The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1911-02-09
EFFECTS OF STRONG DRINK
Alcohol Consumed Stimulates and Ex-
cites Body and DeceiVes People
Who Drink 1t.

]. Every wOrkingman is bound to
consider what is best as food for him
self and his family. If he fails to do
this, he may spend his wages upon ar
ttcles of little use in building up
strong, healthy bodies, and so prac-
tically waste his hard-earned money,
says Temperance. A great many
wOrkingmen only earn a bare living
wage; while many more only get suf-
ficient to live decently with no room
for extra expenses Of any kind; and
only a small number obtain money al
lowing of enjoyment Of Injuries So
the strictest economy is necessary in
spending wages.
2. Now the average amount spent
upon intoxicating liquors by each man,
woman and child in the United States
Is something over S23 per year. OF
course, this sum includes what drunk
ards spend, as well as what is paid by
sober folks. Perhaps the amount spent
In this way by a good many would be
less than fifty cents per week Still,
1t is very important that what is
bought should be really helpful If
the workingman is wasting his wages
on alcoholic drinks, when 1t ought to
be spent on food, or clothing, or other
useful objects, then both the man and
his family are not getting the full ad
vantage from his earnings. and health
and comfort will suffer.
3. When a gallon of beer is split up
into its several parts, Sc parts are
found to be water, parts alcohol and
Z parts solid matter. The nutriment
depends upon the solids, but only six
tenths Of these are food the rest is
waste. To get half pint of nourish-
ment man must drink 104 gallons Of
beer. This is like eating a sack Of
chan to get a grain of wheat The
famous Doctor Liebig said if you drop
the point Of knife into flour, the
quantity you obtain represents as
much nOurishment as you get in a
quart of ale. In wines the proportions
are: Water IS, alcohol IS, solids 4.
Spirits are simply alcohol 500. and
ence tells us. 1t is evidence that every
chemist is bound to give, and it shows
that intoxicating drinks can do moth
ing to make flesh or bone, muscle or
nerve, for they do not contain the
necessary food. They are useless,
therefore, to the wage earners.
4 Intoxicating drinks are really
made for the sake of the alcohol they
contain. This dangerous drug has a
powerful effect upon the body. 1t
stimulates and eXcites it, and so de-
ceives people that they fancy they are
better for its use, when it is actually
destroying them. No man in health
needs stimulation. stimulant is like
a whip to a horse Alcohol may be a
good medicine in the hands of a doc
tor, but it is not food, and it is a dan
gerous article in common use, often
leading to disease, intemperance and
other evils. No working-man can af-
ford to tamper with alcoholic drinks.
5. Experience proves what science
teaches. When doctors have tested
alcohol on equal sets Of men engaged
in hard work against time, amongst
sections hands on the railroad. in
forced marches and long campaigns
amongst soldiers, in the exhausting la
Dor Of foundries and FORCES. and in the
hard training Of athletes, abstinence
from Intoxicating drinks is always
found the best 1t is the natural re-
suit. These drinks cannot strengthen.
No matter how a man feels under
their influence, he is surely losing
and not gaining energy. What folly
II is then for our American people to
spend S2.106,476,S50 yearly on alcohol
&c drinks
6. They are largely drunk for pleas
ure, but even If such pleasure were
right the amount spent is very excess
sive and is the cause of much drunk
enness and wrong Even the makers
and sellers Of these drinks admit that
many millions are wasted on intemper-
ate drinking. AS a matter of fact, the
money spent per week by the average
workingman is almost If not quite, a
UoOiSSS CAPOAH4t vi e anu tame IIOLu HIS
earnings what is wanted for other
purposes-to properly feed and clothe
the family, to give it the comforts of
home, or to provide against the time
of sickness and old age. 1t does not
then pay the workingman to use in
toxicating drinks. Such a practice is
an economic waste, and tells against
his efficiency as worker and against