The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1909-04-08
THE WARFARE AGAINST DRlNs
TEMPERANCE BATTLE GATHERS
STRENGTH EVERY DAY.



In Paris they put up a poster 4, /
every public hospital ward, and on
every prescription blank of their hos.
pitals and dispensaries they print tho
following:
ALCOHOLISM: IT'S DANGERS"
Alcoholism Is the chronic poison.
Ing which results from the habitual
use OF alcohol, even II not used to tho
extent of producing drunkenness.
1T Is an error to say that alcohol
Is necessary to laborers occupied with
fatiguing work, that it gives hear
Tor work or renews their strength.
the artificial excitement produced BY
1t rapidly gives place to nervous de.
preston and weakness. In reality
aicohol has no actual use for any one
The habit of drinking strong liz.
uors leads rapidly to alcoholism; but
the drinks called hygienic Gin
France) also contain alcohol, the dif
ference being only in the dose. The
man who drinks daily an immoderate
quantity of wine. cider or beer be-
comes alcoholic also, as well as he
who drinks the stronger liquors.
The drinks labelled as aperitive
lin France), such as absinthe, YER
mouth and bitters. and the aromatic
liquors are more pernicious because
they contain in addition to alcohol
essences which are themselves also
violent poisons
''The habit of drinking leads to
family disaffection, the forgetting Of
all social obligations, disgust with
work, pauperism, theft and crime.
This habit leads ultimately to the
hospital. for alcoholism engenders
the most various and destructive dis.
eases--paralysis, insanity, disorders
of the stomach and liver and dropsy.
1t is one of the most frequent causes
of tuberculosis. furthermore it com.
plicates and aggravates acute dis.
eases; typhoid fever, pneumonia, cry.
sipelas, which run benignly in sober
man, quickly kill the drinker.
THE faults of the parents fall
upon their children. If these live
beyond the first months they are
menaced with idiocy, epilepsy or
later fall victims to tuberculosis,
meningitis or consumption.
For the health of the individual,
for the existence of the family, for
the future of the country, alcoholism
Even more brief, writes DR.. Fred
erlck Peterson, of New York. I have
made them for use on my own pre-.
scription blanks, as follows:
alcohol is a poison.
ut Is claimed by some that alco-
hol Is food. If so. 1t is poisoned
food.
'The daily regular use of alcohol,
even in moderation, often leads to
chronic alcoholism.
"One Is poisoned less rapidly by
the use of beer than by drinking
wines, gin, whisky and brandy.
Alcoholism Is one of the most
common causes of insanity, epilepsy,
paralysis, diseases of the liver and
stomach, dropsy and tuberculosis.
"A father or mother who drinks
poisons the children born to them, so
that many die in infancy, while 9th
ers grow up as idiots and epileptics."
These go but a little way, to be
sure, but If the 1872 900 physicians in
the United States could be induced to
do likewise, they might help a little
to persuade some of the 19S,669 sa-
loonkeepers, bartenders, brewers,
maltsters, distillers and rectifiers in
this country of the harmfulness of
their trades.
Somewhere in one of his books
Maeterlinck observes that IL the hu
man race were to give up meat and
alcohol there would no longer be
hungry people.
At any rate study of the twelfth
census of the United States for 1900
is an interesting commentary upon
Maeterlinck's suggestion. / find
there among the industry groups
ranked by capital after iron and
steel and their products, the textiles.
lumber and its manufacture and
paper and printing that the indus
tries OF food and kindred products
are capitalized at $93S, 100000 and
those of liquor and beverages at
$534,000,000.
1t Is easy to see that il the $685.
100000 capital in the food industry
can supply the greater part of the
food necessary for our nations use.
the $534,0O0,000 of capital worse
than wasted on the industries of poi
sonous drinks might well feed all the
hungry and still leave handsome
surplus.