The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-08-21
DOMAIN OF TEMPERANCE.
BUSINESS is PUTTING BOOZE
ON THE BLINK.

The Year Book Of the United
Brewers association, 1913, page SO,
quotes some man whose first name is
given as Adolphe, as saying: Beer
and real claret do not intoxicate.
Beer and wine do not make drunk
ards" Perhaps not, but they do
make some men and women act as
If they were drunk, even California
wines. At any rate they lower ones
efficiency, writes DR.. James Allen
Giessinger, in "The Reformatory Pill
lar"
We used to discuss the momentous
question: Is alcohol a food? We
discussed that question twenty years
ago and less. once asked a physi-
clan if alcohol is a food. I have never
forgotten his reply: Eyes, alcohol is
food, and gunpowder is fuel. But
it's not wholly wise to try to run an
engine with gunpowder" Business
men are finding that out. The fuel
some fellows use blows up their
nerves, skaters their judgment, and
tends to make them little unsteady
under business pressures. That is
why banks as we'll as the railroad
men are demanding total abstinence
| from the use of alcoholic beverages
on the part of their employees. A
prominent banker recently told me
that a young fellow sought employ
ment in his bank The banker asked
him, do you drink" Eyes, moder-
ately. l never take more than one
glass of beer a day." The bankers
reply was: "That is one too many
for my institution" And that banker
is not running a Sunday school nor
a reformatory. He is not running
beer picnic, either. He is simply try
ing to run a bank that will deserve
the confidence of his patrons and the
public generally.
| The writer of this article worked
in shoe factory when a boy. Prac-
tically all the hands" drank beer or
Whiskey or pure alcohol. Many of
them did it because they thought they
could do more work with the drinks
in them, just as so many of our
chambers of commerce, under the
| domination of the booze vendors,
seem to think that they can see more
clearly what is the best for the future
of the city after they have inflamed
their brains with champagne. Now it
is known that men can not do as &C.
curate work nor as much on alcohol
as they can without it. That is why
the Hershey Chocolate company, the
Cambria Steel company, the United
States Steel company, the Drew
Selby Shoe company and hosts of
other concerns are putting the taboo
on drink, even the moderate use of
it. Some concerns are getting at the
situation by offering 10 per cent more
wages to total abstainers, on the
ground that they render more and
| better service. The Pennsylvania
Railroad company made some recent
investigations as to safety rules and
| found 99.9 per cent perfect per-
| Torrance. Why? Their "Rule G."
which forhids the use of intoxicants
or the frequenting of places where
| they are sold, is obeyed. 125,226 OBJ
servations were made in February of
this year and not man was found
disobeying this order. 1t isn't the
drunk" the railroad companies are
| after, and the business world gener-
ally, but the moderate drinker," as
Connie Mack points out The really
dangerous man, so far as the railroad
Is concerned, and the travelling pub
lie, is not the drunk" whom no one
would think of letting get in an
engine cab, but the fellow who has
his vision SO that he has difficulty in
telling a red light from a green. The
German emperor, and he is being
backed up by German scholars and
leaders generally, says that the ma
| ton that drinks the least alcohol will
be the winner. That is true as it
bears upon the army, the navy and
commerce.
The man who has an absolutely
sober brain aims more accurately,
shoots more quickly, thinks more
steadily, endures more easily-in war
or peace. Think of the accidents due
| to drink-accidents in the shop and
on the streets. Booze is the speed
demon. He always likes to see how
fast he can drive his car. He sees
obstacles where they are not, and
| fails to see them where they are. Is
there day when booze does not get
/ into trouble on the streets of our
| American cities?