The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1908-01-15
DRINK HABIT AMONG NEW YORK WOMEN

1T is not my ODJSCI " pA CelCAA III
less the mere statement OF fact IS a
sermon, and the fact is New Rork
women do drink, or rather too large
a percentage of them drink, ana
drink to excess. If one doubts 1t let
him go to any of our large hotels
and restaurants any night and look
about him. On every hand you hnd
them and their sister visitors TO New
York drinking No one thinks any
thing about it, and the women think
they are simply doing the proper
thing. Many of them drink just be-
cause they do think that way, and
many of them drink because they
like the liquor.
II have treated in the last eight
years 700 cases of alcoholism, with
a large percentage of women, and l
have found in many cases where the
Datient was a woman that she did
not, deep down in her heart, want to
be cured of the habit This fact is
true especially in the case of the rich
society woman. She usually comes
to me either at the urgent solicita-
ton of relatives or friends, or with
only a surface desire to be rid of
the habit Very few of them honest
" and truly, and with their whole
heart, want to be cured.
Few Want to BE Cured.
For instance, a certain woman
came to me for treatment for the
drink habit and seemed sincere in
deed | treated her by auto-sugges-
ton, giving her the suggestion that
she could not lift wine glass to
her lips. She went away and the
very next night she went with a man
companion to one of our large res
taurants, made no objection what
ever when wine was ordered, and
even tried her best to overcome the
suggestion l had given her and drink
the wine. But she found that she
could not lift the glass from the
table. You see, she did not really
and honestly want to be cured, and
wasted but little time in rushing into
temptation.
Conditions might not be so bad,
| however, if women or men drank
real, pure whisky, real, pure wine
and real, pure liquors of all sorts,
but they don't They think they do,
but what they are really drinking
is a deadly poison and one swift in
it's execution. n feel safe in saying
that out of one hundred drinks sold
in New York city as whisky not more
than one is the real article.
But so cleverly is whisky coun-
forfeited today that club connois-
seurs cannot detect it, as was shown
in an experiment made recently by
DR.. Darlington of the board of
health. Dr. Darlington went around
and collected a number of samples
of whisky from saloons of all classes,
took the samples to his club, where
he had several of the members test
them, and much to his surprise the
cheap limitations of whisky were
judged to be the real thing.
Most Whisky Is Counterfeit.
ct stands to reason, of course
that the great proportion of the
liquor sold is counterfeit, when it is
known that the consumption is far
in excess of the ability of distillers
and brewers to produce the genuine
product. Authorizations and crimi-
nal counterfeits must be resorted
to in order to meet the demand. |
will wager that there have been in
mates of Bellevue's alcoholic ward
who have never tasted a drop of real
whisky in their lives. They just
think they have been drinking whis-
ky, and if they had been drinking
real whisky the chances are they
! would never have been in Bellevue.
! | don't say that real whisky, if taken
! excessively, is not harmful, but | do
say that man could drink the pure
article in moderation all of his life
and not be hurt by it. Why, fifteen
I drinks of pure whisky would not do
a man the harm that one drink of
this vile stuff they sell for whisky
/ in New York would do him.
/ 81 know a man who left his Office
one evening all tired out, dropped
! into a saloon of the best class and
took only two drinks of their bar
whisky and was lost for four days
I was called in to help find him,
as he was in a pitiable condition,
his mind was clouded, he could not
remember where he had been or
what he had done after leaving that
saloon. He only remembered that
he had taken two drinks of whisky.
1.-The beer drinker, if he gets real
beer, is handed a glass of the bev-
erage which, to meet the demands of
trade, is put out too new and i'm
properly fermented. Beer should he
kept in the keg for six months be-
fore being sold to the drinker.
1T is rather surprising how MANY
of our school children have become
beer drinkers, especially those of
foreign birth, and the habit is max
ing them mentally sluggish to a de-
gree that is attracting the attention
of educators and philanthroplsts.
Another habit which is getting
control of our shop girls particularly
is the cocaine habit, This habit has
grown in the last few years with such
rapidity that today thousands of
young girls, as well as mature wo-
men and men, are held in its clutch
es. The effect of the habit is noted