p. 10 | APPALLING HAVOC

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 29, 1895

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 21, No. 34.

APPALLING HAVOC.

THE ravages of alcohol in Belgium are probably worse than in any other country in the world. A royal commission has been appointed to inquire into the causes thereof. This commission was rendered necessary by the following series of awful facts:—

First, the licensing system has proved utterly inefficient.

Second, the suppression of 38,000 public houses has resulted only in the creation of an equal number of clandestine establishments.

Third, the sale of alcohol has increased in alarming proportions.

Fourth, the poisonous nature of the liquor sold, said by chemists to be seven times more deadly in its effects than pure spirits, is an additional evil. Similar clandestine establishments exist in the United States, known as “Speakeasies,” “Holes in the Wall,” etc.

No license system in this country diminishes in any appreciable degree the opportunities or temptations of the people to debauch themselves with liquor, and intoxicate themselves. Increased attention should be given to the sowing of total abstinence principles in the minds of children.—New York Christian Advocate.