The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-11-04
DOMAIN OF TEMPERANCE.
BRYAN AND THE LIQUOR HABIT.

expensive habit, as harmful habit.
and as dangerous habit.
Intoxicating liquor is not necessary
to the health of the body This is a
seff-evident proposition which needs
no proof to support It, If you will go
into any school where young men are
being educated you will find a large
percentage of them total abstainers.
and you will find that these young
men are, as rule, stronger In body.
clearer in mind. and sounder in morals
than those who drink, even in mod
Grafton. At Kiel, Germany, in 1908.
eighty-three contestants entered in a
walking match; twenty-four were abb
stainers and fifty-nine were moderate
drinkers. The first, second, third and
fourth prize winners were abstainers.
and six Of the ten who won prizes
were abstainers. OF the twenty-five
to reach the goal fifteen were abstain
ers. That is, three-ffths of the alb
stainers reached the goal, while only
one-sixth of the moderate drinkers
reached it. The fact that athletic
teams forbid the use of drink is suffi-
cient proof it is not needed, if proof is
necessary, and still further proof is
found in the fact that railroads, and
to an increasing extent large business
houses ALSO prohibit as far as they
can the use of liquor by their en-
ployes. No one can hope to defend
the. use of intoxicating liquor as a
beverage on the ground that the body
requires it or that the body is better
off for the indulgence.
Second, liquor drinking is an ex-
pensive habit. Any habit is expensive
which gives no equivalent return for
the money expended Whether the
amount expended is small or consid-
cradle, whether the person who spends
the money is rich or only in moderate
circumstances, the expenditure can
not be defended. While we are legal
| ly free to spend our own money as
we will, we are not morally free to do
so. If man is accountable for his
stewardship then he must be able to
justify the expenditure of money as
he must justify his action in other re-
spects. What valid excuse can one
give for the expenditure of money on
drink? The most that can be said for
it is that it may bring a physical
pleasure at the time, but the reaction
that follows outweighs the pleasure
Every cent spent for liquor must be
subtracted from that which might be
4 spent in the Improvement of oneself
or in helpfulness to others; and who
will weight the physical delights that
accompany drinking against the intel
lectual pleasure and the moral salts
faction that one can obtain from a
better use of the money? I have
spoken only of the moderate use of
liquor, by those who may claim that
they can afford it. 1t must be renlem-
bered that large part of the money
spent for drink is spent by those who
cannot afford it. The money expend-
ed by such not only cripples them
selves but often does injustice to
those dependent upon them. The son
cannot justify the use of money for
drink when his parents need the
money. The husband and father can
not justify the use of money for drink
when his wife and children need it.
The nations drink bill is enormous,
and large part of it measures actual
wrong done to ependents-actual in
jury to society.
Third, the drink habit is hurtful to
the individual. 1t is no longer dis
puted question. Scientists and So
biologists have demonstrated that the
man who uses liquor even moderately
is an enemy to himself do not
mean that glass of liquor year, or
even a glass a month, would result
in perceptible injury to ones physical
being, but moderate drinking covers
all drinking from the occasional dram
up to the point of intoxication, and
one who drinks at all finds it difficult
to establish a rule beyond the point
where real injury begins. Mr. FL. ID.
Gouge shows, in a report of the Public
/ Actuary of South Australia, that
among the persons insured, sickness
is nearly twice as prevalent among
non-abstainers as among total alb
stainers, that the duration of sickness
is, on an average nearly twice as
great, and that the deaths are nearly
twice as numerous.
A circular issued by the Swedish
Association of abstinence physicians,
and posted i'm all the railroad stations
of Sweden, states that alcohol, even
in small amounts and used occasion
ally, steadily lowers the power Of at
tention, judgment and efficiency, and
/ that alcohol used for longer time
regularly, even in amounts that are
looked upon by most people as unfn-
furious, is the cause of incurable dis
eases Of stomach, liver, heart, blood
vessels and kidneys, which lead to
long suffering and premature death.
The circular describes alcohol as a
treacherous poison which is dangerous
even i'm small quantities, because they