The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-03-25
ABSENTEE RUIN
 ING FRANCE
SCIENTISTS AND LEGISLATORS JOIN
 TO FIGHT ALCOHOL
Strange Dietary of the Parisian Work man-Fffty Thousand Lives De- stroyed Annually by
 the Drug.

The annual cost of absinthe to | France is figured at 713,000,000 francs, or S142, ,600.0 .0o0. Spent for what? the leaders of the new temperance move- ment ask, and they answer. Just to kill us of.
 Habits of intemperance have grown so in the Republic of late that the newspapers, the medical profession, the magistracy and large group of polit- ical leaders have taken up the question seriously. The result is the formation of a non-partisan political combination to secure Legislation to check the evil.
 The total prohibition of absinthe- manufacture, sale. use-is to be Tea ture of the program. The diminution 1f the use of all alcoholic liquors will be a secondary aim. This will be ap- preached by an effort to check the con- substitution of light wines and beers such as France used almost exclusive ly until the later '70s. For some years there have been two anti ti-alcoholic leagues in the country. They were headed by men of science, M. Chessen, a chemist. and Dr. Le- grain. Their methods were purely ed friendly to each other. This year M. A. Delpech, a Senator from Ariege, took up the agitation and effected union of strength.
 As result of his efforts two par liamentary groups have been formed. The one in the Senate consists of nine l ty one-members, presided over by Sem | ator Rene Berenger, the Anthony Conn stock of Paris The group in the l Chamber of Deputies has Al adher- ents and A. F. J. Ribot, formerly Min ister for Foreign Affairs, Is at its head Each group contains members from | all the political factions. Last month frvn with the anti alcoholic league men and l listened to papers by eminent sanita- rians setting forth facts as a basis for legislative proposals. In the meantime practically all the newspapers and magazines have taken another in picturing the monstrous conditions which exist. One paper gives the following statement as the l daily dietary and expense record of ] thousands of mechanics: Three morning nips, 30 centimes e cents.)
 One coffee and brandy, 55 centimes.
 Two absinthes, 50 centimes, (1O | cents.)
 Two bitters 50 centimes, (1O cents ) Two Madeiras, 40 centimes (s cents) Miscellaneous beverages, coffee and brandy, 75 centimes (15 cents.)
  franc. (20 csnts.)
 omelet, bread and cheese, franc (2O cents
 Total of days expenditure, 5 francs. or s1.
 The arrangement of the drinks rep- resents the history of the day begin ming with eye openers and ending with the social glasses that bring the day to a close.
 What a tragic preponderance of poisonous drink over food!" Is the com ment of the journal that prints the table.
 The great bibulatory event of the day in Paris is the hour of the apertif or apero, the appetizer before the prin- cipal meal of the day. As the bells chime o'clock all Paris that has the price fiocks to the cafes of high and low degree. This is above all the ab- sinthe hour. Perhaps 90 per cent of the men in Paris have a drink of it at that hour and no small fraction of the women to boot
 The habit Is confined to no order in the social scale. The rich in their clubs or their homes and the day la borer all take the apero. Even those who do not use 1t any other time in- dulge this one time daily. It has to this extent at least become a sort of national mania.
 All the familiar physiological deals of the evils of alcoholism figure in the new Parisian crusade. The organs that 1t destroys and the diseases that 1t creates are described with all the familiar details of a New York public school text book Statistics are abun- dant One doctor says that of 2,192 cases of tuberculosis observed by him l.229 were due to alcoholism directly and l! SS1 to absinthe.
 There were 10000 insane persons In France in 1885; today there are Ave times that number, though the popula- | ton has increased only one-sixth in number. Drink. and especially ab- sinthe, is blamed for the whole in- crease Above all. the decline of the population is put down to alcohol One | doctor (Legrain) has studied the his- l tory of 215 alcoholic families through