The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-02-02
THEY SAY WHISKY AND BEER ARE BAD

The other day Prof. William Osler religious
professor of Oxford University. said the people of
England would be better off if their supply Of beer
we're to be emptied into the sea for year or So A
generation ago in Englat nd any medical man
turing to make such statement would have been
laughed at as a crank or pitied as a monomanlac.
Now the people will listen attentively, and while
many will disagree with the Oxford professor they
will freely admit that his words call attention to
great evil-the intemperauce of the average Brit
ish workman. Hon. John Burns, the labor repre-
sentative in the British cabinet has dwelt upon the
ravages of intemperance among the laboring classes
! in strong terms amy professional man could
employ. Lord Roberts and other Notwithstanding
generals of the armies of Great Britain and ireland
! have proved by experim ents that soldiers do not
need stimuants to endure hardships in the field,
and the Japs have recently taught the world that
! alcohol is not needed to make soldiers fight with
desperate valor. Now comes a scientific German
to puncture the fine old idea that there is init
mate and pleasant association between wine and
! song. For ages it a welcome delusiOn that
poets and of genius did their best work when
more or less stimulated. There many examples
of indulgence III alcohol going hand IN hand with
! fervent brains and the poetic temperament That
Shakespeare was able drinker is generally con
ceded. Our own Webster imbibed too freely, and
poor Edgar Allen Poe Chit the bottle" to his
ruin. Among present day literary men there are
total abstainers, moderate drinkers and some who
become intoxicated with more less regularity.
| In Berlin distinguished editor of an influential
and widely circulated periodical asked the opinions
of the most celebrated of German contemporary
writer's on the effects of alcohol and its supposed
inspirational influence. To $50 writers he sent out
list of questions and received answers from 115.
Summing up the results it was found that hardly
any one of them held the opinion that alcohol was
of any use in stimulating thought. These the
questions submitted to the prominent newspaper
men and writers by Dr. Van Vienten.
1. Do you regularly take spirits in some form
before you begin work, and what effects do you
attribute to them?
9 If you do not regularly take alcohol before
you begin work, but have occasionally done so, has
| it acted stimulant a hindrance to activity!
g. VIII you give us your opinion, based on OBJ
servation of the effect of alcohol poetic inspra
ton, and your views the question of alcohol in
| general!
The Berlin correspondent Of the Washington
Star gives the answers to these questions returned
by number of writer's who are among the leaders
i'll prose and poetry in Germany today. Here
some of the answers:
Karl Henchel.-I dare say pony of good
brandy has delivered me from an attack of stomach
ache, but it has never yet carried my lyric balloon
into more rarified air. For habitual drunkards
total abstinence the only cure. matter
whether the tipper is a grocer poet
Victor Bluttigen.-I should not care to be
guest at feast under the sign of milk and Lem
onade."
A. simultaneously Whenever | have occasion
ally been induced to take alcohol during the day,
the result has been that both the wish and ability
to work have entirely vanished. 1 take no stimu-
lants apart from bottle of light beer before going
to bed.
Dellef Won Lilliencorn-I never take alcohol
before or during work It interferes with my work
ing powers.
Fritz Lienhard--I take next to alcohol. l
have no need and no desire for it.
George Reche.-Aleoho may occasionally in
spire this or that idea. but real work is OILY hin
dered by it. / would not do away entirely with al
cohoic drinks, but the greatest moderation should
be practiced.
F. MISUNDERSTANDING by personal exper
fence alcohol is the greatest stupifer in existence
o. l. Bierbaum.-The smallest quantity of alco-
ho absolutely paralyzes me- 1t Supplies my brain.
For me it is poison
Of the 1870 writer's only four total abstainers,
% are moderate drinkers 10s avoid liquor before
and during work, but only 10 of them find that in
their own particular cases alcohol helps them in
composition. These opinions remarkable
ing from a drinking people in drinking land,
where more perhaps is written in praise of beer
and wine than in any other country in the world,
Moreover, with an appreciation of the German fac