The Ocala evening star., 1915-04-24
The War on Booze

England has three foes to fight,
said a great English statesman, re-
Gently, Germany, Austria and rum
these three, but the greatest of these
is rum. Dispatches from London
bring the information that the war on
alcohol is taking precedence in the
British minds over the much talked
of advance of the allies in the west.
The reason is suggested chat the
problem of munitions has become
more pressing than that of recruit
ing" One dispatch says:
"The pronouncements of cabinet
leaders and the letter of King George
on the question of temperance are in
tended to pave the way and sound
public sentiment preparatory either
to shutting off absolutely the sale of
drink throughout the country, ex-
cept on physicians prescriptions, or
the adoption of some measure which,
while perhaps not called absolute pro-
hibition, will have almost as drastic
an effect. War Secretary Kitchener IS
among the first of the prominent men
I'm England to respond to the sugges-
ton of abstention from the use of al
cohol, contained in the letter sent by
King George to Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer Lloyd George. The war sec
retary issued instructions that no al
coholic beverages be served in his
household for the duration of the war.
Not a National, but a World Question
The question of prohibition has be-
come the paramount issue for Amer
lea and is fast becoming the para
mount issue for all nations of the
world. 1t is time for all good Amer
leans to inform themselves thoroughly
on this subject without prejudice and
without bitterness.
Being brought up in the navy with
scientific training and taught to
keep the welfare of the country up
permost in my aims, | made scien-
| tific investigation of what alcohol real
ly is and the effect of the wide dis
tribution of Intoxicating liquors up
on our institutions, our nation, and
our race The recent findings of
science show that alcohol is the great
est specific cause of degeneracy, in the
Individual, the nation, and the race,
the real underlying cause of most of
the dangerous and deadly ills that
menace the body polite, the body in
dustrial, the body social.
Alcohol poisons all living tissues,
though, like chloroform, it deadens
the nerves and fools people into think
| ing that it stimulates and strengthens
them. 1t attacks the blood, and es-
pecially paralyzes and gradually tears
down the top part of the brain (the
seat of character), causing degener-
acy, which carries with it crimes
pauperism, insanity, entails disease
and untimely death, and blights the
lives of children unborn Since the
sale of beverage alcohol harms 9TH
ers. no citizen has any inherent right
to sell. So when prohibition confines
itself to the sale, and matters relat-
ing only to the sale, even though ma
tional it would not invade any rights
or liberties of the individual or the
home or the town or the state.
When the general sale is ended, the
organized business stops. individuals
accustomed to drink might continue
to get liquor by means not prohibited
but they teach the young to drink
as the liquor interests do, and the
next generation would grow up sober
but you do not want your boy o.
your neighbor's boy to grow up drink
ing. As a good citizen, no matter
what your own habits, you would liv'
to see the future generation grow VI
sober.