The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1908-12-07
THE LIQUOR
PROBLEM
Continued From Page Three.)

4 lSSSOl MuSuSleIDeTB arguments 'I0aI
all of the strong nations use intoxi-
cants;" that alcohol is needed for in
vigoration;" that the American nation
will become emasculated if it wipes out
alcoholic stimulants;" that the de-
mand of civilization is for a temperate
use of liquors, not abstinence"
NO LIQUOR FOR ATHLETES.
Scarcely had the speaker entered up
on this phase of the discussion than he
was interrupted by hearty laughter. He
said:
Now, as to physical vigor: The
modern athlete cannot afford to
indulge and doesn't. His vigor does
not depend upon stimulants, but
food. The booty baseball player
is dropped from the team. Even
the bleachers won't tolerate him,
for he cannot play ball.
Again, the greatest railroad cor
porations in the United States re-
fuse to employ men addicted to the
use of liquor, because every engi-
neer and every motorman has thou
sands of lives committed to his
care every day"
In this connection came reference
to Germany that provoked more laugh
ter, when the speaker declared that the
Bergman electric works in Berlin now
prohibited the use of beer in working
hours, and that Won Moltke once said,
Beer is a far more dangerous enemy
to Germany than all of the armies of
France"
Continuing, Doctor Barrows said.
Serious alarm has been raised
in Germany because of the excess
sive use of beer and this alarm has
been extended to the army, where
abstinence is being advised for the
purpose of making more hardy SOL
diers Denmark, standing almost
at the top in its consumption of
spirits, has the greatest number
of suicides, and in spite of all the
beer and spirits consumed in Ger
many to drown sorrow and give the
alleged needed stimulation to
thought, they have not availed to
save Germany from the terrible
evils of suicide. Death from this
cause far exceed the number in our
own country.
Il do not know where Professor
Muensterberg gets his data for the
statement that crimes against life
are 20 times more frequent here
than in Europe. Statistics cannot
be made from guesses, but even
if this were true, three-fourths of
the offenses against life are caused
by alcoholic liquors."
MOVEMENT WORLD WIDE.
This movement for social regulation
is going around the world" said the
speaker. England is going to cut
down it's saloons and establish local
option. Belgium prohibits absinthe.
Switzerland is following suit. Iceland
has just adopted prohibition. Finland
has also voted for it. Why is the
movement in the United States, in
which 36,000,0O0 people have voted no
license, any more hysterical than in
Iceland.
las to the declaration that the re-
suit of total abstinence will be a ma
tional outburst of stock gambling, SEN
sationalism, burglary and murder, we
must not take Professor Muensterberg
seriously. The Americans have been
guilty of much eXaggeration, At last
a German has outdone us at our own
game. That declaration sounds like
Mr.. Dooley."
1t was the innings of the local option
adherents. in the audience, and even
Professor Muensterber joined in the
burst of laughter that greeted this good
natured thrust.
Now, let us turn to inspiration and
its causes" continued Doctor Barrows.
Emerson wrote beautiful essay upon
it. He mentions wine, but incidental
ly. The things he lays stress on are
not material, but psychologlcal-the
quickening book, the letter to friend,
communion with nature, solitude, good
health, power of the will, fine morn
ing, the mountain top and the seaside,
conversation and poetry.
QUOTES PROFESSOR WLASSAK.
Professor Wlassak, of Vienna, de-
clares that the beer mug is the enemy
of genius The great social and moral
inspirations which come to a nation
cannot be traced to distilleries or beer
watts"
In closing Doctor Barrows cited Doc
tor Eliot, president of Harvard, an
earnest advocate of local option and
total abstinence, as one of the many
brilliant men this country had pro-
duced without the aid of alcoholic sti-
muants That which weakened the
mental and physical powers, he con-
tended, could not be placed in the
category of things that were beneficial
to man.