Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-07-29
Why DR.. GrenfelI
COmbats Alcohol

why don't l want to see LIQUOR used
AT sea! Because when ! go down for
: q 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 ia moi
standing there in place of the man
the poor, dehased creature that all
the world has seen alcohol create
even OUT oil such gifted men as Burns
and Coierlcge and hosts of others.
nave seen ships lost through COLI
SION because the captain had been
taking little alcohol" I have mad
to tell woman that she was a widow
and that her children were fatherless
because her husband, gentle and low
ing 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 drunkard,s ater-
nifty. | have had to clothe children
and feed them when reduced to star
walton, because alcohol had robbed
them of natural protector and all
the necessities of life. | have had 10
visit in prisons the victims of crime.
caused as directly in honest men bv
alcohol as burn is caused by falling
into the fire.
Why do ] not want alcohol as a
beverage in a country where cold is
extreme, exposure is constant, and
physical conditions are full of hard
ship? Simply because | have seen
men go down in the struggle for want
of that natural strength which alcohol
alone had robbed them of The fisher
men that / live among are my friends.
and love them as my brothers. and |
do not think l am unnecessarily preju-
diced or bigoted when I say that al
cohol is inadvisable, after one has
seen it robbing his best friends of
strength, honor reason, kindness.
love, money and even life.
During twenty years experience on
the sea and on the snow in winter
an experience coming after an up
bringing in soft places-I have found
that alcohol has been entirely unnec-
essary.
| have been doctoring sick men and
women of every kind and l have found
that l can use other drugs of which
we know the exact action and which
we can control absolutely with greater
accuracy in cases of necessity for
stimulating the heart. / contend We
can get just as good results without
it. and i always fear its power TO
create a desire for itself 1t is not
necessary for happiness. for | have
known no set of men happier and en-
joying their lives more than the crews
of my own vessel, and the many, many
fishermen who like ourselves, neither
touch taste nor handle il.
l would be willing to allow that the
manufacture of ii gives employment,
that the sale of ii is remunerative.
that desire for ii can be easily Great
ed But the desire for 1t has to be
cultivated, and once cultivated the
market" is certain TO open up-for
| the desire becomes Unsuitable, uncon-
trollable lust in many. | have no con
troversy with anything that gives
| employment and cireulates money, and
should possibly be satised If after all
the good grain and good foodstuffs
had been fermented and converted
! into this particular kind of poison, in
stead of being poured down mems
| threats. it We're poured into the ocean,
| where at least 1t would do no harm.
| have seen men robbed in many
WAYS. but they have been able, by the
help Of God to wipe out any lasting
results of such transient losses. But
the robberies of alcohol are irremedi-
able. l buried in lonely grave on
projecting promontory, far down the
coast of Labrador, a young girl oil
eighteen. She was some ones daugh-
ter AND some ones sister. had
taken her aboard our little hospital
shin for the last week of her life
She should have been alive today nu'
she had no desire to liye. All tha'
couTd possibly make life worth lvihs
for her had been robbed from hei
through the means of alcohol, and she
could not face the homegolng again
If I ever have the opportunity glVei
to me to say word at any time Oh
in apy place which could help 10 IN
, hipit the use of alcohol as beverage
so long as / can stand upon my fee'
I shall be proud to get up and spear
a str wilfred T. Grenfell. Nj. d.