The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-02-04
DOMAIN OF TEMPERANCE.
TEMPERANCE IN GERMANY.

A letter i'm the New York Sun of
January %, tells us of the many in
telligent efforts made in Germany to
rescue the victims of excess in drink
ing in that country. While drunken
ness doubtless brings in physical weak
ness and defects, there must be per-
sonal derelictions in it. else it would
not be sin. Yet sin it is and mortal
sin, because it is set down in the
Scripture as excluding from heaven.
advice and medical care given free
to alcoholics and their relatives at the
clinic strasse IL, every Monday and
Thursday from 6 to g." reads a sign
which one is very apt to see in the
street cars and stations of almost all
the larger cities in Germany. 1t is not
an advertisement of some alleged cure,
but an offer of help from one of the
three large prohibition societies-the
Anti-Alcoholic League, the Good Tenn
plars and Das Blaue Kreuz. semi
medical organization.
The literature which these organiza-
lions distribute shows that they regard
drunkenness as physical defect to be
treated with medical care, kindness
and patience.
"a very small percentage of our
cases are sent to us from institutions
and charitable organizations. By far
the greatest number of visitors in the
clinics are the long suffering wives of
drunkards. We get as much of the
family history from them as we can
records, statistics and facts that will
help us to get at the cause of the
evil, whether it is inherited or comes
from unemployment, physical def
ciencies or nervous disease. Then we
send the poor woman home with the
assurance that we will do the best we
can and with our promise to keep her
call a secret. We give her some gen.
eral hints such as you see in these
pamphlets and placards and then we
ask her to call again in week or so"
Advice is easy to give, but in order
to see that it is followed the superin-
tendent of the clinic calls upon the
erring husband.
1--WE may get kicked out the first
time, but we come again and again
until we are received with a little
more cordially. With all the informa-
ton we have gathered about him from
wife, employer, police and neighbor,
we take him unawares and make him
give us his attention.
eve can generally show him pretty
clearly that everything he has suffered,
the poverty and misery of his home,
his troubles with employer, landlord or
family, are all due to his fondness for
drink, and if we make our statements
emphatic enough, succeed in showing
him what a waste of money, energy
and nerve force drinking is, we may
move him to sign the pledge. Very
often of course we fail to make any
impression upon him. Then we threat
en- him with the power of the police
and that usually works. We do not
like to resort to these forceful meas
ures, because it is poor principle to
work through fear, but some times we
have to make the means justify the
end" ... ~:
There are over sixty clinics in Ger
many established by individuals, pro-
hibition societies or in connection with
municipal charities. Eleven cities
maintain clinics of their own and 9th
ers give financial support or cooperate
in some other way. Usually the clinic
occupies room in a public building
and is superintended by physician
who gives practically all of his time
to this work.
At his disposal are usually the serv-
ices of a lawyer and corps of social
workers, the first to get the patient out
of scrape if necessary and the others
to help the doctor in the many charit-
able duties that devolve upon him. The
doctor tries to keep in personal touch
with each of the patients submitted
to his care not only for week, a
month or year but permanently.
The help he brings is of all kinds.
Generally he begins by putting the
family on it's feet If it has been dis
possessed he makes peace with the
landlord, pays back bills if necessary
or looks for new lodgings. The assist
ants are sent to look after the home
to set the house in order. If necessary
the children are put into the hands of
the Children's Aid Society and the
father deprived of the right of guar
dianship over them.
Work is found for the parents, at
least for the father, through the civic
employment agencies. AS every one
knows, it is pretty difficult to find work
for man who has reputation for
drinking, but especially is this true in
Germany, where every worker has to
have written recommendation from
his various employers, which he keeps
in one book "Das Arbeitsbuch." Natur-
ally it follows that the longer this list
of employers grows the smaller the
mans chances for a job become.
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