Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-06-02
HIGHER DEATH RATE
AMONG ALCOHOL USERS
Scientists Disprove Theory That
Hard Workers Must Indulge
in Drink

otdrIIluS evidence Oh tne erect OF
alcohol on the moderate drinker is
offered by a reference to the death
rate. The bulletin issued to the men,
bers of the Institute shows that in
one Canadian and three British life
insurance companies the mortality
among so-called moderate drinkers
accepted as temperate and healthy
risks. exceeded the death rate among
the abstainers by rs, 81, So and ~
per cent. respectively.
New data was recently compiled by
forty-three American life insurance
companies covering period OF
twenty-five years with the following
lresults:
Steady moderate drinkers, accepted
cent. above the average Former
drinkers (admitting past excesses),
death rate so per cent. above the av-
erage. Very moderate drinkers, IS
per cent above the average
Experimental laboratory work has
kept pace with statistical investiga-
ttcc. and the knowledge gained from
the laboratory not only in experiments
on animals, but on man himself shows
that a higher death rate among alco-
hol users is what we would naturally
expect to find in the light of what we
know regarding it's effects on the
body.
"One-half to one quart of beer is
sufficient to distinctly impair MEM
ory. lower intellectual power and re-
tard simple mental processes, such as
the addition of simple figures. This
Ix1a Aff lAa s,,EI Sa
first exerted on the higher reasoning
powers that control conduct. so that
the lower activities of the mind and
nervous system are for a time re-
leased. The every day, well-poised.
self-controlled man goes to sleep, as
it were. and the primitive man tenn
porarily wakes up.
Eventually, the nervous system is
narcotized, and the drinker becomes
sleepy. Muscular efficiency is at first
increased a little, and then lowered
the total effect being loss of work.
ing power.
For many years alcohol was used
as heart stimulant in acute and
chronic disease. Only in rare in
stances is 1t now so used, and chiefly
| in subjects who are accustomed to its
use, who must be treated as drug
habitues and not deprived of the drug
influence to which the body has be-
amounts formerly used as heart
stimulant is undoubtedly heart de-
pressant.
"Such benefit as alcohol has confer
red in acute disease has been due
largely to it's rapid utilization as a
temporary food 1t can be burned in
the body as fuel and thus spare the
tissues. For a brief time it can take
the place of energy foods such as fats
and sugars. But there is grave risk
in using it for such purposes in view
of it's effect on the heart, nervous sys-
tenn and blood elements. While it
lmakes body heat, 1t also causes loss
of body heat through it's action on the
blood vessels. There are other ways
to nourish and support the acutely Ill
without these attendant risks.
Alcohol is essentially drug and
not a food. There are many poison
Gus substances formed in the body,
some of which, like alcohol, must be
destroyed by the liver, or carried off
/ by the kidneys. But that is no reason
why we should eat these poisons and
impose a further burden on our or
gans.
1T is claimed that alcohol in mod
Grafton 'compensates' for life strain,
worry and care. The idea that the
human race must find relaxation or
compensation in some form of injur-
| ious indulgence has no ground in COM
mon sense and is without any sep
porting scientific evidence.
Alcohol is a handicap for q ma
tion at war. 1t is a handicap for an
individual in the struggle for exist
ence. This is not the judgment of
scientists alone, nor of weaklings and
| faddists, but of the big-brained,
strong -fbered men upon whom has
fallen the tremendous burden of guild
| ing great nations through the greatest
crisis in history"