The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-09-21
His Remarkable
Lecture on the
Effects of Alco-
hol, Showing
How Drink Kills
More Americans
Every Year Than
WarHasSlaugh-
tered ofAll Man
kind in the Last
0Years, and
Pointing Out
How lnternper-
ance Opens the
Door to the
yellow Peril"

CONGRESSMAN RI moNp
4 PEARSON HoBsoN lectures
when hs official duties permit, #l
and one Of these lectures Ia on tenn u
perance. 30 remarkable and Inn
pcrtant are the facts brought out by
Congressman Hobson, and SO vitality
significant his conclusions, that
thls newspaper asked the man who
sank the Merrmac for permission 70 Pr">
some of the most essential parts Tho ar
ticie following, by Captain Hobson, 10 Pr'neea
by his permission, from hls lecture.
By CONGRESSMAN RICHMOND P. HOBsoN
tho Hero Of the MerrImae.
-HE Army War College nt Washington has
made an investigation Of the destructive
ness OF war. Taking all the wars OF the
world from the Russo-Japanese War back 10
500 b. c.. 1t found that the total number OF
, killed and wounded in battle amounts to about
100000 OF which 1t Is estimated that about
700 600 we're killed and something over 100000
wounded.
Comparative figures show the appalling fact
that alcohol is killing OF as many Americans
every year as all the wars OF the world nave
killed In battle in $500 years
ia great military power were to declare war
on unprepared America today, every patriotic
heart would be filled with anxiety. know the
full significance OF war. especially when ma
ton Ia unprepared But II / had the choice OF
having alcohol continue In It's deadly ravages
with the nation at peace, Of having 1t wiped
Off the face of the land with declaration OF
war by all the nations OF the earth. would
not hesitate for moment; would take sober,
undegenerate America and face the combined
world in arms.
Last year, on an average, each saloon in the
United States the cause OF the death Of
three men. This year each saloon, on the aver
age will kill three Each saloon In the
United States, on average. now has twenty
men made heavy drinkers or drunkards. Each
saloon, on an average. has one hundred men
made regular drinkers,
feel no bitterness against those engaged In
the liquor traffic They are In business by the
consent of the Government which shares the
spells. The Government belongs to all the peo-
pie. The blame for the business is to be laid
at the doors of all the people who have not
done their utmost to destroy 1t.
In the full light Of the facts cannot look
upon any saloon otherwise than as an assassin,
the most barbarous. atrocious of assassins. IL
is vain to plead that the men who drink are
responsible for the slaughter. They drink be-
cause the drug is kept in their presence. No
will warn others away. Meat with strychnine
placed along the streets will kill the dogs. No
terrible examples will have any effect The
fact of the poisoned meat being placed on the
street Is the cause Of the destruction When
this seductive poison alcohol is placed along
the streets in saloons, men will take 1t. The
fact Of its being on the street is the real cause
Of its being taken. Irrespective Of the question
of the responsibility for It's existence, the
saloon is fundamentally an assassin
When the true nature Of. alcohol becomes
better understood community will longer
tolerate these assassins, who take their stand
on the corners and up and down the squares
Of our cities. In the premises the State has
not only the right, but the bounden duty. to
put end to this Wholesale assassination.
From conclusions drawn from scientific tests
1t is conservative to estimate that the heavy
drinkers and confirmed drunkards In the United
States have their productive efficiency lowered
at least 76 per cent; that the temperate resu.
lar drinkers. who drink alcoholic beverages
every day Of their lives. suffer loss OF pro-
ductive efficiency of fully so per cent; that the
occasional drinkers suffer q loss Of fully 10 par
cent This is what DR.. Aschafenberg proved