The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-06-23

cent of all the crimes committed wer
the result of liquor drinking. A recen
article entitled "A Factor in the Indus
trial Competition of Nations" has gon
the rounds of newspapers III Belgium
France, Russia and England. going t
show that American workmen are stron
ger competitors in the worlds work thai
those of any other nation, giving as rea
SONS therefor, first, that the laws of tn
American States make mandatory tn
teaching of scientific temperance in tn
public schools; second, as the result o
such teaching American employers require
total abstinence on the part of their work
men at least during the hours of service
thus enabling them to do better wori
and giving to American manufacturers th'
first place in the industrial world
DR.. Taylor also said that the best au
thorities on the alcohol question are Ger
man professors who are largely quoted IN
the school physiologies of this country.
Continuing, DIR. Taylor said: Every
poison likes some one part OF the pody
better than it likes another For IN
stance the poison of lead likes the muscles
of the wrist. Mercury likes the sallvary
glands the best Manganese likes the
liver. Tobacco likes the heart the best
Arsenic likes the stomach, stryehnlne the
spinal cord. and alcohol likes the BRAN
the hest This places alcohol at the tor
of the list as the most serious poison OF al
those mentioned because it likes the brain
the best which is the most vital and SEN
s;tive mart of the human body, the home
of tba mind. Why does alcohol like the
brain the best? Because of the large per-
centage of albumen composing the brain
substances. But why does alcohol like
albumen so well? Because it has a chelni-
cal affinity for water. Albumen is large
ly water Alcohol draws the water Of the
brain tissues out, leaving the cells of the
brain impaired, and you cannot impair
the brain cells continuously like that
without impairing the mental faculties
DR.. Charles Richet of France, one of the
best authorities in the world on the psy-
action of alcohol, says in sub
stance what other authorities confirm,
that alcohol in small doses over
stimulates the memory, the imagination
and the association of ideas. At the same
time it depresses the judgment. con-
science. reflection and wit. While this
process is going on, it is at
the animal impulses of the man and by
as much as the higher faculties are de-
pressed, the lower faculties run riot IN
the mans body, so that under the contlnu-
GUS habit of drink he comes to act more
and more under his impulses and less and
less under his judgment, conscience and
will" This. DR.. Taylor said, was unques.
tionably the most serious statement that
can be made by any man on the temper
ance question to day, because it accounts
in a scientific way for the harm wrought
by drink
'In no other way can we account for
the fact that nine tenths of all the crimes
committed are the result of liquor drink
ing. 1t cannot be supposed for moment
that such a proportion of crimes could be
the result of the abuse of a thing in its
inherent or essential nature. 1t Is the
product of the habitual use of substance
bad in its nature. The nature of alcohol
the guiding faculties of the
man and unduly awakening his emotional
nature accounts for the fact that there are
more moderate drinkers in the penal in
situations of this country who have com
mitted crimes under the impulse of liquor
than there are of habitual drlnkards who
have committed offenses while drunk. II
the State of Massachusetts there are
"A 600 men in its penal institutions VINO
have committed crime under the influence
If liquor, 1000 of the "a, 600 are registered
As habitual drinkers, while 10000 are reg
istered as moderate drinkers. How does
] moderate drinker commit a crime while
not drunk? A man takes drink of his
Nf n
md starts down town for his place of
BUSINESS. On his way he discovers some
hing wrong on the dividing line between
lis property and that of his neighbor
Ordinarily he would give it no thought
much less word about it, but now with
his Imagination inflated, he magnifies the
little thing out of due proportions 1t aD
bears to him to be great offense With
depressed Judgment he does not reason
properly about it, with blunted conscience
lie does not properly moralize about IL:
with weakened will power he loses self
control, and with an over-excited emotion
Al nature he has got to say something
about. it, and so speaks out a bad word
which calls for another bad word from
his neighbor, when they get into war
Of words which leads to a personal en-.
counter with his neighbor for which he
is tried and sentenced to a term in the
penitentiary. Was he drunk? No, sir.
but he had been drinking. and on the
impulse of the moment he committed the
crime.
1.-THE first faculay which shows depres-
sion under moderate and continued use OF
alcohol is the spiritual faculty. This is
for the reason that this faculty is the
most highly organized and sensitive of all
the faculties of the human mind and the
highest order Of faculties are the first to
be impaired by any narcotic drug. Place
the blade OF jack knife and the blade of
razor side by side, then draw file evenly
ind impartially across the two edges and
you vii find the razor edge being the
keenest and most sensitive will be the first
to be impaired. The spiritual faculty has
the razor edge and consequently is tie
first to be impaired even by tobacco. alco-
hol or other similar drug. What is the
spiritual faculty? 1t is the open door
through which God speaks to mans heart.
1t is the nature of alcohol to close that
loor and, in so far. it defeats the mes