p. 733 | Health and Temperance

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 2, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 46.

Health and Temperance.

DOES THE USE OF WINE PREVENT DRUNKENNESS?

THIS question is of great importance for California, where the soil, as well as the climate, is peculiarly adapted to the cultivation of the wine grape, and where there already has been paid considerable attention to wine making. It must, however, be remembered that, although some efforts have been made in this State to make the manufacture of wine a success, it is a fact that, while other varieties of fruit grown in California have yielded a profit to the producer, the wine grape has not proved itself to be profitable to the wine growers. The thousands of dollars which the State of California has expended in the interest of this industry has not, it seems, been able to make this business profitable. But in spite of this fact the devotees of Bacchus are bound to do their utmost to make California a wine-producing State.

It is very natural for those who are interested in the wine question, either as growers of the wine grape, manufacturers of fermented wine, sellers or consumers of the "stuff," to turn their eyes (which, perhaps, already have been made red by tarrying too long at the wine) to the old country, saying, "The wine-producing countries, as, for instance, France, are very sober compared with other countries." I am sure that these wine-making people wish it so to be, and that this wish is embodied in that statement; but it is one thing to make a statement and quite another to prove it. I propose to prove that that statement is not true, and that even France, one of the leading wine-producing countries, is cursed by an increasing tide of drunkenness, as well as many other countries. I will prove that the use of fermented wine does not prevent drunkenness, and that such wine is the kindling-wood by which the devil starts the fire of hell—the thirst for strong drink in those who used to put the foaming cup to their lips. Everyone who is acquainted with the manner in which alcohol is working its way onward to victory will admit that it, aided by the lighter drinks, creates a craving for stronger—for whisky and gin—and that it thus sneaks upon its victims before they are well aware of the fact that they are bound, hand and foot and heart, in the most degrading thralldom—the thralldom of strong drink. And as it is with individuals in this respect, so it is with nations, especially wine-producing nations. There is, I believe, a time for all wine-producing nations when they can congratulate themselves because the bad effects of intoxicating drinks are not so easily detected among them as among other nations who use the stronger alcoholic drinks. But how long will this state of things continue? It will only continue a few generations. In such countries both men, women, and children will drink these light fermented drinks, flattering themselves with the thought that it doesn’t hurt them, little suspecting that they are creating a thirst—a fire which will either devour the coming generation or involve it in a most desperate struggle against the inherited thirst for intoxicating drinks; and the consequence will be that such nations will sooner or later come to a fearful crisis, when they will have to grapple with that awful monster—strong drink, the fruit of the alcoholic wines which their fathers and mothers indulged in. Wine-producing has reached that point.

—Rev. Carl F. Eltzholtz, of Norwegian and Danish M. E. Church, in Christian Advocate.