The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-04-17
THE E DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF NTEMPERANCE.
How Drink Destroys the Working
Powers is Proved by the Follow
ing Evidence Compiled by 3. e.
Mckenzie. n. a. NJ n.

What proof is there, that drink de-
stroys working power? There are
still many persons who claim that 30
far from it lessening a mans power.
for work, a moderate quantity is esq
sential to the highest success. The
answers to be given here are .based5
not upon theory or speculation, but
upon demonstrated facts facts,
brought into vital prominence, eth!
er in the course of business Of In the
treatment of disease.
Proofs.-In the morgue In tho
Philadelphia Hospital two hundred
and fifty %autopsies of persons whd
have been habitual drinkers. showed
that nearly ninety per cent. had fatty
degeneration Of the liver; sixty pen
cent. had congestion or a dropsica1
state of the brain; sixty per cent. an
inflamed OF degenerated lining MEM.
brane CT the stomach; while slesa
than one per cent. had normal kid
neys. ~
Dr.. Crothers, of Hartford, who
has an international reputation In
the management Of institutions
treating inebriety, says: "Inebriety
is the active cause of from fifteen to-
fifty per cent. Of all insanity; from
thirty to eighty per cent: of alL;idfs
ocy; from sixty to ninety per cent
of all pauperism; and from fifty to-
eighty-fye per cent. of all crime,
Insurance Evidence. - The tenn.
perance reformation was begun In
the absence of actual recerdedtstatis-
tical facts bearing upon the advan-
tages to the abstainers. AS late as
1910, the moderate use of intoxi-
cants. was regarded as Indispensable
to good health, at which time, ih
England, Robert Warner, member
of the Society Of Friends, applied for
life insurance. He was informed that
he would be required to pay ten per
cent. more than the advertised pre-
MUM, because Of his total abstinence
principles and practice. He contend
ed that on the othershand he was en-
titled to a rebate Of ten per cent. torfi
the assigned. He and others
organized the United Kingdom Tem-
perance and Provident Associationt
which up till 1847 admitted only abb
stainers, but which since that timex
has accepted Notwithstanding policy-E
holders, keeping the records OF ftheI
two classes separate. The evidences
thus accumulated for more than haiti
a century proves conculsively that
drinking, even wheh continued mod.
erately, shortens life, by causing dis,
ease, and increases greatly the NUM-
Der Of days in each year when menl
are not available for work. 0therli
insurance companies have followed
the example set, so that to-day, as
a matter of hard headed business
not sentiment-there are severafGin-
surance companies who do business!
in such a way that permits the total
abstainer to reap the advantages OF
his abstinence.
Sickness.-In societies which pay ~
benefit to their members who<are dist
abled through sickness, the total
amount Of sickness in a year is foundt
to be about twenty per cent. less than
the expectation among total abstain
ers, while in the case OF non-abgtain-
ers the loss through sickness is about
two per cent. greater than the ex-.
p%ectation. Xxx
Evidence From Mercantile Pura
suits.-Before the committee of the
Royal Commission the following evil
dence vas given: Charles Archibald
manager of the Cover Mine, Cape
Breton, N. S., employs from 800 to-
400 hundred men. He said: "The
drink habit lessons decidedly the
~wage-earning power Of men. We
have a certain expense going ON all
the time, and If our men are Oft
work this involves a loss to us, 2 ver.Il
severe one. The men themselves
earn less money in a given time"
Action of Alcohol on the System.-
Poisoning by alcohol may be either
acute or chronic, and the resulting
diseased condition is called "alcoholS
ISM" In the acute form mania, with
excitement and delirium, is devel-
oped, and is known as "delirium tre1s
mems" In chronic alcohol poisoning,
nearly all the tissues Of the bod!h
are affected. There is a new growth
of connective tissues in all of the
organs. In the liver this .connectiVs
tissue surrounds the various cells,
which constitute the special workinisi
of that organ, and gradual-
Iy the connective tissue contracts|
upon these cells, destroying theirl
function. This condition is now
called "cirrhosis," and Is commonlY
accompanied by dropsy. III a similarly
way nephritis, or disease of the kid
neys, is brought about, resulting alsot
in dropsy. Even, the walls Of the
blood vessels become hard and ine-
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. = permitting
only a diminished and irregular sup
ply of blood to the various organs.
Gradually changes occur in the
stomach and intestines, leading to
chronic dyspepsia, loss Of appetite,
nausea and vomiting. 10
In the nervous system the highest
centres-those of memory and ASSOC
citation of ideas-become first affect
ed; then follows gradual deteriora- :
ton of the whole individual. -
Manifestly, an agent which pro- !
duces the above-named conditions in
capacitates its victim for work of any.
kind while he lives, and terminates
his LIE long before it has run its al,
time. Nor is it the individual
who, himself drinks, Is the losert.
thereby, but the workmen associated
with hin, the employers who have -
right to his service, customers who.
have a right to expect goods, the FAM
lily who have a claim upon his sup1
port; all are made more or less the
victims of his suicidal practice
Pioneer.