The Menace of Intemperance
By L. A. S.
ALCOHOL as a world power and world-wide menace to civilization, was the cause of a recent international anti-alcohol congress which was held at Bremen, Germany. The inroads of intemperance in all civilized countries are exciting profound alarm on the part of public men. Of the conditions in Germany growing out of the drink evil Herr Stoermer, a member of the German Reichstag, said:— Excessive drinking among the masses in general and among workers in particular is the most serious bar to the emancipation of the lower classes. It undermines the mental capacities and energies of those who would otherwise be capable of attaining efficiency and culture. While it continues, the aims of social democracy—the destruction of social barriers and the equalization of the burdens and joys of civilization—will not advance an inch. Le Figaro, a prominent Paris newspaper, speaks thus of the condition of France:— There is no choice given us in France; whether we like it or no, we must go ahead and fight this matter, or we shall disappear as a nation. These are not mere inventions nor mere forms of speech. Ask Dr. Le Gendre and Dr. Debove and inquire of any doctors, and they will say it is simply a matter of a few generations more. Another Frenchman, a physician of prominence, Dr. Brunon, says:— The alcoholism of the working classes threatens to put an end, and that shortly, to existing society. . . . Those who are indifferent may shrug their shoulders to-day. The question of alcohol will very soon take the first place of all questions affecting the state. The situation in England was referred to not long ago in a public speech by Lord Roseberry, who said:— I am not a fanatic in temperance reform. I am, I hope, a sensible and level-minded politician on that and all other subjects, but I can not but be struck by the pathetic urgency with which the appeals for dealing with this question come from every part of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales; and though I say I am not a fanatic on this question, I view the uncontrolled condition of our liquor traffic as a serious danger. . . . It is becoming too great a power in the state. I go so far as to say this, that if the state does not soon control the liquor traffic, the liquor traffic will control the state. In America the situation is much the same. Intemperance, not only in the use of alcoholic liquors, but of various nerve destroying drugs, is breaking down the barriers of reason and self-control which safeguard civilized society. The use of intoxicants by women is rapidly on the increase. In some cities in the United States appearances indicate that almost as much liquor is consumed by the women as by the men. Is it any wonder that in the forefront of God's great reform message of to-day, now being given to the world, the principles of healthful and temperate living have their place? L. A. S.