The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1914-09-04

iAadSG ~ 40 kdAGh III Gil
which gives unusual zest to the
appetite and joy TO the senses in
general. The fine dinner with
champagne, which the lonely bach
elor takes in his club, is apt to dis
agree with him because such en-
vironment is lacking And SO may
the dinner of the tired business
man who brings home crouch,
or the exhausted workingman who
sits down to his evening meal in a
bone where there is not much to
make him realize the JOY of living.
A bottle of beer is a great help in
that environment TO raise the spirits
and make the meal more enjoyable
There are some elements in this
discussion of alcoholic drink which
are commonly ignored. One is the
matter of time and place, and an
other IS individual temperament.
Some cities i'll the United States,
for instance, Minneapolis, Mimi.
and Grand Rapids, Mich, have
created zones within which saloons
are permitted. These zones take
in the business portions CT the city,
the downtown" sections, while
elsewhere no public sale of alco-
holic drink is permitted. Now,
aside from theatre parties and res
taurapt dining, this principle is
fundamentally wrong. Alcoholic
drlnd is essentially a means OF lie.
Taxation, and as such its most
suitable place is during the time
OF rest and recreation. BY pro-
noting the sense of relief from the
workaday world, by relieving the
tension Of the nerves, by enliven-
ing conversation and social inter
course generally and preparing the
mind more readily to give itself up
to the effects of music, art, drama
Or simple society, it unharnesses
the emotions, lays aside the mask
Of arlihcality upon which business,
rests, and enables the mind to take
its fight into the realms of the
better feelings, be they family af-
fiction, musical intoxication, the
convulsive sympathy aroused by
great tragedy, the laughter of
comedy, the animated conversation
at concert garden, the wit and
banter of dinner party, or the
simple exchange of opinion and
sentiment IN tavern with white
sand or sawdust on the floor. 1t
is what the psycholist calls 'inhi-
bition, the partial submersion of
those nerve activities which prohi-
bitienists, for the purpose of dis
crediting it call partial paralysis"
the so-called higher life is impossi
BILE to the great majority of people.
In emphasizing this as the chief
ualue of alcoholic drink, we do
not, as prohibitionists claim con-
tradict our assertion that alcoholic
orink is beneficial. We do not
state that alcoholic drink directly
enhances working power, though
there are cases when it does in the
sense that man while under the
influence of alcoholic drink can do
more or better work. What we
say, and it is the opinion of science
is that the recreation, the relief of
nervous strain which we have de-
scrlbed, affords to the normal man
or woman that change from their
ordinary occupations which is nee
essary for perfect rest and hence
for mental, moral and physical
health. And by thus aiding in
keeping up the tone of the system,
it does increase the working pow
ers. Sleep 'inhibits" or para
lyzes" the nerves more completely
than anything else that occurs to
us in the ordinary course Of life.
1t is necessary to our we'll being.
Yet this is not eontradicted by the
statement that is is not good to
sleep while at work.
The effect of alcoholic drink is
different on different people. Mol
one has the right to generalize
categorically from its effect on him
self as TO its effects on all others.
There are many people of power
fully self-assertive temperament
who require no stimulant to give
out all they think Others eoual1y