The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-07-14
PROHIBITION OR ExAMPLE--WHICH
 IS EFFECTIVE?
Russian People Undergoing Profound Change Under
 Ukase Against Alcohol
(By Dr. E. F. Bowers, Author of
 "Side- e-SteppdDr Ill Healthy

(By Dr. E. F. Bowers, Author of "Side-Stepping Ill Healthy A Petrograd paper, in an article entitled "The Regeneration of the Russian Village" commented thus upon the effects of prohibition: '"The spiritual uplift caused by the war, and the change from drunken ness to sobriety which accompanied 1t, are bringing about a profound change in the psychology, the life. and the economic status of our people. v1dences of this change are everywhere
 manifest, but they are particularly noticeable in the peasant villages The Russian villages has become so
 completely transformed that it is un- recognizable"
 It remains to be seen, however, whether or not the voluntary ab- stention from alcohol by the King Of England and innumerable high d1gnitaries will do for the sobering of Britain what the prohibitory Ukase did for Russia, and whether | the expected increase in the efficiency Of those engaged in turning out inn plements of wholesale murder will develop. Also whether the noble self-sacriflce of their rulers will pacify these bully Britains, and make them more contented with their peerless lot.
 I should be inclined to hazard the prognostication that it will not: that
 nothing short of sweeping prohibi- tory enactment will divorce the Eng lishman from his ale. For, "Britons, never, never will be slaves" Except when they want to be. And where liquor is concerned it seems quite patent that they want to be. Per sona1 opinion inclines to the belief that until the masses in England are impressed with the idea that drink is an evil, no suasive measures will be successful.
 A more likely result of this agita- tion will be the enactment of mildly restrictive measures, early closing hours, laws against drunkenness, etc. Or England may take over the breweries and distilleries and make an honest dollar for herself by going into the poison-peddling business. This might be considered a. satisfac- tory English solution of the problem. Of course, the staggering drink bill of England is a powerful inducement for some sort of restriction. For com mon sense teaches that one cannot pay war taxes as they should be paid in order to have a f1rst-class war and buy booze at the same time. At least, not as the Britons have been buying 1t.
 For in 1912 they spent s507,766,- $50 for various and sundry drinks, but in 1913 they '.blew in" $833,405,- 900 f4r similar purposes. And 1914 was even worse, altough no one yet knows officially just how much. The government, however, figures that it received S198,250,0 900 in revenue, as it's share of 'the swag." But when it throws away many times this sum, and at the most cru cial epoch in English history, it may i we'll contemplate. as through glass darkly in the dim distance, na- tional prohibitory law-lasting dur ing the period of the war, at any rate.
 France has, already abolished the manufacture and sale of absinthe, and has materially curtailed-by precept plea and petition-the con- sumption of alcoholic liquors. cordials and wines. In fact, 1t is not outside the bounds of possibility to believe that the European war may yet drive those engaged in it into complete ab- stention. This, as matter of i'm ternal defense, against an implac-
 able interneccine foe. It would seem, if war is destined to have such a salutary effect upon drunkenness, that it might not be a bad thing to have a little one right
 here at home, where, in New York city alone, we have a drink bill of one million dollars per day, and are the proud possessors of one saloon for
 every thirty families.
 For alcohol, according to the off, cial reports of the Army War College at Washington, is. ten thousand times
 more destructive to life than war.
 These officers took all the wars of the world, from the Russo-Jap war
 back to 500 B. C., and found that the total number incapacitated in bat tie was 2,800,000, of whom 100000 | were killed and the balance wound ed. Comparative figures demonstrate
 the nerve-stunning fact that alcohol | is killing off as many Americans every year as all the wars of the world com
 bined have killed in 2,300 years. Ap- plying these figures to the entire
 white race-for they average pretty | evenly, take them by and large
 we find that alcohol has killed B., 500,000 white men each year; five | times as many as have been killed in war in twenty-three hundred
 years; so it requires only little time
 and lead pencil to figure that al- | cohol Is ten thousand times more destructive to life than all the wars of the world combined.
 Indeed, the conclusion can hardly be avoided that, with per capita l consumption of 21.98 gallons of in 1 toxicating liquors in the United States Government Report of 1912) some
 thing worse than a war is happen ing to American manhood. Repre- sentative Hobson states the problem
 something in this wise, using the | figures of the British Government
 and the English life insurance com
 panies as a basis for his computa- tions
 If g. young man at the age of 20 | is total abstainer and remains one, his life prospect. is ?? years and he
 will live to an average age of 60, but | l. 1-.s-- -1r1