The Bridgeport times and evening farmer. (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1918-1924, 1918-07-01

ever tried the complete suppression
of alcohol The nearest We know OF
it was the experiment in Russia. We
know the result" declares DR.. D. 0.
Edison, prominent New York physl-
clan, in the New York Tribune. DR..
Edison and other physicians and psy-
biologists, answering a QUESTIONABLE
propounded by The Tribune, were
united in their opposition to national
prohibition. DR.. Edison added:
I'm my judgment, prohibition had
more to do with the wrecking OF
Russia than any other cause.
I'm my judgment exactly the same
result will follow here in the United
States The immediate result of pro-
hibition will be marked and danger
Gus increase of crime, insanity, dis
content and unrest Mobs and mob
violence will ensue, and the Industrial
Workers of the World, which are the
Bolsheviki of America. will attempt
to gain possession of the country.
And their numbers will be enor-
mously augmented.
81 beg to draw attention to the
fact that, the typical Industrial
Worker of the World, Socialist, an
archist or labor agitator is not an
alcoholic in any way; will even say
is rarely user of fermented liquor.
HE is Usually a Prohibitionist!'
4 DIR. Edison prefaces his remarkable
statements concerning the Russian
situation by saying:
May I begin by asking familiar
i question: What does a man live for?
mot, it is evident, for bread alone.
Nor for love. nor for family, mort
: may be added-for money.
1.-The primitive hungers we know
the stomach hungers, sex hungers
and the rest-are rather easily salts
fed And therefore intermittent in
s their drive" on human action and
our daily lives.
But there is one hunger that is
practically incessant and never abb
sent. That is the hunger to achieve,
to accomplish something, to win re.
gard or applause or money or attain
a victory-it may be at the workbench
q or on the battlefield, or in an argu-
s. ment at the dinner table, or merely
a in our thoughts as we walk down the
street or sit day-dreaming over a
pipe.
II
satisfied, for it is the source of nearly
all our happiness. This is the great
q discovery of modern psychology.
eff it is not satisfied, the mind
4 takes refuge in insanity, alcohol or
drugs, and achieves in the dreams
which these inspire.
Prohibition Ignores This.
i Now, the trouble with all prohi-
: bition theory is that it ignores or is
II ignorant of this great fact. Yet this
hunger for achievement is as basic
: and vital as the desire for food anc
drink.
And just as indispensable.
THE mechanisms by which thi!
9 craving is satisfied are as silent ant
: unconscious as the mechanisms b!
Z which our bodily vigor is sustained
5 The processes of digestion, the cours
ing of the little blood plates which
OIL carry oxygen and food to every TISSUE
l. and cell of the body, are no more sub
lie tie nor complex nor compelling thai
Sc this psychic drive to achieve.
h THE parallelism is complete ant
ly exact. When we lack food, when w
If are thirsty, there is a vague craving
to which soon results in a general dis
i'd turbance of the bodily functions. Il
ly exactly the same way when this in
Id stinct to achieve, to be great, is no
in satisfied, there comes a vague craving
m which, if unsatisfed, soon results in
TX general mental disturbance.
RS THE starved mind flies to alcohol
to pipe dreams or the protective de
ir lusions of the insane.
ed THE unacceptable alternative is sui
eide. No man can live and no
Up achieve in some way, either in fame
1t or in fact.
I "All this the prohibitionist passe
in by as If it did not exist. He sees il
he the use of stimulants a cause of hu
ed man weakness and degradation
e. when it is the result.
wv He imagines that the craving 70
lis liquor is some evil possession or
kind of body lust. Nothing could b
at further from the fact.
ny THE desire to booze is brain hun
ng ger, or the result of a brain hunger,
as soul or mind thirst.
1t ct is not a bodily craving as fo
M food and water, but for achievement
as as in sports, exercises or work.
op There is in mental and civilize
ell conduct dead line of lack of achieve
Use ment Drive a man through tn
Use line and he is done for-down an
10 out.
,at Now, an enormous number {
men achieve in the main, but nj
* enough to free them from the 'dea
line They exc out the meager
IT. or per cent. necessary with a lit
alcohol. Take this away and yo
ag' make thief or the insane or tt
criminal.
The Kelley Cure.
~, "a number of, people imagine tn;
a. the Kelley cures were proof that a
- coholism is kind of bodily weakne
or perversion. In reality the Keele
,ar sanatoriums we're clubs of prais
Boozers could gather together ar
MI grow great in telling of their wonde
~ full exploits in the consumption of !
a. Quor or their greatness in overconir
it, with an admiring audience. Tn
was their achievement"
OF particular importance at tn
time is the opinion of the medic
profession, as the wisdom of nation
z wide prohibition has been challenge
from a new quarter-the borderlar
ge- of psychology and medicine.
me The many favorable replies receive
in from doctors of prominence brougl
for from the editor of The Tribune Il
ars comment, THAT the weight of met
Ar ical opinion was rather opposed
the prohibition than favorable"