The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1908-05-08

o life, ont death, for which we pant,
More life and fuller, that we want.
Alcohol has no mission for life;
in medical annals 1t Is specially a pre-
sentative in the museums of dead
subjects: The element of energy
evoked in its use Is paralyzing In the
reaction. For this reason 1t has no
mission for cure: it prevents the
blood from taking up the oxygen, and
stagnation and decay are the final
outcome.
Let us begin at the beginning and
note thei Indictment against alcohol
in its use and abuse as related to al
coholic disease, technically speaking,
inebriety, or hereditary disease.
To state the question from scien-
tific, literary, or almost any conceiv-
able standpoint, Is to prove 1t. No
candid person can admit that there
is another side. The rare commit
tees" university presidents" $50
citl settlers" who throw a halo of
Ecstasy" around the indulgence in
wine, beer, whisky, illustrate In their
very paucity of statement lost or
very weak cause.
81 have been fool in writing to
the contrary" says Rudyard Kip
ling in recanting his expressed senti-
ments on the liduor-drinking habit.
The armies, British and American,
have been tried and tested, and al
cohol found wanting as panacea in
the hardships and exposure incident
to army life. From the German and
Swiss standpoint the best wisdom of
the highest authorities is opposed to
it's use.-See "The Alcohol problem"
a compilation of evidence translated
by Mary G. Stuckenberg.
Tipping continues an almighty
idol among us Germans" said Mar
tin Luther The tippler Is the mod
crate" drinker who will not forego
his liberty for the common. good. 81
am never dizzy" he says, ut is fun
for me to keep my balance on the
edge of precipice. Suppose one
man in every nine does fall down and
dash out his brains-what's that to
mel"
At the risk of an effort to popular
ize this general subject, heredity,
some definitions must begiven. They
are clearly stated by Dr. James
Stewart, an English surgeon:
/. Inebriety is disease, alcoholic
inherited. Drunkenness is vice, an
acquired vice.
2. The disease, inebriety, once
established, may be transmitted in
the form of the alcoholic diathesis,
epilepsy, chorea, insanity, tendency
to crime.
8. The child of an inebriate is
sure to inherit some nervous predis-
position or affection.
4. Life long total abstinence is
the only security against it.
5. Even this does not render per-
| fectly safe, or prevent transmission
to offspring.
g. To prevent the development of
the diease great care should be TAX
en- as to emotional excitement.
| 7. In prophylaxis of inebriety the
principle to be acted upon is training
-accentuate the good, alternate the
evil.
Perhaps five in one hundred inc
briates are reformed permanently.
What Alcohol Does.
First, for the moderate drinker
who never really gets drunk! DR..
Pierret says of unconscious alcohol
ism, the result is a successive giving
out of the vital organs, the stomach,
liver, kidneys, ETC., and the worst
effects are found in the children Of
these moderate drinkers-a special
race weak and constantly deterior-
ating. The moderate drinker because
of his daily alcoholic dose is under
going incipient paralysis; his appe-
tite is the gradual enslaver of his en-
tire organism; every day an accident
out or trembles in the balance be-
cause the enfeebled system has no
rallying power.
To illustrate: A man high in au-
thority, lovable and beloved, and
wise in public affairs, lay for many
days with death lowering over him
his case being considered by the ply
sicians as almost, If not altogether
hopeless. The complication of dis
eases might possibly be resisted, but
the complication of alcohol would
not easily be overcome. "Uncon-
scious alcoholism" suddenly becomes
regnant in the history of the patient
the vitality is lowered and the pat
lent is without recuperative force
This slowly acquired deterioration
from the alcoholic poison Is not only
inimical to recovery, but Is transmit
ted and children are likewise sus.
The craving for drink Is unques.
tionably hereditary, but even II moi
inherited, as in some rare instances
the effects of indulgence, moderate
and immoderate, are found in the
, family annals.
Second, the inebriate, the victim
of alcoholic disease.
There is a negative view and this
, shall be stated to make clearer thai
which is positive.
A 10 - vxh, ,fntn