The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1922-12-15
DIR. C. W. SALEEBY BRANDS
ALCOHOL RACE DESTROYER
World Renowned Scientist Ex-
poses Liquors Part in De-
bauching Human Race.
FIGHT FOR HUMANITY
More Involved Than Mere De-
feat of the Liquor interests; Ma
TONS Life Depends on Result.


asm nor held the attention of the
audience more closely than that of
c. w. Saleeby, M. D., F. r. S. E..
chairman British National birth rate
commission, delivered Friday night,
November "a. The Toronto Globe
speaking of this address, says:
1t Is doubtful whether the floor
of Massey Hail, that scene of SO
many conventions, mas ever wit
messed a more spontaneous and
sustained demonstration than that
accorded c. w. Saleeby at the
conclusion of his mastery
justification OH hygienic grounds
of the prohibition OF alcoholic
liquors.
The report of this address as it
appeared in tie Toronto Globe, fol-
lows
IN speech sparkling with cpl
gram-rising at times to impassion-
cd nights OF oratory, yet always
backed by irrefutabie statistics, and
presented in the logical, analytical
manner of the scicntist-Dr. Saleeby
described Prohibition as the greatest
health measure in history And its
great function, he said, lay in re-
trieving the ravages of alcoholism as
manifested in racial decadence, infant
mortality, venereal and pulmonary
diseases.
"Thc solution of the waning Of
oncc-mglty nations, to which his
torians volunteered no clue, was to
be found, he said, in the curse of
drink and the physical as we'll as
moral degeneration which it left in
its wake. Alcohol deserved to be
classed as racial poison one of
those agencies possessed OF the
quality OF destroying the children
through their parents. 'Prohib-
ton has become more than the elm
ination of drunkenness on the
Streets he declared; more than
tightening the task of police courts
or reducing automobile fatalities. 1t
is the preservation OF the life of
nations
THE speaker cited testimony from
ancient and Biblical writers to show
that there existed, even in those days,
recognition that mothers were i'm
periling their children by the drink
ing of wine. Alcohol not only poison
ed the body, but, more than any other
tissue, it injured the germ plasm.
This was its worst sin against man
kind. Experiments had shown that
the offspring of guinea pigs subjected
for one hour day to merely the
fumes Of alcohol showed visible
deterioration.
Here he struck at the plausible OPP
ponents of Prohibition. Moderate
drinking he said, causes moderate
drunkenness. 1t may be ever so
respectable. and never involve police
interference, but it affects moderate
deterioration of the stock. In Canada
you did not do that. Drinking
was not the usual thing and eminent
1y respectable Men had spree,
but did not countenance it in
their homes. 1t is the steady, re-
spectacle drinking, which so many
people defend, that destroys the
race
"He went on to arraign alcohol as
the chief accomplice of venereal dis
case, in that it broke down judg-
ment, control and sensibility 1t was
significant that in many cities, with
the closing of the saloons, the red
light districts, to which the former
had sent recruits, had also more or
less disappeared.
Saving Women's Souls
"'Why, that alone would justify us
in our world league he said hotly.
What is all the yellow gold in the
world compared with one girls
soul?' Reports from the Federal
bureau at Washington, and other de-
partments, showed that the curve
of venereal diseases had decreased
since Prohibition, though no new
cures or treatments had been dis
covered.
Replies To Taschereau
''He had been reminded, he said, by
Premier Taschereau of Quebec of the
adage, Physician, heal myself Mr..
Taschereau had said also that he
would be sorry to see in Quebec the
results shown in dry provinces and
countries. In reply, he pointed out
that the infant mortality of the last
year in New York, where the law
was enforced with greatest difficulty,
was only II per 1000, while in Mon
trea1 it was 155. But babies, he OBJ
served, did not interest politicians.
They did not have votes.