The Washington herald., 1914-12-20

HlONlcSp@ Dut Inc pfOnlDlIiOnlSIS con-
tinuc to believe that the prohibition
OF alcohol would make CaInegies,
Rockefellers and Morgans the rule
rather than the exception.
"Thc worldwide fictions OF the pro-
hibitioniSts are pleasant to the ear Of
tho man who falls out OF the process
sion and 10 his friends who seek to
find some other cause than his own
inherent weakness or folly; and ex-
perimcnts have been made with prohi-
bition for sixty years with the result
of adding deceit, false witness, sus-
picion and general disrcspcct for the
puritanical law. Wherever prohibi-
ton has been by the mandate OF the
law over a community that did not
believe in it, there has been failure
and defeat OF the law by deception or
by open revolt"
The views quoted find some war
rant in American statistics
Maine has had prohibition written
in the State constitution for half
century and there is a greater per-
centage of arrests for intoxication in
Maine than in New York or Pennsyl-
vania, and bootleggers in Maine claim
to be among the most influential
molders OF public opinion. Kansas
has prohibition and Kansas has a
greater percentage of insane than has
Ohio or Nebraska. Kansas also has
one OF the highest divorce rates in the
country, with a very high percentage
OF divorces granted for drunkenness
and cruelty TO wives. North Carolina
has prohibition and North Carolina
has higher percentage OF illitcracv
than has Kentucky, the home OF the
still. Oklahoma has prohibition and
Oklahoma has a. smaller percentage
of churchgoerS than another State in
the Union. All the prohibition States
complain OF poverty more than do the
States which have no such laws to re-
strict the freedom of habit OF the pco-
pie.
A Committee of Inquiry.
So much hypothetical, sentimental
and unreliable discussion OF alcohol,
both pro and con. had been put before
the people OF this country that in
1898 the committee of nifty, composed
OF distinguished men, was organized
to study the subject from every pos
siblc scientific and sociological point
OF view. and some years later it pub
lished the results. Among the mem
berS OF that committee OF fifty were:
President Charles W. Eliot, Ii. D.,
Harvard University. Cambridge,
Mass; Hon. Carol ID. Wright, A. NJ,
LII. d.. Clark College, Worcester,
Mass; Prof. Felix Adler, New York,
y. Y; Bishop Edward c. Andrews,
ID. D., Methodist Building, New York,
y. Y: Prof. w. o. Atwater, Wes-
lcyan University, Middletown, Conn;
DR.. J. s. Billings. Astor Library, New
York, n. y; Charles ]. Bonapartc,
Baltimore, Md; Prof. H. p. Bow
ditch, Harvard Medical School, Bos-
ton, Mass; Rev. Prof. Charles A.
Briggs. D. H., New York, y. Y:
Prof r. H. Chittenden. Sheffield Sci
cnti6c School, New Haven, Conn;
Rt. Rev. Thomas Conaty, D. D., Los
Angeles. Cal; William F. Dodge,
New York. \. Y; Rev. Father A. p.
Doyle, Paulist Fathers, New York, n.
y; Rev. Father Walter Elliot, Paulist
Fathers, New York, n. Y; Prof.
Richard. 7. Ely, University OF Wis
consin, Madison. Wis; Daniel c.
Gilman, Baltimore, Md; Rev. WASH p
ington GLADDEN.. D. d., Columbus.
Ohio; Richard W. Glider. esq. New
York. y. Y; President James McAlis-
ter, Drexel Institute, Philadelphia,
Pa; Rt. Rev. Alexander Mackay-
Smith, d. d., Philadelphia, Pa; Prof
!. J; McCook, Trinity College, Hart
ford, Conn; Rev. T. T. Munger, D.
Ogden, esq, New York. n. Y; Rev.
Cambridge, Mass; Rt. Rev. H. c.
Potter, B. D., New York. \. Y: Rev.
w. !. Rainsford, New York, y. Y;
Jacob H. Schiff, New York, y. Y.
AS will be noted from these names,
the committee represented various re-
ligious denominations, and contained
physicians, scientists. lawyers, teach
ers and students OF history. The
committee had no theory to work out
or Dejudice to prove or to disprove.
Their purpose was not to try alcohol
on the numerous indictments of the
professional temperance reformers, or
to defend alcohol.
Report in Ten Volumes.
The committee recognized that.
with all the agitation OF the years few
facts and little scientific knowledge
had been contributed to the temper
ance subject, and they felt that the
subject should be treated with the
same kind of investigation given to
any other great matter of fact, They
gave ten years to the investigation
and sought the aid of the most promi-
nent physicians, psychologists, chcm-
lists, penologists and sociologists in
the world. Their report, published in
1905, filled ten large volumes and it
covered every phase of the drink
question, from the chemical analysis
of alcoholic drinks to the response
bility for crime, disease and poverty.
1t is the one complete consideration
of this question from reliable data
on record. and the report is CYCLIC
pedia of information. The following
extract from this report considers the
effect of alcoholic drinks:
"The question as to the amount OF
alcoholic drinks which can be used
freely by the average adult without
producing bad results is a difficult
one, because individuals differ greatly
in their susceptibilities to injurious
effects from such drinks. 1t seems
probable that there is such an average
permissible quantity of alcohol, the
minimum estimate OF which is a glass
of wine or pint Of beer in the twen-
ty-four hours. The English standard,
as formulated by Anstie, is the equiv
alent of one and one-half ounces of