Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1911-10-03
Why DIR. drenfen Combats Alcohol

Why don't want to see liquor used at
sea? Because when / 60 down for a
watch below, | want TO feel that the
man at the wheel sees only one light
when there Is only one light to see; that
when the safety Of the ship and all II
carries depends on the cool head, the
instant resolve and the steady hand of
the helmsman, there Is not standing
there In place Of the man. the poor de,
based creature that all the world has
gifted men as Burns and Coleridge and
hosts of others.
have seen ships lost through collision
because the captain had been taking a
"little alcohol" / have had to tell a
woman that she was a widow and that
her childaen were fstherless because her
husband, gentle and loving and clean
living, had been tempted to take "a
drop of alcohol at sea, and had fallen
over the side, drunk, and gone out into a
drunkard's eternity. have had to
clothe children and feed them when re-
duced to starvation, because alcohol had
robbed them OF a natural protector and
all the necessities of life. / have had to
visit In prisons the victims OF crime
caused as directly 10 honest men by al
cohol as burn Is caused by falling into
the fire.
Why do i not want alcohol as a bever-
age in q country where cold 10 extreme,
, exposure 10 constant, and physical con-
ditions are full of Hardship? Simply be-
cause | have seen men go down In the
struggle for want of that natural
strength which alcohol alone bad robbed
them Of. The fishermen that / live
among are my friends, and love them
as my brothers, and do not think am
unnecessarily prejudiced or bigoted
when say that alcohol is insdvissblS,
after one has seen it robbing his best
friends of strength, honor, reason,
life.
During twenty years. experience on
the sea and on the snow In winter-an
experience coming after an upbringing
In soft places-I have found that alcohol
has been entirely unnecessary.
have been doctoring sick men and
women Of every kind and I have found
that can use other drugs Of which We
know the exact action and which We
can control absolutely with greater &C
curacy in cases Of necessity for stimulat-
Ing the heart. / contend We can get
just as good results without 1t, and al
ways fear its power TO create desire
for itself. Ii is not necessary for happi-
ness, for / have known no set of men
happier and enjoying their lives moro
than the crews Of my own vessel, and
the many, many fishsrmen who like our
selves, neither touch, taste nor handle
II.
would be willing to allow that the
manufacture OF IL gives employ ment,
that the sale of 1t Is remunerative, that
desire for IL can be easily created.
But the desire for IL has to be "cul-
tivated" and once cultivated the "mar-
ket" Ia certain to open up-for the de-
sire becomes Unsuitable, uncomfortable
lust in many. I have no controversy
with anything that gives employment
and circulates money, and should pos
sibly be sstised IL after all the good
grain and good feedstuffs bad been fer
mented and converted into this par
ticular kind of poison, instead of being
poured down mems throats, IL were
poured into the ocean, whore at least 1t
would do no harm.
have seen men robbed in many ways,
but they have been able, by the help OF
God 20 wipe out any lasting results of
such transient losses. But the robberies
of alcohol are irremsdiabls. I buried in
q lonely grave on projecting promon-
tory, far dowuthe coast Of Labrador, .
young girl of eighteen. She was some
ones daughter and some ones sister. l
had taken her aboard our little hospital
ship for the last week of her life. She
should have been alive to-day, but she
had no desire to live. All that could
possibly make life worth living for her
had been robbed from her through the
means of alcohol. and she could not face
the homegoipg again.
II ever have the opportunity giten
to me to say word ct any time or in
any place which could help to inhlbit
the use of alcohol a. q beverage, so long
a. can stand upon my feet shall be
proud to get up and speak it.-Sir VIII
fred T. Grenfell, n. D.