The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-10-03
fREACHMAN'S SOLUTION
Of ALCOHOL PROBLEM
BY Emma Il. Transeau

e IN q OeDate on the aicouOt question
in the French parliament. not long
ago, one memb Der raised the age old
bubble. that alcohol is a poison only
when one takes too much,' a sophis-
| try that has been answered in this
country by the axiom, Quantity does
not change quality" One might. for
| instance. eat too many pears and have
| indigestion, but pears are not, there
| fore. poisonous. They do not SO af-
| feet the nerves as to set UP n craving
! for more pears, against which one
must always be on his guard In eat
| ing them.
| Alcohol. like opium. has this tend
! ency, else there would be no more al
eehel slaves than there are pear
| slaves.
| But it has remained for a French
| man. to give the sophistry a different
answer. one which the opponents. of
prohibition will find it difficult to de-
/ molish
| You admit. Monsieur Debierre" he
! says to the parliamentarian that al
| cohol Is poison. that ii makes fools
| of people. that 1t leads the way for
| the germs of lung dicsase. that 1t peo-
pies the hospitals and insane asyIums.
You admit that in the actual state
| themselves with alcohol because they
! take more of # than their bodies Will
stand
! You will also admit, I presume,
| that nothing has come OF all the eff
/ forts that have been made to prevent
! the French people from taking more
| than a gram of alcohol per kilogram
! of body weight" (the quantity DR..
| Debierre thought would be harmless. }
! ,iY A. 1A rfrt
sumo, that the people should continue
to poison themselves. Join with us in
asking that the state prohibit this
| poison until the French are able to
use no more than one gram per kilo-
| era m of body weight"
| To one who understands the nature
: Of alcohol this Is an unassailable po-
| sition.
The Freedman does not saw PRO
hibit alcoholic drinks until fndivid-
uals here and there. have learned not
/ tity,' but until the French people.
! that is the nation as a whole, are able
| TO keep within this limit
t He might even have said until all
/ hut few have this ability, because a
| few hard drinkers would not consti-
| tute national problem It is the
/ burdening OF hospitals. asylums. pub
| lie and private charities and the courts
with the slaves OF alcohol that makes
national question OF the use of al
/ coholic liquors.
And the French senator had admit
/ ted that such rs the case in France.
Warnings against alcohol have been
sounded throughout France by its
/ famous academy of medicine. by its
| hospitals and municipal authorities
who have placarded walls and streets
with warning posters. to the great dis
/ gust of the liquor traders.
! Lectures against 'to much" alco-
hol have been dinned into the French
| the children in the schools
Why have not the people learned
nct to take too much alcohol
Why would the Frenchman's plan
+ to prohibit alcoholic liquors until the
| lesson has been learned ensure prohi-
/ bition. until vineyards are turned into
wheat fields. cider presses into food
| choppers and breweries and distiller-
| les into packing houses or other use
full institutions?
Why has all the eshortation against
| taking too much" alcohol in which
Eodo people have expended their
breath and their Writing and printing
materials since records Of human
| thought began. failed to stop nation
wide and world wide alcoholism
| Because the nature OF alcohol is
what It is. a hahit-forming drug, like
opium.
4 Because a little. and no one knows
how little in all case or under al
circumstances, has the power to start
a craving for more.
i The power is due to IT'S poisonous
property, one which true foods give
us no occasion to fear
Considerable might he said about
the limits set by the French senator
a gram per kilogram of body weikht
or a little less than one and one-halt
pints OF 10 per cent wine a day; bu
that would make another chapter
! 1t is considerably larger thar
! amounts that have been proved to be
directly harmful to the human ma.
chine; 1t is enough to drive so many
people beyond the limit named that II
the stipulation were accepted there
would be no resumption of alcohol,
! drinking customs while human bodies
) and alcohol molecules remain wha'
} they are.
What objection then to the perfect
ly reasona BILE proposition to prohihl
alcoholic drinks until the people
speaking collectively. can learn to use