The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-05-04
DOMAIN OF TEMPERANCE
wHlskEY AND ATHLETES.

"They told me you never took
drink or smoked, an l put you down
for boob. Reckon | was the boob!
Stay by the watah wagon, boy Only
wish l had!"
These were the parting words of the
ex-champion pugilist, Jack Johnson, as
he babe goodbye to his successful
rival, Jess Willard, on the dock in
Cuba, soon after his defeat.
Until the booze" got him, Johnson
had been the worlds champion.
There are thousands of men who had,
like him, been superb successes in
their various avocations, until the
booze" got hold of them.
It is said that John L. Sullivan was
such husky giant that he did not
seem to- think that anything could
ever undermine his strength, but
Whiskey and other designations weak
ened his mighty physique, and before
he realized it he was no longer the
worlds champion.
A New York man whose life is be-
ing slowly strangled by liquor recently
said that he had never tasted intoXi-
cants until after his first reverse in
| business. Then he wanted something
to brace him and finding that whiskey
gave him little contemporary cour-
age and a feeling Of well-being, he
continued to take glass every now
and then until he became a slave to
the very thing which he thought was
going to help him retrieve his for
tunes. Whiskey, he declares, has
broken every promise it ever made
| him.
1t has done infinitely worse than
that. 1t has not only robbed him of
the very courage and initiative which
it promised to brace and strengthen,
ruined his career and his health, but
it has also stolen from him the most
precious of all his possessions, his
manhood. This once brilliant, we'll
educated man, with great possibilities,
is now mere wreck of humanity,
without will power, without courage,
without hope or aspiration, lacking
everything that makes man godlike.
of men temporarily puts a new face
upon the world, a new aspect. Men
drink in order to feel better. They
drink for the exhilarating, stimulat-
ing effect of the whiskey, or whatever
other intoXicant they may take, to
rouse their hopes, to increase their
courage. They think they will not
e. ~
work better for it,
The biggest faker in the world is
whiskey, and the remarkable thing
about it is, that although it has never
kept any of the marvellous promises
which it has made, it still continues to
delude and ruin millions upon millions
of human beings every day of every
year!
| When whiskey was first discovered
it's use was followed by such wonder
full stimulating, and eXhilarating re-
suits that many people thought the
real elixir of life had been discovered.
1t was believed to give new life, new
energy; to double ones ability. In
fact, it was regarded as a great ma
gician which could work miracles
among the discouraged, the downcast,
and the sorrowful. 1t was thought it
would make the poor forget their pow
erty, the sick their pain. 1t was given
to children to make them grow, and
it was a long time before the terrible
deteriorating, demoralizing influence
was discovered, long time before
many realized that wine is the
mocker as related in the Bible For
centuries people were deluded into be-
lieying that it was food because it
burned in the body. This combustion
was supposed to produce nourishment,
but it has been found by many expe-
riments that only about four ounces
of alcohol can possibly be burned in
the human body in twenty-four hours,
and that even if a person attempted
to keep himself alive upon whiskey
alone he would be dead drunk before
he got fifth of the required nourish-
ment even to sustain life.
% s. Morden. In Physical Culture
Il 1870