Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1922-09-13
Are Wine and Beer Harmful?

Are Wine and Beer harmful?
How do people find out whether
or not a substitute is harmful?
By watching its effects upon
themselves. BY watching its effect
upon others.
Have the effects of beer and wine
been tried upon many people?
From the time of the earliest writ
ings in the world to the present day
the effects of beer and wine have
been observed and written down.
The hieroglyphics Of Egypt picture
people drinking and getting drunk
on wine.
The Bible tells of the injury wine
did to Noah. He planted a vineyard,
drank of the wine and became drunk
en-.
Older sacred writings in China and
India tell of drunkenness caused by
wine, "rice-wine," and other fer
mented alcoholic drinks of that time.
Beer also was known to cause
drunkenness in olden times. A writer
who lived in Egypt about the time of
Moses wrote that if beer gets into
a man it overcomes his mind and
makes him unmanageable.
If people knew that wine and
beer injured them, why did they not
stop their use?
People thought then, as many still
think, that they could stop the in
jury without stopping that which
caused it, the beer and wine drink
ing.
Rulers punished their subjects Sc
verely for getting drunk, but did not
condemn drinking. They tho ght
that the injury came only from tax
ing "too much," and by "too much"
they meant enough to make one
drunk.
Why did not the people learn how
much they could drink without being
injured?
The injury from beer and wine is
in proportion to the amount drunk.
The first injury makes no outward
showing, but it is, however, a serious
one, for it weakens self restraint
and judgement, the very qualities of
the mind that are needed to resist
suggestions to keep OF drinking.
The first injury, such as is easily
caused by beer and wine, is also Sc
rious because it escapes notice. The
drinker does not notice the begin
ming of the "don't care" state of
mind. If they observe any change in
the drinker they interpret it as a
sign of his good spirits, sociability.
They do not see it as the beginning
of the injury that may easily end in
drunkenness.
There are many wine and beer
drinkers who do not become drunk
ards; why are there so many excep-
lions if drinking a little leads so cas-
lily to drinking more?
Some persons can, without becoming
drunken, drink quantities of alcohol
ic beer and wine that would throw
Others into a state of drunkenness.
This is not a sign that such drinkers
are not injured. Instead of "going to
the head" and thereby plainly show
ing it's injurious effects, the alco-
hol in the beer and wine they orink
habitually day after day slowly poi
sons other parts of the body.
The injury may show Itself first
as lessened resistance to disease or
slower recovery from accidents. If
the drinker is not exposed to disease
germs, to industrial poisons or to ac-
cidents, he does not suspect, and his
friends do not suspect, that he is in
jured by his moderate drinking. He
is pointed to as an example of the
harmlessness of beer and wine.
But there are other reasons of de-
tecting the unsuspecting injury. Life
insurance tables have shown that
large numbers of insured men who.
took no more than two glasses of
beer a day had on the average a
death rate of Is per cent higher than
the general average of insured lives.
Another injury from beer and
wine drinking is impairment of work
ing ability. Muscular coordination or
nerve control, necessary for skilled
work, is affected by small quantities