The Washington socialist. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1914-1915, 1914-05-07
DOES PROHIBITION LEAD TO
A DECREASE IN INSANITY?
The Actual Facts Presented.

StS WHICH 10 NAiSNAAN oNNAAhhNhhfN -
the fact that prohibition prevails in
that commonwealth, Incidentally he
tries to make his readers believe that
the problem of poverty had been
solved in the same way To quote;
THE people of that great state have
100000 900 in the bank. OF 81 out of,
los counties, no insanity is reported.
In 81 counties there are no feeble
minded Twenty-eight county poor
houses are empty, and the pauper
population of the state is less than
500. The death rate has been reduced
in the past 80 years from II per 1000
to per 1000
Let us follow the footsteps of Kan
sas."
His reference to the reduction in the
death rate during the past thirty years
would be more Illuminating if accom-
panied by statistics of other agricul-
tural states in which prohibition has
not yet been in vogue. The same OBJ
lection applies to the statement rela-
tive to the 5000 900, 900 that "the peo-
pie" of that great state have in the
bank. AS matter of fact the work
ing class of Kansas is fully as poor
as the working class of Pennsylvania,
or our own Washington. And yet,
says our prohibitionist friend, the
people" of Kansas do not spend their
money on rum" We will return to
this phase of the subject in future
articles
Taking up now the question of
population and insanity. we asserted
last week that alcoholic insanity would
tend to INCREASE in states where
the light wines and beer were not
readily obtainable. Wherever prohibit
ton prevails, there is an Illicit liquor
traffic carried on. and this the pure
food laws cannot reach. So impure
intoxicants are sold in greater proper
ton than in licensed communities
Referring once more to our avail
able statistics on this question, we
find that our priori reasoning is
substantiated by statistical data, COM
piled by insanity experts.
The Truth About Kansas and AIco-
holic insanity.
In a contribution to the Medical
Record from the pen of the disting
uished alienist, Dr. Edward H. Will
Jams, formerly of the New York State
hospital, this high authority points out
that, in general, insanity is decreasing
in Kansas. BUT 1t is not decreas-
ing in Kansas in ratio equal to that
in some of her neighbors where license
prevails.
On the contrary he asserts that Kan
sas heads the list in the high percent
age of alcoholic insanity, with South
Dakota, a license state, trailing so far
behind as to make the prohibition
state seem like a veritable den of tip
piers by comparison"
1t belongs to such prohibition states
as Kansas and North Dakota to prove
their faith by their works. There are
some forms of insanity of alcoholic
origin that do not betray their cause
in the symptoms; but the well-defined
group known as the alcoholic psy-
chooses" are the direct result of alcohol.
Of the patients admitted to the North
Dakota hospital for the insane, little
less than four per cent were thus af-
fected. In Kansas institutions for the
mentally unbalanced five per cent of
those admitted were suffering from
this form of insanity In South Da-
kota it figured as only one per cent
and in Nebraska, also license state,
it was considerably less than in Kan
sas. In the latter state there has
been an actual increase in alcoholic
psychoses during the past three years,
a period in which it is claimed prohi-
bition has been more rigidly enforced
than ever before We have had i'm
pressive object lessons for many years,
much nearer home than those states,
of the inefficiency of statewide prohi-
bition and of the scandals of which it
is the prolific parent, but the com
parison in group of states not so
very far apart has an even larger
Significance.
insanity Increasing Faster in "Dry"
Territory Than in "Wet"
Dr. Huntington goes further point
ing out that while prohibition is spread
ing, and about one-half the population
of the country is now living in So
called dry" territory yet diseases
that usually are attributed to alcohol
excuses are increasing rather than
diminishing According to this report,
there was a gain of "A insane persons
per 100000 population committed to
the institutions Of the country during
the census period But during the