Arizona republican., 1914-06-03
Alcoholism and Physical Deterioration

cial papers of the 'breWeries and dis tilleries admit it, and every scientific and statistical fact demonstrates 1t be- yond question, In all those states where the liquor traffic is free and un- hambered the percentage of insane, tuberculous, criminal, weddings and physically unfit is so far greater than in states where the traffic is somewhat curtailed (there being no real prohibi- tiOn anywhere in the United States), that no thinking man can fail to see it. New York state with 35,275 liquor dealers has one insane for every 290 people. Fifteen southern states with total of 12000 liquor dealers has one insane for every 8S0 people. The in crease in insane is almost in exact ratio to the increase in liquor dealers. BeZzola found that out, of every seven ty idiots in Switzerland, one-half were conceived during the Swiss carouse' covering the fourteen weeks of the an- nual wine harvest, the other half being distributed through the balance of the year A though statistical studies | might be quoted. So firmly is the con nection between alcoholic abuse and insanity, that medical science can fore tell almost to a certainty the physical and mental characteristics of a child born of parents who were drunk at the time of conception. An epileptic or diotic argues a drunken parent or grandparent
 ic n q e f. | feet of excessive alcoholism upon eith l CT the immediate victim or his off spring. The entire contest hinges upon | the effect or absence of effect of mod crate quantities of alcohol upon the physical and mental stamina of the l ordinary man or woman. The liquor partZans interested and disinterested, have taughe and still teach, that mod
 crate amounts of alcohol, not only are
 not detrimental but are beneficial. It | is claimed that one cocktail a day or a glass of beer a day, or long periods of | abstinence broken by a glass or two of wine at social gatherings are not | detrimental but rather enhance the physical well-being or conduce to in 1 tellectual brilliancy. It is also claimed that prohibition of the privilege will lead to the abuse, that beer drinking
 tends to diminish the harm done by alcoholic excesses; that the beer and light wine countries do not show the effects of alcoholic eXcesses; that it is an unwarranted abuse of personal privilege to forbid the sale of liquors | to moderate drinkers simply because some weddings overdo the privilege.
 All these statements are still being
 made, in spite of the dicta of science
 of fact, and of economies that they are not true.
 | What is the immediate and ultimate
 effect of alcohol in moderation on phy-
 sical efficiency and upon physical and
 mental resistance to disease?
 Can the moderate drinker or the oc-
 casional drinker be the progenitor oi
 absolutely healthy heritage?
 These are the questions scientific
 men and physiologists have long since
 answered, but the world still blindly
 refuses to see. Every atom of scienti-
 fife proof is on the side which says tha
 beginning with the first drop of alco-
 hol it's effect is to diminish cell activ- ity and lessen mental efficiency. Any apparent increase in mental brilliancy
 is due to depression,-it being well
 known psychic fact that when tho
 higher intellectual centers are depress
 ed, those of imagination and fancy arc
 unbridled and an apparent intellectua
 brilliancy results
 We frequently hear the argumen
 that in the good old days" fifty year
 ago, whiskey was on every sideboarC and used by all members of the family
 and, consequently. there was no exces
 sive alcoholism. This was true, ant
 there were intellectual giants in thos
 families, but there have been an ap palling scarcity in the succeeding gen
 erations of those same families. Ther are several interesting statistica studies on the prominent families O . fifty years ago. those families whicl
 drank whiskey in moderation, thos families in which the mint julep am morning and evening dram was al institution have reaped a crop of alec ) holic deaths in succeeding generations of tuberculous offspring, of alcoholi :. sterilty which is one of the most start ] ling demonstrations of the ultimate ef feet of moderate alcoholism in the his tory of the world. It will be seer with a little study that these promi l nent families, north and south, hay
 either become extinct, are rapidly be e | coming so or are, today, represente Q only by physical or moral weakling: n There are exceptions. of course, but little study will be convincing. The t have followed the law of nature an h have been eliminated as unfit. It ma e be true that a man can build into hi t protoplasmic structure, alcoholic ef g fects and escape the immediate penalt ?, but it is certainly true that the effect ], will follow Gallons Law of Heredit n and appear in his progeny. The tend g ency will be established and that tend e ency will be just as great as is tn
 alcoholic indulgence minus the individ r ual power to resist the alcoholic pic
 soning With one cocktail or beer
 day, the tendency will not be far, bt s will be just as certainly present.
 't The hope of this and every otht - country is to have healthy babies