Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1901-03-14

At last the French lawmakers have
awakened to the green peril of France
/ the deadly absintho, says the New
/ York Press. The consumption Of this
/ drug has been for years the curse of the
/ French people. Its effects upon the
/ nervous system are such that it is
especially harmful to an eXcitable pao-
pie like the French. That it is respon-
slDlc for the increase in insanity in
france is shown by the fact that the
growth in its consumption goes hand
IN hand with the increase of cases of
mental arrangement Cases of insanity
/ directly traCeable to the use of this
drug seldom or never recover. In large
quantities absinthe produces cpilectic
Commissions, as has been shown by tX-
pertinent, and the continued though
moderate use of ii produces symptoms
OF an e2il ptic character which are not
due to the alcohol in the dec1ction. In
the last six years the consumption of
absinthe has doubled in France. the
absinthe drinkers Of that country now
consuming. according to NJ valiant,
100000 gallons a year. The confirmed
absinthe drinker is nervous. irascible.
erratic and incapable of self-contol or
OF logical reasoning. He does not get
drunk like the whisky drinker. but is
driven to a sort Of frenzy. Absinthe
also stimulates the lowest and most
abnormal passions. No man can re-
main perfectly sane and be addicted to
absinthe. The French Academy of
Medicine and the French members OF
the Chamber of Deputies see grave dan
gers ahead for France if the use of the
drug is not checked. If the increase in
its use goes on with the same rapidity
which it has in the last four years it
is only question of time when France
will become a nation of lunatics. In
this country little absinthe Is CON
sumed. Ten years ago there was quite
fad" for absinthe drinking in the
United States, but it was of short dura-
ton, American common sense soon
RELOCATING the dangerous drink to OBJ
security. Later it became the curtom
TO say to the bartender when ordering
a cocktail, Just a dash of absinthe in
it," Now the bartenders in the best
drinking places in New York say that
absinthe in a cocktail Is seldom called
for. Now and then young man who
is just learning the ropes of the big
city and wants to appear knowing"
will call for an "ahsinthe frappe," or
some old FOUNDER" whose pickering
candle is almost gone out, will order
an absinthe as a "bracer," but as
general drink it is seldom used here
now. The real "rounder,' the man
who has drunk all his life and intends
to drink for the remainder of it,
eschews aNsinthe as he would a tenn
perance pledge. In restaurants and
cafes frequented by foreigners one may
occasionally see men sitting over their
cloudy green liquor, but as a rule the
drip glass" remains unused behind
the bar, and the absinthc bottle keeps
1t company The history of the intro
duction of this drink into France is Gu
rious. When the French soldiers were
sent to the Algerian war in 1S44-7, they
We're advised TO mix absinthe with the
water they drank as q preventive
against fever, II was as pleasant a
tasting medicine as any man had ever
taken, and the result was that the
whole French army in Algiers became
an army Of absinthC drinkers. When
the soldiers returned to France they
brought the absinthe habit with them
and introduced their friends to the new
drink. The absinthe habit spread
throughout France with remarkable
rapidity, and has now become n great
nNional evil, calling for strict logisla-
from its green peril.