Republican farmer., 1918-07-05

of alcohol. The nearest we know of it was the experiment in Russia. We know the result" declares Dr. D. O. Edson, prominent New York physi- clan, in the New York Tribune. Dr. Edson and other physicians and psy- chologists, answering a questionnaire propounded by The Tribune, were united in their opposition to national prohibition. Dr. Edson added:
 "In my judgment, prohibition. had more to do with the wrecking ot Russia than any other cause.
 "In my judgment exactly the same result will follow here in the United States. The immediate result of pro- hibition will be a marked and danger ous 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.
 T 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; I will even say is rarely a user of fermented liquor.
 "He is Usually Prohibitionist" Dr. Edson prefaces his remarkable statements concerning the Russian situation by saying:
 May I begin by asking a familiar question: What does a man live for? a1n Nor for love. nor for family, nor-it may be added-for money.
 "The primitive hungers we know the stomach hungers, sex hungers and the rest-are rather easily satts- ] fed And therefore intermittent in | their "drive" on human action and our daily lives.
 But there is one hunger that is practically incessant and never ab- 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 or on the battlefield, or in an argu- ment at the dinner table, or merely in our thoughts as we walk down the street or sit day dreaming over a | pipe.
 "Incessantly this hunger must be satisfied for it is the source of nearly all our happiness. This is the great discovery of modern psychology.
 If it is not satisfied, the mind takes refuge in insanity, alcohol or drugs, and achieves in the dreams which these inspire.
 Prohibition Ignores This. l Now, the trouble with all prohi- bition theory is that it ignores or IS ignorant of this great fact. Yet this hunger for achievement is as basic and vital as the desire for food and | drink
 And just as indispensable.
 The mechanisms by which this craving is satisfied are as silent and unconscious as the mechanisms by which our bodily vigor is sustained. ing of the little blood plates which carry oxygen and food to every tissue and cell of the body, are no more sub tie nor complex nor compelling than "The parallelism is complete and exact When we lack food, when we are thirsty, there is vague craving which soon results in a general dis turbance of the bodily functions. In exactly the same way when this in- stinct to achieve, to be great, is not satisfied, there comes vague craving which, if unsatisfied, soon results in a general mental disturbance.
 "The starved mind flies to alcohol. to pipe dreams or the protective de- lusions of the insane.
 "The unacceptable alternative is sui eide. No man can live and not achieve in some way, either in fancy or in fact.
 "All this the prohibitionist passes by as If it did not exist. He sees ir the use of stimulants a cause of hu- man weakness and degradation when it is the result.
 "He imagines that the craving for liquor is some evil possession or d kind of body lust. Nothing could be further from the fact.
 "The desire to booze is a brain hun ger, or the result of brain hunger, q soul or mind thirst.
 "It is not a bodily craving as for food and water, but for achievement,
 
 "There is in mental and civilized conduct dead line of lack of achieve ment. Drive a man through this line and he is done for-down and out.
 "Now, an enormous number of men achieve in the main, but not enough to free them from the dead line' They eke out the meager U or 4 per cent. necessary with little alcohol. Take this away and you make a thief or the insane or the criminal.
 | The KeeIey Cure.
 "A number of people imagine that the 'Keeley cures were proof that al coholism is a kind of bodily weakness or perversion. In reality, the Keeley sanatoriums were clubs of praise. Boozers could gather together and grow great in telling of their wonder full exploits in the consumption of h- quor or their greatness in overcoming it, with an admiring audience. This was their achievement"'
 Of particular importance at this time is the opinion of the medical profession, as the wisdom of nation wide prohibition has been challenged from a new quarte1-the borderland of psychology and medicine.
 The many favorable replies received from doctors of prominence brought from the editor of The Tribune the comment, That the weight of med fcal opinion was rather opposed to ' prohibition than favorable"
 "The great surprise of the whole canvass" says The Tribune, lis the prominence of the psychological