Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1911-02-04

: says DR.. Gordon Sharp in the
Medical Temperance Review, Dc
tober, 1904, that slightly intoxi
eating beverages were not detri
mental to the tissues, but we car
in truth teach our patients to-day
that the continual soaking with
diluted alcohol in the shape OF
beers, ales, and wines Is harm
full to the tissues, and often or
iginates permanent damage to
the liver, the brain, and the spin
al cord. 1t lis often deplored by
"a certain class of people that we
have not in Great Britain the
light wines of France and Swift
erland or the light beers of Ger
many and Austria.
"They imagine that if we could
introduce these and get the peo-
pie to drink them, the whole diff
ficulty would disappear and
drunkenness I'D cease. There
Fan be 10 greater mls'ake. One
cannot i've in any one g. those
! ountri+s without seeing the raw
iges of ,lcohol, but | VII go far
Their and say that alcohol pro-
duces greater havoc among the
people of France, Switzerland,
Germany, and Austria than it
does in Great Britain. | do not
refer to the cases of brutal
drunkenness, for these are not
50 often met with ON the CONT
nent, but rather to the continu-
Gus bibbing of diluted alcohol.
The intelligent medical men and
sociologists of continental Europe
are fully alive to the danger, and
are doing adj they can to call ser
ious attention to it. Thus the
man who holds up continental
practice to our emulation is lack
ing in the knowledge of the ac-
tual state of things. In spite
of all, fortunately for France and
the rest of the wine-producing
countries Of Europe, the temper
ance movement is gaining ground
and popular sentiment is being
aroused against the use of intoXi-
cants.
This may be seen in the promi-
hence which Influential journals
give to matters bearing upon this
question.
lie Temps says that the direc-
tor-general of the railway in AL
saceLorraine has interdicted the
use of alcoholic drinks by those
engaged on the railways during
the hours of service, and every act
of the temperance movement is
given prominent place In the var
ious journals. For example,:
La Bien Social, a distinguished
daily, some time ago presented
series of four pictures illustrating
the History of Gin
The first is named "Opulence,
and shows a sumptuous apart
ment, a gentleman in an easy
chair putting his cigar, a girl at
the piano. Elegant surroundings.
This" it says, " is he who man
ufactures it. Z" Alongside of that
is one named Riches" and it
shows the tavern-keeper and his
wife counting over the receipts
of the day. And che is the one
who sells it" Below these we
have the interior of a poor man s
dwelling; squalor and poverty ;
husband and wife both with glass
in hand, while a child on the
floor eats a crust, another asleep
on the mothers lap. Adjoining
this is another picturing a we'll
TODD household, but the father
is under the inf luence of the LID
uor that has made him maniac,
and is on the point of attack
ing his wife with a knife, while
a boy and girl manifest the ut
most terror. These two pictures
are named, "Those who consume
it. j." This, and such as this, show
ing intimate knowledge of the re-
suits of drink, together with the
formation lately Of an anti-alco-
holic party in both branches of
Parliament, indicates that France
has realized and has begun to
abolish her common enemy.
The truth about alcoholism in
wine-drinking countries is sub
ject of the most tragic interest
but perhaps enough has been said
to convince the reader that gen.
eral continental sobriety is but a
popular fallacy.