
say that Alcoholic se'ection ia a conn'eS
force which rakes for temperarce-if at
all. Mt fearful cost of lifo which without
alcoholic temptation would be we'll worth
preserving"
DR.. Jordan. it ia to be presumed. would
not care to he understood rs indorsing the
idea that the winc-drinking countries oi
Europe have been mede te".rerate by their
wine.drinking. Fe is nrobably much too
well acquainted with the current history
of France and the other so-called ''wine
countries" tn be in igrorance Of the true
state Of affairs thcrc.-New Voice.