The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-02-04

It is one of the principles of the
superintendent Of the clinics to try
home cure whenever it is possible, but
when this fails they send the patients
to institutions maintained in connec-
| ton with the clinics. There are per-
haps fifty of these in Germany, stu
ated in the country, in an old inn or a
renovated farmhouse, accommodating
from 20 to 100 patients each. Here
they are put under the strict super
vision of a corps of trained workers,
medical and social, who do everything
for them physically, spiritually and
lpsychologically that may be necessary
| to bring them back to normal state.
For period of six months or more
they are transported to another world
away from the court Of King Alcohol,
where they have clean place to live
in, clean food, clean clothes and regu-
lar work. The latest methods adopted
in sanitariums for persons suffering
from nervous diseases are adopted
here, including the duration baths"
in which gently flowing warm water
is supposed to soothe and quiet the
nerves of the patient who sits in it for
an hour or more according to his
needs.
When he is strong enough and capa-
BILE of working he is kept busy good
part of the day working on the roads
and in the fields. Fresh air plays an
important part inn the cure.
1t is when the patient is released
from the institution that the crisis &C.
ours. For in isolation under surveil-
lance, with temptation not even around
the corner, it is not difficult even for
the most weak-willed creature to live
a life of prescribed routine and So
briefly. But once he is away from the
continuous influences of prohibition
ideas and environment the old tempta-
tons regain their force.
In order to minimize this danger the
workers of the prohibition societies
have added third link in the chain
that is to bind the former drunkard to
a reformed life, the clinic, the institu-
ton, the prohibition society, that is the
order. Before he is allowed to leave
the institution every arrangement is
made, every paper is ready to sign, so
that there is no interval between his
release and his initiation into. the mem
bership of an anti-alcoholic organiza-
ton. Once the pledge is signed there
is some hope that the patient will
stay a little longer on the new path
that has been pointed out to him.
In order to help him live up to his
pledge he is put under the direct care
of a friendly soul who becomes guar
dian, protector and adviser extraor-
binary to him and his family. Through
him he is kept in employment, his do
nestle affairs are Strengthened out
and his memory and his conscience are
continually logged as to the RESPONSE
bilities of an oath and regenerated
life.
Although this sketch has used the
terms man" and "he' throughout it is
not to be supposed that the only per-
sons in Germany in need of reform
from habits of drinking are the men.
The number of women cared for at the
clinics is much smaller than that of
the men, but each case presents a
much more difficult problem, the super
intendents all agree. The psychology
cal proposition that women are more
intense and passionate in everything
they think and feel and do is con-
firmed by the experiences of the work
ers in this field. The deaconesses of
the "Blaue Kreuz," who have most
of the dealings with the women, find
their regeneration difficult.
Certain cases that are thrown out at
the very start as not worth the pains,
the time and the cost of the cure are
those which involve hereditary fail
ing. Here the care is given rather to
the children, whom it is sought to pro-
: tect from acquiring a taste for drink.
Other preventive measures used by
the prohibition societies are the dis
tribution of anti-alcohol literature in
schools and colleges, travelling ex-
hibit purporting to show the tremen-
dous consumption of beer it's cost and
it's small nutritive value, and milk
: booths set up in the streets where
milk, tea, coffee Or non-alcoholic bev-
erages may be bought for the price of
beer.
The cost of cure is estimated at
marks day and is partly paid by the
"Kranken Kassen," the Government
sick fund, into which every laborer has
to pay his weekly premium.