The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1916-03-12

This essay received $50 in gold in
the prize essay contest for foreign
Btudents.l
A discussion of the effects Of intnxI-
cants on the permanency Of national
life necessitates that define national
life as the life OF. the people, their
passions, thoughts, ideals. institutions,
and achievements-all the positive
elements that make for a distinct and
noble type OF humanity. My object is
10 show that the use OF alcoholic bev-
eraGes by the American people Inn
i"airs the permanency Of their ma
tional life. The subject will be con-
Etdered under Ave typical aspects;
that OF national health, the economic.
The social, the ethical and the political.
a classification that will enable me to
discuss not only the direct effect of
liquor on the individual. the home and
the nation. but also the many far
reaching questions associated with its
production and distribution.
All InLOXlcants contain In varying
quantities SPECIFIC narcotic polsuu.
namely. ethyl alcohol, This drug, like
ClLOroEOFm, morphine and others, has
paralyEinG acLon on vegetable and
animal life. The experiments OF Pro-
lessor Hodge, of Clark University.
nave shown that alcohol dlmlnlshes
the growing activity of tho yeast
plant; while DR.. Ridge, an English
authority, demonstrated that one part
OF this substance In 1000 cubic cent?
meters OF wafer hInders the forma-
lion OF green matter in geranium md
in many other plants. ~ Sir B. w.
Richardson has also found that a very
dilute solution of alcohol kills fresh
water medusae. (2l Experiments In
various fields plainly Indicate that al
cohol Injuries all forms of life by direct
poisoning OF the living cells.
Few practical tests are necessary to
illustrate the disastrous action of al
cohOl on the human body. When this
drug Is taken in any form into the
body, 1t circulates undecomposed in
the blood, destroys gradually the nerve
CoTpuscles, expands the blood vessels
that carry the nourishment to the var
ious viscera, interferes with digestion
and assimilation. and causes directly
or indirectly a great number of dis
eases. When the nerve cells begin to
deterlorate due to alcoholic poisoning.
serious psychological disturbances ap-
pear which generally lead to insanity.
A few figures will help to emphasize
the truth of this statement. In the
United States, from twenty-five per
cent to thirty per cent of the insane
admitted to hospitals owe their condi-
ton in one way or another to the use
of intoxicants. 90 The lunacy cons
mission of New York found out that
twenty-eight per cent of the cases in
the state hospitals can be traced to
the influence of liquor, while 10000
have gone insane through the nation
for the same reason.
These facts will have perhaps
more vital meaning If one considers
the past and present consumption OF
liquor In this country. From 1860,
before the liquor trade was organized.
until 1912. the consumption Of intoxf-
Cants increased from six and one half
gallons per capita to twenty-one gal
Ions, or little over 240 per cent. Harry
S. Warner, authority on the subject,
estimated that there were 100000
habitual drinkers in the United States
in 1913, l. e., two thirds of the adult
males and one-tenth Of the adult Wom-
en-. There has geen a gradual increase
in the use Of liquor from four gallons
per capita in 1850 to twenty-one gal
Ions per capita in 1912. 10 Today
the consumption has decreased slight
~, but the liquor power compensates
for the change by scientific ADVERTISE
ment and educational campaigns.
The plain truth is that in the eyes
OF the present civilization the Amer
lean people are being Systematically
poisoned. The cities. that contain
about forty-six per cent Of the entire
population. are the enchanted places
where this process Of national destruc-
ton goes on day by day. under the
brilliant lights of restaurants. hotels,
cabarets and saloons in the depths Of
the slums and In the richest mansions.
Mysterious and fatal power OF liquor!
The ignorant masses drink 1t because
1t Is easy to get and easy to drink, be-
cause ii gives warmth and happiness
so they say, so everyone has said.
The individual and social troubles
caused today by the use of intoxicants
give only vague idea of what will
happenNin the future. Alcoholic homes
will produce weak men and women,
detectives of every description. and
above all. that peculiar type of luna
Tic found by the thousands in many
communities. not dangerous enough
10 be isolate. and always satisfied to
live at the expense of society. This
static individual may be some day the