ST MES TEMPERANCE EDUCATION NUMBER

This Nan Should Not DRINK!

PHOTOS BY GALLOWAY RESPONSIBLE MEN DON'T DRINK Are You an Alcoholic? The Fallacy of Liquor Revenue Alcohol—Destroyer of Personality The Great Illusion THE GREAT ILLUSION. Alcohol Not the Boon to Mankind It Is Supposed—and Advertised—to Be

by L. H. LONERGAN, M. D.

OR centuries beverage alcohol has been erly. In this condition many small areas of tance of beverage alcohol as a cause of the popularly esteemed as a stimulant to prac- liver cells are destroyed and then replaced disease is shown by the fact that cirrhosis tically all the vital functions of the body. by scar tissue. As this destruction of liver of the liver occurs eight times as frequently It has been used, in years past, to treat many cells proceeds in different areas of the or- among chronic alcoholics as it does among of the common ills to which man is heir. gan, new cell groups are formed in the re- the general population. However, modern investigation has dis- , generation process, thus constituting small Why does the individual within a few pelled many of the illusions concerning its nodules separated by scar tissue. Those minutes after taking alcohol feel so much apparent value in the treatment of various groups of cells near the surface of the liver warmer that he is inclined to overexpose diseases. appear as small knobs of tissue; hence the himself to cold? It is immediately observed The supposed increase in strength of term "hobnailed liver." Obviously such that the skin is flushed. The individual persons under the influence of alcohol has scarring and obliteration of liver tissue will feels warmer because more blood is actually been shown to be false; the feeling of obstruct the circulation of blood through flowing through the skin vessels. This very warmth, only a flushing of the blood ves- the organ, with the result that the blood is action—the increase in size of the skin sels of the skin with actually a much dammed back into the veins from the stom- vessels—means that more blood is brought greater loss of body heat; instead of any ach, intestines, and spleen, and these organs from the interior of the body to the surface, "energizing effects," a definite impairment also suffer. In severe cases blood plasma where it is cooled; hence, with more heat of nutrition; and, most important, instead passes out into the abdominal cavity, where lost, the body temperature actually drops. of the supposed stimulation of the mental it accumulates and may have to be re- Experienced polar explorers and ski moun- faculties, a real depression of the entire peatedly drawn off in order to relieve the taineers are well aware of the foolishness of nervous system. severe distention and discomfort. using beverage alcohol to "keep warm" "From almost every standpoint ethyl al- This disease is usually progressive and during, or previous to, exposure to cold. cohol must be regarded as the most im- fatal. Available evidence indicates that cir- There seems to be a widespread impres- portant poison with which medical men rhosis of the liver is not a direct result of sion that beverage alcohol exerts some stim- and jurists have to deal; no other poison the effect of alcohol on that organ, but ulating effect on the sexual functions. The causes so many deaths or leads to or in- rather that it is secondary to the nutritional only explanation for this is that the higher tensifies so many diseases, both physical disturbances which so frequently accom- centers of the nervous system are depressed. and mental, as does alcohol in the various pany chronic alcoholism. Such nutritional Because judgment, will power, and self- forms in which it is taken."—Quoted from deficiency may occur in those who have control are definitely inhibited, the sexual Hunt and Gettler in Legal Medicine and never become inebriated. Yet the impor- desires are under less restraint. Actually, Toxicology, edited by Peterson, however, with the ingestion of large Haines, and Webster. amounts of the drug, the spinal cord We can point out perhaps half a is also depressed and sexual powers dozen disease conditions in which are impaired. Among chronic alco- a prominent causal factor is the con- holics (in about one third of the tinued use of beverage alcohol— uncomplicated cases) some derange- usually over a period of years. It ment of the reproductive organs is should be emphasized, however, evident. This may result in sterility that any one of these or all of them or atrophy of the testicles, and sex- together do not outweigh in impor- uality may be completely abolished. tance the one outstanding imme- It has long been known that the diate effect of alcohol on the body use of alcohol definitely lowers re- —that of depression of the central sistance to disease, especially pneu-• nervous system. Among the changes monia. In a study of t,000 cases of produced by alcohol on body tissues pneumonia at Bellevue Hospital, re- is a chronic inflammation of the viewed by Lambert, the death rate stomach. Whenever beverages are among alcoholics was 5o per cent, taken in concentrated form (40 per compared with 24 per cent among cent alcohol and over), the drug is the nonalcoholies. Another report highly irritant to the stomach lin- from Cook County Hospital, Chi- ing, producing congestion and in- cago, summarized the death rates flammation. The lining secretes a among 3,422 cases of pneumonia thick mucus in an attempt to pro- as follows: tect against further damage. This Excessive drinkers 49.85 per cent irritation repeated over a consider- Moderate drinkers 34.4 per cent Occasional drinkers able period of time eventually results in a chronically inflamed stomach, or abstainers 22.45 per cent with slow and imperfect digestion. A possible explanation for this in- The liver, too, is sometimes in- creased mortality among alcoholics volved in a scarring process known is the demonstration that alcohol as cirrhosis, which may markedly Alluring liquor ads create the great illusion, and it is time inhibits the movement of the white decrease its ability to function prop- the truth about alcohol received equal publicity. blood cells from the capillaries to Page Two -)( SIGNS of the TIMES the invading bacteria in the tissues. Thus important of all its effects. Again, any sub- 3. Increased requirement of vitamins. As alcohol weakens the first line of defense stance which is so likely to produce a vi- the nonfat calories of the diet are increased against bacterial invasion. cious habit cannot be called a food. Far in taking beverage alcohol, there is a cor- We candidly admit that as the drug is from being a true food, alcohol is one of responding increase in the vitamin require- rned or "detoxified" in the liver to form the most important causes of nutritional de- ment, especially vitamins of the B complex. carbon dioxide and water, some heat is ficiency in this country today. In practically For some time prior to the onset of the slowly liberated; but that fact is surely in- all chronic alcoholics some degree of die- specific deficiency disease the patient often sufficient reason to classify this drug as a tary deficiency may be found. The impor- presents a picture of vague ill-health char- true food. Unlike foods, alcohol cannot be tant reasons for this observation are three: acterized by any one or several of the fol- stored in the body, but remains unchanged I. Decreased food intake. The economic lowing symptoms: weakness, with loss of until it is completely burned or eliminated. aspect as well as the loss of appetite leads weight, excessive tiredness and fatigue after This combustion process, or oxidation, pro- the chronic alcoholic to spend his limited even moderate exercise; headache, irritabil- ceeds at a steady rate regardless of needs. funds for beverage instead of food. ity; anemia; "dyspepsia," and varied stom- Neither can this drug be utilized in growth 2. Decreased absorption and utilization ach disorders. As the condition increases repair of body tissues. Unlike foods, of the food which is eaten. This is a result of in severity, gradually the symptoms of more .ohol produces a definite depression on the inflammatory and degenerative changes specific diseases become apparent—espe- the central nervous system, by far the most in the alimentary tract and liver. (Continued on page 5)

FOOTBALL COACHES DENOUNCE

Ads%

riy, at-AA4414if

Athletics and Alcohol Don't Mix by ALLIED YOUTH, Inc.

11111-E4ADING university and college foot- "Alcoholic beverages of any kind do not drinker cannot stand the pace of competi- ball coaches and directors of athletics mix with football or other sports of high tive sports. The drinker does not have the have united in a strong and timely skill."—Don C. Peden, head coach, Ohio confidence of his teammates. Alcohol-free statement about athletes and alcohol. University (Athens, Ohio). living is the only choice a boy or man can They say that athletic achievement and "I know full well the harm an athlete make, if he wants to go places athletically!" alcohol do not mix. submits his body to if he tries to use alco- The group message was signed by the They declare in unison that "no small holic beverages. Not only do I oppose them following head football coaches: part of the team's morale is the realization for athletes but for all youth."—Grant each member that he is personally bound Feeser, football coach, Lebanon Valley Ike J. Armstrong, University of Utah. abstain from alcoholic indulgence." (Pennsylvania) College. D. X. Bible, University, of Texas. Bernie W. Bierman, University of Minnesota. 40They agree that "alcohol-free living is The Coaches' Message Paul 0. Bixler, Ohio State University. the only choice a boy or man can make, if Henry T. Bream, Gettysburg College. he wants to go places 'athletically." "Competition has been stiffening in all Wallace Butts, University of Georgia. Twenty-nine coaches and directors at branches of sport. High-school and college Roy B. Clogston, St. Lawrence University. Beattie Feathers, North Carolina State Col- leading institutions of higher learning teams are being chosen from a widening lege. signed the joint statement, released through segment of likely candidates. Being 'in the Grant Feeser, Lebanon Valley College. W. Roy Breg, executive secretary of Allied pink of condition,' physically and mentally, Henry Frnka, Tulane University. Youth, Inc., Washington, D. C. was never more essential for the young Charles W. Havens, Western Maryland Col- lege. As postscripts to the group message, athlete who wants to rate high in competi- Andy Kerr, Colgate University. veral coaches added such comments as tive sports. Allyn McKeen, Mississippi State College. 41110e following: "We who direct and coach in intercol- D. 0. McLaughry, Dartmouth College. "I am definitely convinced that alcoholic legiate athletics have found that much mat- L. R. Meyer, Texas Christian University. Ray Morrison, Temple University. beverages are a hindrance to athletes, as ters beyond a candidate's current physical Jess C. Nelly, Rice Institute. far as their over-all physical ability is con- condition. In choosing men for a team we Homer H. Norton, Texas A. and M. College. cerned. These completely slow up reaction must look ahead to the effect on the man of Don C. Peden, Ohio University. time. We have absolutely no time for any being admired, publicized, and imitated, if E. L. Rommey, Utah Agricultural College. Carl G. Snavely, University of North Caro- boy seeking a place in our squad who feels and when he attains excellence in his lina. cannot forego the use of alcohol."—Paul branch of sport. He must have force of Amos Alonzo Stagg, College of the Pacific. Bixler, head football coach, Ohio State character to say 'No' to alcoholic drinks, in Marvin A. Stevens, Brooklyn Dodgers Pro- niversity. season and out of season, if he is to stay at fessional Football Team. 0. Raymond Wolf, University of Florida. "I endorse any statement which opposes top form in his co-ordination of muscles the use of alcoholic beverages by football and nerves and retain stamina. No small Also by the following holding other admin- men in training."—Aldo Donelli, assistant part of the team's morale is the realization istrative positions in athletics: football coach, Columbia University. by each member that he is personally bound Lewis P. Andreas, director of athletics and "I would extend this statement to cover to abstain from alcoholic indulgence—in physical education, Syracuse University. Madison Bell, director of athletics, Southern all young people, whether they are in train- fairness to what his teammates likewise ac- Methodist University. ing or not. Not one single good argument cept as part of the cost of athletic achieve- Lowell Dawson, Buffalo All-American Foot- i be advanced in favor of the use of alco- ment. ball Club. ic beverages by young people."—Lewis "There is no competition between Aldo Donelli, assistant football coach, Colum- ol bia University. P. Andreas, director of athletics and phys- drinkers and nondrinkers for a place on Don Faurot, athletic director, University of ical education, Syracuse University. any team that rates well in athletics. The Missouri. for JULY 8, 1947 - Page Three ofifeeded -- DESTROYER OF PERSONALITY.

How Liquor Robs a Man of His Greatest Asset )0 you realize that there has never been anyone in the world like you by II before? There has never been any- one with your idiosyncracies, your peculi- FREDERICK W. SMITH arities and mannerisms. Not only that, but there will never be anyone in the world 411 again just like you. There couldn't be. Even if by all chances there should be a tain type of person, and then man like your father and a woman like in a moment you throw it all your mother and they married and had a away. child, that child would not be a duplicate There's another thing that of you. It couldn't be, because the world bothers me, — especially be- into which it would be born would have cause the average young per- changed, so that the teaching, the training, son does not know it,—and the problems that it would have to deal that is that every twentieth with would all be different, and the im- person in the world has what pressions that it gained would make it of the scientist calls, "no toler- a different mold entirely. It would not be ance for alcohol." That you. means, if such a person is God has given you a talent in your per- given a drink of liquor, he sonality that He has given to no one else, will keep on drinking until and never will give to anyone else. You he is drunk. He cannot help can never say, I have no talents, for God himself. There can never be has given you this one, and it is your any moderate drinking for treasure. that person. He cannot Your personality is indeed interesting. "drink like a gentleman," as From the minute that you were born it the liquor advertisements has been in the making. It is in the mak- say. He has three strikes ing right now, and it will continue in the against him before he begins. making until your life ends. However, there is no way Everything you have done, everything of telling who is that "twen- you have read, everything you have stud- tieth person" except by giv- ied, has gone into the shaping of you. The ing him a drink, and then it ideas your father and mother, your friends, is too late. For this reason your teachers, your pastor, have brought one psychiatrist said to young to you are a part of the development of people, "Don't take your first your personality. drink, because then it may Since your life is wrapped up with the he too late." There is no task of developing your personality, it scientific test to determine would be rather foolish, don't you think, tolerance for liquor. to throw this personality away? You ask how you can throw away your personality, Another unfortunate thing especially if it is such an integral part of is this: Of those who are you. You can see people doing it every supposed to be able to drink day. with moderation, some will Every time a certain high-school boy As I boarded a train yesterday, I saw lose that ability. How or why they lose it gets drunk, he comes around the next coming to the platform a man who had and which ones they will be, no one knows. morning to ask the fellows he was with thrown his away. He staggered slightly. Scientists simply know that some of this what he did the night before. On one oc- His eyes were glazed. He could not see group will become drunkards, giving up casion he got into trouble while drunk clearly nor walk straight. I do not know everything—home, friends, loved ones, and did not know about it until his com- that I had ever seen him before, but I jobs—in order to satisfy the craving. panions told him the next morning at know that the man I saw, the personality Still another problem presents itself. school. before me, was not the same as the one No one can tell what alcohol will do to that I might see in the same man the next him if he drinks. He may come out with No, not a single scientist in the world./ day. You see, he was drunk, and as long a "fighting jag" wanting to fight with can give you tests by which you can guard as he was under the influence of alcohol, everyone whom he meets. He may come yourself from the effects of alcohol. The he had thrown away his real self. with a "laughing jag" in which even the only guarantee that any scientist can give If you indulge in alcoholic drinks, you ordinary things of life seem funny. It may you today is that if you never touch alco- slide out of your personality as you slip leave him with a "crying jag," when hol, you will not have any effect from it. out of your clothes. You temporarily throw everything in the world seems wrong. Or By experiment, scientists have found that away your life's activities and endeavors. it may leave him with an attack of am- eight drops of alcohol for every thousand You work and struggle and fight year in nesia, when he will not remember any- drops of blood in a rat will cause death, and year out to make yourself into a cer- thing he did while under its influence. whereas the ratio for a human being is.

"Signs of the Times," July 8, 1947. Vol. 74, No. 25. $1.75 a year in the United States. Printed and published weekly (50 issues a year) by the Pacific Press Publishing Association at Mountain View, California, U. S. A. Entered as second-class matter September 15, 1904, at the post office at Mountain View, California, under Act of March 3, 1879. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, and authorized September 18, 1918. Page Four 4( SIGNS of the TIMES five drops to every thousand. From these facts it is evident that the more highly de- THE FALLACY OF LIQUOR veloped the organism, the more easily it is influenced by alcohol. If you have a good ain, alcohol will do you the greatest ossible harm. It reduces even the most brilliant minds to stupidity. Alcohol is a personality destroyer. Don't let it destroy yours! The Great Illusion (Continued from page 8) Costs Far Exceed Income cially those of beriberi or of pellagra. These vitamin deficiency states are seen in from to 20 per cent of the chronic alcoholics ;tering general hospitals. by C. AUBREY HEARN arAlcoholic Mental Disease. Among all patients admitted to mental hospitals, about to per cent are reported as due to alco- holism. To this number may be added I 4AST year the Federal Government D. Newton said recently: "Here in Georgia, another so per cent in whom alcoholism is received about $2,700,000 in revenue from twenty thousand persons are engaged in the noted, not as the one outstanding cause, but the sale of alcoholic beverages, and the broiler business in seven counties, and the as an important contributing factor. In state and local governments around $600,- newspapers stated last week that these peo- addition to these committed to mental hos- 000,000 more. Each figure set a new record. ple would be driven to kill the young chicks, .i tals, there is certainly a large number, aI- Since the Civil War liquor has been taxed close their plants, and seek employment ough the total is unknown, who through for revenue purposes, but only in recent elsewhere. And at the very time we read their addiction to alcohol are "undergoing years has the revenue been large enough to these dispatches, the same newspapers car- a sort of gradual personality suicide," with make a sizable contribution to total tax ried advertisements of liquor and beer, consequent ruination of their careers. In receipts. But whether the revenue from made from the very grains so much needed the majority of cases of mental deteriora- this source is large or small many have to feed these broilers. Washington did not tion or actual insanity from alcoholism argued that a tax on liquor is a legitimate appear at all disturbed, about this situation, such disaster occurs only after excessive in- and even a necessary tax. Their argument preferring, as usual, to think of alcoholic dulgence over a period of many years—usu- runs like this: "Liquor is going to be sold, beverages only in terms of revenue. One ally fifteen or twenty. and since it is not a necessity it may as can only ask how much longer we may Immediate Mental Depression. The one well be taxed and revenue derived from the hope to hold our economy together when ststanding effect of alcohol on the tissues sale of it." we give preference to liquor and beer, of the body—the one which outweighs in During the war fear of loss of revenue knowing that they will, in turn, destroy importance all the others combined—is the led the Government to give the green light our youth and our homes." immediate depression of the central nerv- to brewers, and the distillers were allowed How much revenue is actually derived ous system. The drug is universally classi- "liquor holidays," thus encouraging the from the sale of liquor? Dr. Haven Emer- fied as a nervous-system depressant, but this waste of millions of tons of food products son, professor emeritus of public health ad- concept is diametrically opposed to the used in the manufacture of the beverages. ministration at Columbia University, said popular idea that alcohol is a stimulant. Fear of the loss of revenue is today motivat- in a recent article: "What the community he apparent stimulation of the individual ing government to allow liquor manufac- gets in taxes on the beverage alcohol indus- ho is under its influence is well known. turers to continue their business and use try and retail trade does not nearly meet ilke becomes talkative and boisterous, laughs valuable grain and fruits in the face of un- the cost of illness, death, unemployment, loudly at minor jokes, and is generally care- precedented famine. accident, crime, and mental disease which less of his conduct. But here again the drug Speaking of the grain shortage, Dr. Louie are the result of alcohol abuse and which betrays its true actions. All these character- the community must pay for." istics are but indications of the early action In 1945, sales of legal liquor of alcohol on the brain—a depression of in the United States were about those nervous centers which involve rea- $7,800,000,000. Estimating a bil- son, judgment, will power, and self-control. lion dollars as the amount spent When these inhibitions which characterize for bootleg liquor (and this is a e highest development are removed, the conservative figure), the Amer- 4Iri otions are given free rein. ican people spent around nine There is an incontrovertible relationship billion dollars for liquor (an ex- , between the use of beverage alcohol and penditure amounting to more traffic accidents. It is not alone the impaired than a million dollars an hour). vision, the decreased hearing, or the slowed Thus about one dollar in every reactions which account for the marked in- three spent for liquor found its crease in accidents among alcoholics. It is way into government treasuries. e impaired judgment, and the unwar- But the nine billion dollars spent nted self-confidence produced by the use for liquor does not by any means eof only small amounts of beverage alcohol, represent the total economic loss which lead the driver to take risks .far in to the people. To this huge sum excess of his normal judgment. In Cali- must be added the cost of acci- fornia, J. C. Geiger reported that alcohol dents due to liquor, the cost of was responsible for more than one fifth of absenteeism caused by liquor, the auto accidents which in 1945 sent 63,086 the cost of hospitalization of al- persons to the hospital and 3,677 to the CO T OF - and the immense cost of crime caused by drink. morgue. Such a record from a single state THE DMIK (ICED sufficient evidence that the attempted EARNINGS, A minister speaking in the WW1 T Re•StA:r or legislature of North Carolina ixture of beverage alcohol with gasoline 0 114 “Aelfr igcan be accomplished only at the horrible last year in support of a liquor price of crushed lives. OUT OF BOTH POCKETS (Continued on page 14) for JULY 8, /947 -IC Page Five "Men Elf • — 1s

GALLOWAY DISTIL CEO ROM the number of people who had assembled in front of the Apex you What a Doctor Knows About Them F would have thought that the time The Other Side of the Liquor Ads was noon instead of midnight, and that they were watching a circus instead of a bar- room brawl. Of course, a barroom brawl by PAUL H. OSIEK, M. D. * is infinitely superior to a circus in many Chief Surgeon, Pasadena ways! No calliope can emit sounds as thrill- Emergency Hospital ing as the wail of a siren. No trained acro- bats can be as interesting as the police mak- ing arrests. And no clowns can look half lost no time in getting to my private room to be lying on the night stand beside the as ludicrous as a bunch of drunks. across from the surgery. The bed with its bed. It was a national magazine with a Our ambulance finally managed to reach clean fresh linen looked inviting. tremendous circulation. The cost of a few the curb where the police were holding Yet for some reason I was unable to pages of advertising in it would far surpass back the crowd. The sidewalk was covered relax and fall asleep. Perhaps it may seem the payroll of the entire police force and with broken glass so that you had to watch surprising that I should expect to sleep emergency hospital staff in our town for a your step. There was enough light to see after such a hectic hour. You must remem- whole year. dark splotches of blood on the pavement, ber that events such as I had just witnessed Gradually I began reading the liquor ad- too. The crowd as usual fell back before are merely a part of the routine work of an vertisements that occurred about every my white uniform and little black bag. A emergency surgeon. Usually I can forget three pages. Certain incidents of the eve- doctor is allowed to go everywhere and no them at once almost as if they had never ning and the brightly colored illustrations questions asked. happened. But tonight certain scenes kept were thought-provoking. The principals in the fray were strewn racing through my head over and over I could not repress a grim smile at 'the around the battered interior of the Apex, again,—the little drunk with a hook for a difference in drinking as shown in these surrounded by police and detectives. The hand who needed three husky policemen advertisements and drinking as I see it barkeeper had lost his shirt, was cut on one to hold him on the operating table—the every day in my work. There was so much arm, and appeared to be suffering from girl who swallowed poison in the rest room glamour associated with drinking in the shock. A middle-aged woman was lying of a cocktail lounge—the soldier whotried advertisements. The men were always such on the floor moaning feebly. Someone said some hypnotic capsules with skywhiwhisky clear-eyed, ruddy-cheeked, virile specimens she had been kicked in the stomach. I for a chaser. of manhood; their companions were such examined her briefly but it was hard to tell After tossing around for an hour, I gorgeous girls, clad in the smartest gowns, whether the kick in the stomach or the switched on the light and began idly turn- as delectable as the thin glasses they held liquor she had drunk was mainly responsi- ing the pages of a magazine- that happened with their pretty fingers. ble for her condition. The two There were full-page photo- youths who were alleged to have graphs in color, of distinguished begun the fight looked sullen and business and professional men, defiant. We loaded them into the wearing clothes with exactly the ambulance and rolled back to the right touch of casual conservatism emergency hospital. about them, and holding a high- For the next hour we were busy ball glass in one well-manicured repairing contusions and lacera- hand. In the background were tions, while the police questioned accessories suggesting culture and everyone concerned. Who started refinement; expensively bound • it? Where were you when it hap- sets of the classics, a grand piano, pened? The bartender claimed drafting instruments, or an easel. that one of the youths had hurled I noticed that the winegrowers a piece of broken glass at him. , used a method of approach dif- The middle-aged woman said she ferent from that of the manufac- was sitting quietly in one corner turers of distilled spirits. Instead with a glass of beer, minding her of glamour they emphasized the own business, when there was a domestic scene. The big family crash and something hit her— reunion, with grandma beaming right about here. The two youths at the happy faces assembled denied everything of which they around the groaning board. were accused. Grandpa carving the roast. And It was after one o'clock before at every plate the one ingredient everyone was cared for and peace needed to crown the meal with and calm descended upon the success—a glass of fine old port halls of the emergency hospital. I wine, of course! Another favorite is the young husband and wife having a cozy little supper by * Dr. Osiek is coauthor with Robert S. „y? Richardson of "Emergency Surgeon," themselves, with a bottle of wine a factual account of his experiences at the .x:R,o,k11.4 - Pasadena Emergency Hospital. Published prominently displayed on the side- by Dorrance & Co. of Philadelphia, 1946. "AT LAST THE PERFECT CUSTOMER" (Continued on page 14) Page Six 4( SIGNS of the TIMES

The Growing Menace el the ATO

Why Motorists Must Not Drink

GALLOWAY Death hovers over every highway where drivers have imbibed alcohol. by the National Safety Council in a cross section of accident experiences have shown from 13 to 31 per cent of the liltN 1945, one out of every six drivers drinking was between 17 and 18 per cent, drivers who had sufficient body fluid alcohol involved in fatal accidents had been drink- about the same as the previous year. On concentrations to impair their ability, and ing, according to the reports of state traffic the other hand, drivers reported "under the who should have been prohibited from driv- authorities. The reports also show that one influence" at the time of the accident in- ing. In the borderline classification, where out of four adult pedestrians killed had creased from 5 per cent in 1944 to 8 per cent other evidence would be necessary to de- been drinking, compared with one out of in 1945. termine whether the driver's ability was in 1944. Even higher proportions of drivers and impaired, these surveys have shown from A driver or a pedestrian who had been pedestrians were found to be under the in- 12 to 19 per cent more drivers. Total "had ftrinking was involved in one out of every fluence of alcohol in accident surveys em- been drinking" percentages in the surveys four fatal accidents—no change from 1944. ploying chemical tests of body fluids. thus run from 3o to 48 per cent. The proportion of drivers who had been Chemical test surveys of drivers involved A survey of all drivers, as well as drivers in accidents, indicated that drinking drivers are three or four times as likely to be in- volved in an accident. Drivers with .15 per cent or more alcohol in the blood, the group who are definitely under the influence, have an accident rate fifty-five times that of the • "Under the Influence" nondrinkers. A special study based on accident data of DRIVER'S chance of being in an acci- 1939 and in New York since 1941. In these three war years indicates that the ratio of A dent is fifty-five times greater when he laws drinking drivers are divided into three drinking drivers to licensed drivers is below is under the influence of alcohol. classes as described below and as shown in the average in the teen-age group and the sixty- Police sometimes have trouble proving that chart. five over group; in the twenty to twenty- obviously guilty drivers were under the in- 1. Blood alcohol below .05 per cent.* In four-year group it is above average, and in fluence. The possibilities of illness, taking of this range the suspected driver would not be the other two groups it is approximately medicine, and injury in the accident are used prosecuted for being under the influence of average, as shown below. as successful defenses to enable the guilty to go alcohol. Per Cent re. _ 2. Blood alcohol between .05 per cent and of Per Cent Ratio Frequently so much difficulty is experienced Licensed Drinking of Per- in convicting drivers under the influence but .15 per cent. In this zone some persons would Age Group Drivers Drivers centages not "staggering drunk" that enforcement is be definitely under the influence of alcohol. 19 and under io The evidence may be used when other symp- 7.4 .74 directed at only the most obvious cases. 20-24 13 15.4 1.18 Chemical tests of blood, urine, or breath, toms warrant prosecution. 25-44 52 52.7 1.01 however, show definitely whether there is 3. Blood alcohol above .15 per cent. Every 22 22.1 1.00 sufficient alcohol in the blood stream and the 45-64 person in this range is influenced. Such con- 65 and over .8o brain to cause intoxication. Their use elimi- centrations are considered as prima facie evi- 3 2.4 ates guesswork by showing whether a drink- dence that the defendant was under the in- A special study of driver violations in g driver has enough alcohol in his system to fluence sufficiently to lessen driving ability. fatal traffic accidents shows that, in rural legally under its influence. 0e —The National Safety Council. areas, 39 per cent of the violating drivers Laws defining "under the influence" in terms of concentrations of alcohol in blood * In Maine the lower limit is .07 per cent rather who were under the influence of alcohol at have been in force in Indiana and Maine since than .05 per cent. the time of the accident were involved in two-vehicle collisions; 33 per cent were in ran-off-the-roadway accidents; and 8 per I QUESTIONABLE EVERY PERSON IS INFLUENCED IN THIS RANGE NOT cent were in pedestrian accidents. LEGALLY In cities and towns 43 per cent of the vio- INFLUENCED lating drivers who were under the influence

DAY of alcohol when the accident occurred were and • 1 DECEN1 DELIRIOUS involved in pedestrian accidents; 24 per cent in two-vehicle accidents; and 16 per NO ALCOHOL .05% .15% .20% .40% .50% cent in ran-off-the-roadway accidents. for JULY 8, 1947 •( Page Seven ARE CU all Alcoholic

ATTAS, BLACK STAR

The Peril of the Weakened Will ... How Freedom May Be Yours HE chances are a hundred to one— perhaps even more—that you would T answer No to the question that forms the above title. If you are among by H. 0. SWARTOUT, M. D., Dr. P. H. the few who never drink anything with alcohol in it, of course that would be your answer. If you take a drink occasionally, —say just a bottle of beer with the boys,— that can be used to locate the line separat- to drink to tell whether or not he will neither they nor yourself would be at all ing those who are alcoholics from those eventually prove to be the one in ten. likely to consider you an alcoholic. If you who are not. If you drink but are able to Whoever you may be, therefore, if you indulge daily, as many do,—a cocktail or stop and never begin again, you are still want to be sure you will not become an two before dinner and one or more glasses on the safe side of that line; but the prob- alcoholic and have not begun to drink, of wine with the meal,—you probably ability is strong that you have never tried don't begin. If you are an occasional or. think that you are still master of the situa- to put a permanent end to the practice of moderate drinker, try to quit. If you suc- tion and "can take it or let it alone." Even drinking. If you have not tried to stop ceed for a short period of time, try to make if you go on occasional sprees for a week you do not know on which side of the line the break permanent. Your ability to do at a time, between sprees you wouldn't call you are. If you have tried and failed you so is your only guarantee of ultimate free- yourself an alcoholic. You think of an are on the danger side. dom from alcoholism. alcoholic as one of those unfortunates who Those who have made the closest study But suppose you find that you have al- have become so addicted to liquor that they of this subject say that at least one person ready gone so far down the alcoholic path- are dead-drunk part of the time and at in ten is a potential alcoholic; that if this way that you are not able to let liquor least partly drunk all of the time. one person begins to drink, he will inevi- alone. Then what? You may still be able But neither frequency of indulgence nor tably become an alcoholic; and that there to hold a job, to make a good living foi quantity of liquor consumed is a measure is no way for the person who is beginning yourself and family, and to present a re- spectable appearance most of the time. You may be such a pleasant and useful member of society when not under the noticeable influence of alcohol that your employer and your friends are quite will- ing to overlook your lapses from sobriety. But generations of observation indicate that you can hardly hope to stay that way. Un-. ORK, oV RvJ less you shut your eyes to the lessons of FRU 5 T R Ain ON 5, the past, you must realize that you are FFICULT1 ES; risking an ultimate physical, mental, and RGSPOOS1 1311. GS moral breakdown. Unless you find some way to break the chains that alcohol has forged around you, your prosperity, your respectable social status, the esteem of your friends, your health, and eventually even your life itself may be forfeited. If, then, you realize that you are an alco- holic or that you are on the road to be•• coming one, you or someone vitally inter- ested in your welfare may already be looking for someone or something to help you regain your freedom. Many times dur- ing recent years some wife or mother of an alcoholic has written appealingly to me, asking, "Isn't there something I can put in his coffee?" or, "What can I mix with. his drink?" to conquer his appetite fo liquor? Sometimes the alcoholic himself begs for some medicine that will overcome this appetite. But the problem is not that simple. The alcoholic must perseveringly exert all his will power before he can hope to win back his freedom. He must be willing to suffer in order to be free. There is no pill or powder or tablet or capsule that can do the work for him. There are, to be sure, institutions where• alcoholics can go to "take the cure." Long FRAGILE REFUGE IN THE BATTLES OF LIFE experience, however, has proved that even Page Eight 4( SIGNS of the TIMES the majority of persons who stay in such is certainly true that the alcoholic needs talk about liquor or listen to others talk institutions for the full recommended the help of others if he is to break the hold about it. The nearer you can come to period of time go back to drinking again that alcohol has on him. But for him to avoiding everything and everyone that I after they leave. And it is not uncommon throw the blame for his slavery, or all the make you think of liquor, the better it will for alcoholics to scheme and practice all burden for his emancipation, onto others be for you. This may mean that you will sorts of deception in order to obtain liquor is a fatal mistake. This weakens or destroys have to break off with many of your old at the very time when they are being his own will power and sense of responsi- friends and collect a whole circle of new treated in such institutions. This has even bility, without which permanent victory is ones. And you will find it very hard to been true when the alcoholic has entered impossible. keep thoughts about liquor out of your the institution entirely of his own accord If you as an alcoholic are not to take an mind in these days when it is so univer- and with an apparently firm determination institutional "cure," but are going to tough sally thrust on everyone's attention, not to quit drinking forever. As with most it out by yourself, there are a few points only in the numerous wholesale and retail persons with weakened wills, he comes to besides exerting your own will power that liquor stores, but also in nearly every gro- blame others for his predicament and to will demand your careful attention if you cery, drugstore, and cafe in the country and throw the burden of getting him out of it are to have much of a chance to succeed. by means of countless radio, billboard, mag- on still others. It may, of course, be true You will need to keep away from persons azine, and newspaper advertisements. that others started him on the downward who are likely to ask you to drink with The chief allowable exception to the path or perhaps speeded him along it. It them. You will be wise if you do not even (Continued on page 14)

• • • Another Case of D.T.'s

night

GALLOWAY • passing

• • • • • • • • • • • ROBERTA SAUNDERS, R. N.

E was slumped forward in a chair, face was wrenched with agonizing fear as the bed. Instead, he stumbled toward the hands on knees, in an unstable posture. As he cried out, "Snakes! Lions!" in a voice window, then the door, the dresser, the I entered the room, he raised his head with suppressed by terror, like that of one who, closet, now fighting my every move to re- drunken sluggishness and fixed his eyes in a dream, tries to scream for rescue and strain him, evidently interpreting them as upon me. emits but a mocking whisper. efforts to hinder his escape. I crossed the room toward him with a As he fell from the stool he clutched at His visionary tormentors increased and forced attitude of nonchalance. If he had me for support and protection. I forced him closed in upon him. With the despera- been chiseled from granite, he could scarcely onto the bed and freed myself to press the tion that comes with a last chance of escape, have stared more steadily with his glassy button for help. He lunged toward me he tried to climb up on a chair, but his eyes. His hair was disheveled. A bulging, again, shaking with fear, and grasped my motor control was insufficient, and he obliterated waistline concealed the belt shoulders with brute strength, as if to use fell, draped over the seat. Regaining his which supported a pair of unpressed me for a shield. As his fear-frozen clutch strength, he tried again, then staggered trousers. If his face had previously revealed again relaxed, I tried to push him toward toward the bed. dejection, it did not now—it was void of He fell limp upon it, gasping for breath, any evidence of thought or emotion. his hands and face a ghastly blue, his eyes He was not an ordinary alcoholic in a rolled back. Help came. Oxygen and stim- state of uninhibited exuberance or morbid ulants were administered, but to no avail. • vulgarity. He was past the state of appear- Ten minutes later the doctor pronounced ing merely sensual or dissolute. He was him dead. inebriated, stupefied. Merely another case of delirium tremens I drew up a chair and began a brief and —only another profligate life at an end; uninterrupted monologue, attempting to but the passing of a man of much ability: ascertain his reaction. His face registered the night editor of one of the nation's no comprehension. Exactly what the first greatest newspapers. move of this debauched human animal Who can estimate the influence he might • would be, I could not predict; but as he have been in his past career, or in the did not appear aggressive, I suggested that sacrificed years of the future, had he heeded he prepare for bed. the words of Scripture which say: "Look He made no move, but permitted me to not thou upon the wine when it is red. . . . remove his shirt and undershirt, then his left At the last it biteth like a serpent, and shoe and sock. As I untied his second shoe, stingeth like an adder"? Proverbs 23:3r, he plunged forward toward the dresser 32. Whatrincreased enjoyment he might as if to catch something; then relaxed have brought to his readers, his loved ones, and hung over one corner. As I attempted himself, if he had believed that "wine is a to guide him toward the bed, he jumped mocker, strong drink is raging: and who- onto a footstool, pointing toward a corner soever is deceived thereby is not wise"! of the room as he tottered to and fro. His THE WRONG CHOICE Proverbs 20 : I . for JULY 8, 194 7 Page Nine TIIE PRESENT LIQUOR SITUATION

by MRS. D. LEIGH COLVIN

President, National Woman's Christian. Temperance Union

MAN who was, until recently, in "Alcohol is a major item on the list. This list of conditions that bring people to the the brewery business strikingly de- problem," says Miss Binford, "in its eco- hospital for mental diseases." A scribes how much of a curse alco- nomic, social, and personal aspects stands Dr. Winfred Overholser of St. Eliza- hol is in America today: out as one of the greatest we face today in beth's Hospital, Washington, D. C., writes: "The cocktail lounges of today are far relation to children and youth. There is "With tuberculosis, cancer, syphilis, mental worse than the old-time man's saloon. . . . today an alarming increase in the drinking disease, and infantile paralysis receiving From the pretentious to the dives they are of young people." competent and intelligent medical atten- purposely named cocktail lounges and cold- In a large proportion of the major crimes tion, we now have alcoholism as the greatest bloodedly designed with soft stools at bars, reported within the past few months, alco- public-health problem of the present time upholstered booths, subdued lighting to hol has been a contributing factor. The which is not being systematically attacked." encourage lounging and thereby excessive seventeen-year-old, self-confessed kidnaper No other disease so disrupts the family drinking and flagrant familiarities getting and triple murderer in Chicago had been life, brings discord into family relation- worse all the time to the extent of well- drinking before the crimes were committed. ships, causes neglect, poverty, and un- known seduction as evidenced by the The Chicago Daily News, during the healthy living conditions, is such a drain employment of dapper young bartenders, last week of May, 1946, carried a series of upon the country through inefficiency in in- which even the old saloons did not have, articles based on an extensive survey by that dustry, causes accidents upon the highway, with blatant, raucous so-called entertain- paper of the reasons for the boom in the is such a drain upon the taxpayer for care ment blasting out into the streets, an evident number of divorces. There is one divorce of the drinker's family, or causes loss of decoy to youth and women." for every three marriages in Cook County, profits on the part of legitimate trade. No "In fact," he says, "they are actually se- Illinois. Sociologists estimate that by 1965 other disease costs the sufferer, his family, duction parlors far worse than the old red- more than half of all marriages will end in or the public so much as alcoholism, and light districts because so widespread and in divorce. yet we continue to legalize a traffic, the net residential sections. In the list of ten reasons for divorce as result of which costs so much in human, "Women would not go into old-time shown in the Daily News survey, alcohol- social, and financial values. saloons but are enticed by the chromium ism was placed second on the list. One Even recognizing that personality make- and leather-trimmed chairs and tables, the judge said that of three hundred divorces up and psychological factors play a part soft lights, the music, and the seeming granted in his court, 72 per cent of the in the effect of alcohol upon the individual, respectability of the cocktail lounge." causes of marital difficulties were directly we also know that without alcohol that in- The consumption of liquor under prohi- or indirectly attributable to liquor. dividual could live an ordinary safe, health- bition was but a small fraction of what it Another Cook County judge said that ful, and useful life. was before, and because of the inaccessibil- 78 per cent of the divorce cases in his court In dealing with the cure and prevention ity of liquor many millions lost their drink- resulted from alcohol. of disease, the most scientific approach from ing habits. Even during the first year of the standpoint of public health is preven- repeal and notwithstanding the tremendous Alcoholism tion. advertising and hullabaloo over liquor, the Alcoholism, which has assumed gigantic In attacking the problem of alcoholism per capita consumption was only about half proportions in the last few years, has multi- we have a known factor—alcohol. We also what it had been in the preprohibition wet plied so fast since repeal that Assistant know that it is not an infection, or germ period. Surgeon General Kolb of the United States disease, that can be transmitted from one Since repeal there has been a steady rise Public Health Service has called it a "very person to another. We know, moreover, in liquor consumption, which increased serious health problem" and "fourth in the that with no alcohol there is no alcoholism, from 10.53 gallons in 1934 to 20.25 gallons per capita in 1945. During the war years the consumption went up from 15.47 gallons in 1941 to 20.25 gallons in 1945, an increase in the four war years of 4.78 gallons for every man, woman, and child in America. CoffSUMPrial ° Social Consequences ateguC The increase in the number of crimes ALCOHOL, committed by young people is a matter of serious concern. The average age of crim- inals is being lowered. Boys and girls of high-school age are learning to drink and frequent drinking places, where morals are impaired and the criminal and dissolute congregate. Young girls as well as young men are being brought into our courts. Miss Jessie Binford, reporting for the Chicago Juvenile Protective Association, lists seven challenging situations which adults must face if the youngsters of today are to be given a chance to grow normally. IT RESTS HEAVILY ON ALL THESE Page Ten 4( SIGNS of the TIMES and that the only means of arresting the a possible sixty million voters. However, lation and voting strength would vote for disease is to stop absolutely the use of any only twenty million even went to the polls its return. beverage alcohol. It is also known and to vote. Of these, fourteen million voted for The W.C.T.U. educational program is acknowledged ,that anyone having become repeal after the most stupendous wet repeal one of prevention rather than cure and an alcoholic can never safely taste any campaign backed by immense sums of includes both the destruction of the liquor amount of alcohol again without the pos- money and with the aid and connivance business and the avoidance of any alcoholic sibility of a return of the disease. of the political machines in the Republican, indulgence, as safe and effective methods Trying to cure the alcoholic without try- Democratic, and Socialist parties. of dealing with this problem. ing to prevent the recruiting of new A recent Gallup Poll indicates that many Its educational program consists not only drinkers is like trying to cure a few typhoid more people now favor national prohibi- in education regarding the physical and cases but leaving the polluted well or ty- tion and are willing to vote for it again mental effects of alcohol upon the indi- phoid carriers free to spread the disease. than voted against the Eighteenth Amend- vidual, but upon society as well, and also ment when it was repealed, this notwith- includes education as to the citizen's re- Awakening Sentiment standing the tremendous wet propaganda sponsibility toward the traffic in alcohol, There are signs of an awakening upon and the absence of any great campaign and the knowledge of the tremendous the part of the churches to their responsibil- waged by the moral forces to influence pub- power exerted by that traffic in the social ity in dealing with the traffic in intoxicating lic opinion. and governmental life of America today. liquors. The bishops of the Methodist The 33 per cent of the total voters today Trusting in our heavenly Father for Church, with a constituency of eight mil- who would vote for national prohibition guidance and knowing that in any battle lion people, issued a ringing call to prayer totals more than twenty-five million votes, victory comes often following the darkest on June 2, 1946, and it was "to be an initial as compared with fourteen million votes hour, we shall press on and never falter in step in an intensive program of education cast for repeal thirteen years ago. Repeal the holy crusade to rid our homes and our and commitment to be carried on in the was put across by the votes of only 24 per country of the devastating power of the months ahead." This call read: cent of the qualified voters of the country liquor traffic. "The Council of Bishops of the Meth- while 33 per cent of the now larger popu- And victory will surely come. odist Church, in session at Atlantic City, New Jersey, on February 22, 1946, after S serious consideration of the state of the church and the nation, has been led to set apart June 2, 1946, the Sunday before Pen- tecost, as a day of prayer to Almighty God for the curtailment of alcohol beverage traffic in America. We call upon our min- isters and officials of our 40,000 churches— FACTS About ALCOHOL and upon others who will join us—to give prayerful consideration upon this June Sun- -day to this present-day menace. We seek by LAWRENCE MAXWELL • divine guidance for ourselves and for the moral and political leaders of America in saving this nation from moral and spiritual 1. Alcohol is a depressant, narcotic, highballs give a 130-pound man a concen- degeneration." drug, and not a stimulant. It is an anes- tration of .04 per cent. thetic, affecting first the high brain centers 7. Annual drinking per person has in- In spite of all the efforts of the public which control the voluntary behaviors and creased since 1934 from 10.53 gallons to relations and advertising departments of emotions. 20.25 gallons. those engaged in manufacturing and sell- 2. The effects of alcohol are due to the 8. Arrests for drunkenness increased from ing alcoholic liquors, numerous local option selective poisoning effects on the brain and 1,019.6 per' xoo,000 in 1932 to 1,946.6 in elections in states where such elections are spinal cord, and not on the other organs of 1945. permissible show a decided increase in pro- the body. In time it will impair digestion 9. Alcohol is responsible for 3o to 95 hibition sentiment. Three fourths of 15,000 and the ability of the body to absorb nu- per cent of crime, which costs at least fif- local option elections since repeal have re- trients such as vitamins. teen billion dollars annually. sulted in dry victories. 3. Alcohol is not a food. It can produce ro. For every dollar received in liquor One fifth of the population of the United energy, but it cannot participate in growth. taxes, the people pay five dollars to cover States now lives in areas that are dry, or Its use reduces the desire for food, dimin- the cost of the liquor and to take care of that outlaw hard liquor. More than twenty ishes the utilization of food eaten, and may the effects of alcohol in crime, sickness, in- million people are members of organiza- increase the need for certain food elements. sanity, and negligence. tions committed to national prohibition, a Thus diseases of nutritional deficiency re- r. The Massachusetts Legislative Sur- ban on alcoholic beverages by local option, sult. vey of the Liquor Traffic discovered that, or to total abstinence. 4. Alcohol, even in small amounts, can in 1943, for thirteen million dollars which • be shown to cause inferiority of perform- came into the state treasury from liquor Re'cent Gallup polls show that one third of the country's voters would, at the present ance. In varying amounts, it has been taxes, sixty-one million went out to care time, vote for the return of national prohi- shown to cause perception to decrease 7 to for the results of liquor. In addition, the bition if given the opportunity. o per cent, memorizing time to increase people had paid about two hundred mil- The W.C.T.U. Research Bureau shows 16 to 100 per. cent, errors in reasoning to lion dollars to buy the liquor in the first that there are more than 4,20o bone-dry increase 67 per cent, and judgment to be place. areas in twenty-nine states, including coun- impaired 20 per cent. Reaction time is 12. Liquor companies spent more than ties, cities, towns, townships, wards, and slowed 5 to io per cent. one hundred million dollars for advertising precincts. 5. Alcohol is a major or contributory in 1945. cause in 10 per cent of all deaths in the 13. One out of every four fatal accidents In addition, three states and 1,560 lesser United States. in 1945 involved a driver or a pedestrian areas ban hard liquor. Attempts to repeal 6. A man is "under the influence" with who had been drinking. dry laws were defeated in 2,200 local option a concentration of .05 per cent of alcohol 54. One out of every six drivers involved elections. In dripping wet Chicago there in his blood, definitely intoxicated with .15 in fatal accidents in 1945 had been drink- are 133 dry precincts, while the suburban per cent, and dead with .5 per cent. Dogs ing. cities of Evanston, Oak Park, and Zion City and pigs, with less-developed nervous sys- 15. One out of every four adult pedes- are totally dry. tems, can withstand 15 per cent. Two trians killed in 1945 had been drinking. In the repeal election of 1933, only four- teen million people voted for repeal out of for JULY 8, 1947 **** Page Eleven ,C4 YOUTH KNOW NOW

%Wine of Lessons in Alcohol Education for Use in Schools—Part I

Why teach scientific alcohol education? by DOROTHY F. OSBURN mitted each year to the psychopathic Young people have the right to know, the ward of Gallinger General Hospital scientific truth about alcohol— are alcoholics. A. In order sanely to meet the liquor ad- b. Rockefeller Foundation reports 20 vertising and propaganda. c. Reaction time—the time necessary per cent of the mental patients in to see, recognize, and prepare to B. In order to evaluate claims and state- American hospitals are alcoholics. act to avoid danger—is lengthened ments with accurate knowledge and c. In Bellevue Hospital, New York, from two to three times the normal. open eyes. 60 per cent of the inmates are there d. Memory is dulled and the driver because of drinking. C. Because alcohol problems are becoming forgets the traffic rules. d. In California 33 'per cent of the increasingly serious. e. Alcohol deadens the normal emo- admissions to seven mental insti- What are some of the scientific facts known tions of love, pity, fear, reverence, tutions are alcoholic cases. about alcohol? and grief. This is evidenced in the e. Dr. Alexander Lambert, Cornell A. Alcohol is a narcotic. case of many hit-and-run drivers. University, says: "In New York 1. It belongs in the same class with co- 3. These combined effects account in a State I believe that fully 10 per cent caine, opium, and morphine. large measure for the great number of the women and 30 per cent of 2. It is a nerve deadener, deceiving the of traffic accidents which are traceable the men confined in the state asy- 4110 drinker about his, own condition and to the use of alcohol. lums are there through forms of in- making him less responsive to tem- C. Alcohol is a social danger. sanity caused by alcohol." perature, pain, fear, caution, and to 1. Alcohol increases the danger of ac, 3. Alcohol is closely associated with all the senses. cident. crime. 3. It is a mind destroyer, lowering the a. Accidents of all kinds, as reported a. The FBI reports that approximately ability to judge wisely and to exert by the National Safety Council, one third of all crimes in theUnited self-control. took 96,000 lives in the United States come from liquor. 4. It is a habit former, creating an un- States in 1945. Our crime bill is $15,000,000,000 an- natural craving; records show that 28,600 occurred from motor-vehicle nually—nearly $2,000,000 an hour. three out of ten casual beginners be- accidents-18 per cent above 1944. The fingerprint files of the FBI re- come chronic alcoholics. 11,200 pedestrians were killed in veal a criminal army of six million B. Alcohol acts in inverse order upon the motor-vehicle accidents—an increase individuals who have been arrested brain. of 13 per cent over 1944. and fingerprinted—one out of every 1. It affects the highest and finest cen- Drinking was involved in one out twenty-three inhabitants -of the ters first, will power and judgment of every four fatal traffic accidents. United States. being the first to be numbed by small One out of six drivers involved in b. About 50 per cent of the felonies amounts of alcohol. fatal accidents had been drinking. committed in Massachusetts are re- This is especially dangerous in con- One out of four adult pedestrians lated to alcohol, and about 85 per nection with automobile driving. killed had been drinking. cent of the misdemeanors are due The driver is often unaware of the There were approximately one mil- to alcoholism or crimes related to it. effect of the alcohol. lion nonfatal injuries in the United c. Alcoholism causes the arrest of two He actually believes that he is driving States in 1945. These accidents re- out of every three persons who are especially well. sulted in a $1,450,000,000 loss to in the District of Columbia penal He is, in reality, careless and reckless the nation. institutionk costing the city $250,- and easily influenced to take risks. b. Approximately 34,000 were killed 000 a year. This injury to judgment and will in traffic accidents in the United d. A personal letter from the United power is especially marked in young States in 1946. States Department of Justice says: people who are beginning to use In January, 1946, 100 people were "Seven per cent of the prisoners alcohol. killed every day in motor-vehicle committed to Federal penal and Accidents caused by 'these "drinking accidents—an increase of 49 per correctional institutions during the drivers" are often listed on the police cent over January, 1945. In Feb- year ended June' 30, 1945, were re- records as due to "speeding" or "reck- ruary, 1946, fatalities increased 47 ported to be alcoholics, and 5.5 per less driving." per cent over the preceding Feb- cent were reported to be narcotic 2. More alcohol affects the second brain ruary. drug addicts." level, or the senses, memory, emotions. Quoting from Motorland, publica- e. Dayid B. Rotman, director of the- a. The effect begins after about fifteen tion of the -California State Auto- Psychiatric Institute of the Munici- minutes, reaches the peak after mobile Association, October, 1946, pal Court of Chicago, says that the about one and a half or two hours, issue: "Nation-wide surveys show antisocial behavior of one out of and lasts about four hours more. that 40 per cent of all adult pedes- every four persons referred to the b. All senses are numbed or deadened trians killed in traffic accidents had Institute is due to alcoholism. or narcotized in varying degrees. been under the influence of alcohol, f. The W. C. T. U. cites figures show- Hearing is. impaired, often resulting resulting in loss of judgment and ing liquor to be a factor in 49 per in accidents or quarrels. `safety sense;' impaired vision and cent of all crime, a major factor in Sight is damaged in the following hearing, and loss of co-ordination. 31 per cent, and the sole factor in ways: The total of adult pedestrian fatal- 16 per cent. Range of vision is narrowed as ities attributable to the use of liquor g. The crime increase noted in 1945 much as a half. approaches 300 a month in the continued on into 1946. There was Range of vision is shortened as United States." a 13 per cent rise in crime .in the much as a third. c. According to automobile insurance first six months. Murder was- up Temporary color blindness is pro- company forecasts one driver out of 28.5 per cent; robbery 31.8 per cent. duced, red and green being espe- three will have an accident in 1947. h. Judge William R. McDay, of the cially affected. 2. Alcohol increases the danger of in- Superior Court of Los Angeles, At the peak of the effect, a blurred sanity or mental disorder. states that fully 90 per cent of all or double vision may result. a. One third of the 3,000 patients ad- (Continued on page 15) Page Twelve -)(-ir -X* SIGNS of the TIMES

110 IT'S UP TO

by DONALD Hu The Alcohol Problem Is Every HARDCASTLE Citizen's Responsibility

that, but the same policy was adopted by its broadcasting station WSBT. Right here I want to throw out a chal- lenge to newspaper publishers and radio station managers. If every one of you, or even a healthy majority of you, would adopt the policy of the Tribune and Station WSBT, it wouldn't be long before the liquor situation would take a decided turn for the better. If the forces of the public press and radio would unite solidly against this terrible liquor scourge, the wets would soon find themselves against an impene- trable wall of public opinion. Let us never forget that one of the forces which helped to bring about repeal four- teen years ago was the editorial influence of a powerful chain of newspapers. Let us picture for a few moments what would happen in the newsrooms and edi- torial and advertising offices if this wrecker of society could be thrown out. First, there would be a rapid change in the content of our news stories. There would be fewer stories of crime, violence, and accidents to clutter up the front page of our favorite newspaper. We would be reading more about the erection of those new schools so many of our cities need. We would be hearing about more raises in teacher's salaries. If liquor were banished, the newspaper editor would soon be editorializing more about the pleasant prospect of reduced taxes all along the line. And as for those superhighways which many states are dreaming about, we would soon be read- - ing that the concrete-laying machines and the crews to operate them were on the job. Honestly now, don't you get tired of LIQUOR'S GRIP CAN BE BROKEN reading about all the murders committed on the highways and in the taverns? Wouldn't you like to see Mr. J. Edgar R. AVERAGE CITIZEN, the tion and let his position be made known Hoover's annual crime report read more problem of the liquor traffic rests. now. encouragingly? Isn't it about time you Squarely on your shoulders. As Thank God, a lot of people are waking woke up and decided to do something a well-known soap advertiser says on the up. Literally thousands of communities about it? radio every evening: "It's up to you." are waking up. Mrs. D. Leigh Colvin, Are you going to wait until a drunken We may shrug our shoulders and say president of the national W. C. T. U., re- driver strikes down your own little girl? that it is up to our public officials, our law- ported recently that in fifteen thousand lo- Are you going to wait until overindulgence enforcement officers, or our preachers to cal option elections held around the coun- in alcohol puts the breadwinner of your control the liquor problem. But isn't that try the drys won in three fourths of them. family in the hospital before you rise up in shifting our individual responsibility to In Mississippi, Kentucky, and Texas a righteous indignation and demand that someone else? majority of the counties have already gone this saboteur be shackled ? I've spent about • dry. Hundreds of communities in Pennsyl- .eight years of my life in hospital work. Our lawmakers try to enact laws which they believe are for the best good of the vania, Illinois, Wisconsin, Maine, Ver- I've seen my share of such tragedies. They community. The police can perform an mont, and Ohio have banned the sale of usually happen when you least expect efficient job of enforcement only when they beer and hard liquor. them. have the co-operation of the public. That Some of the daily newspapers are wak- For ten months during the war I trav- public is you. The leaders of the church ing up, too. It takes courage for a news- eled back and forth across the nation as must have the active support of their mem- paper publisher to stop accepting liquor a medical attendant on Army hospital bers to accomplish lasting improvement. advertising, but the publisher of the South trains. From San Francisco to Boston and Yes, it's up to you. It's up to each one Bend (Indiana) Tribune has been doing from Chattanooga to Spokane I saw what of us to take his stand on the liquor ques- this since the first day of 1947. Not only liquor did to our soldiers, sailors, and for JULY 8, 1 9 4 7 4( 4( 4( 4( Page Thirteen civilians. Always the first thing most of Think it over seriously. Are you willing our operating personnel thought of when to accept your Father's plan for your life? passes were handed out was to get to the Are you ready to give up your own pleas- SIGNS TIMES nearest bar. More than once we left them ure and seek the good of others? If you Advocating a return to the simple behind when the return trip began— can truthfully answer Yes to both these gospel of Christ, and a preparation usually drunk, and sometimes in the city questions, you have good reason to hope for His imminent second appearing jail. that the chains of alcohol will be divinely • EDITOR . . . . ARTHUR S. MAXWELL Liquor knows no respect for law or for broken, and that in answer to the question, ASSOCIATE EDITOR . . MERLIN L. NEFF . the rights of others. It never has and it "Are you an alcoholic?" you can soon say, never will. Drinking invariably leads to "I was, but now I am free." CIRCULATION MGR. . • H. K. CHRISTMAN excesses. It never knows when to stop. RATES in-U. S. A.: Single copy, one year $1.75 We most face the liquor problem. Now Clubs of five or more to one address, each 1.50 is the time for every sober American to To Canada and other countries taking extra postage: "Men of Distinction" Single copy, one year (U. S. funds) $2.25 rally in support of a nation free from the Clubs of five or more to one (Continued from page 6) curse of alcohol. each, (U. S. funds) 1.75 board to bring back happy memories of Please make all checks and money orders payable It is time for every church member to to "Signs of the Times," Mountain View, California. the honeymoon. face the facts. It is time for every social In requesting change of address, please give both The beer companies also go in for do- old and new addresses. • and service club to lend vigorous support mesticity, .but from a slightly different No papers are sent except on paid subscriptions, so to the forces seeking to stamp out this vi- persons receiving the "Signs of the Times" without angle. In their advertisements the good- having subscribed may feel perfectly free to accept it. cious evil. The time is here when every neighbor policy in the American home is public servant should get off the fence and the keynote. One such scene shows the make clear his position on this question. folks .next door and the family up the has backfired upon its creators. In amuse- Now is the time for every minister of street who have been invited in for an ment parks photographers are displaying the gospel to raise his voice in protest evening of music around the old family enlargements of these advertisements, with against social drinking, and to set the right organ. Here comes Jim through the door an opening cut in the face. For ten cents example. Now is the time for every school- with his Flugelhorn and Mr. Watkins with you can put your own face through the teacher to inform his students about the his glockenspiel. Little Mr. Applequist, the hole—and be photographed as a "man of disastrous effects of alcohol on the human village druggist, looks so prim and upright distinction" yourself! body. seated in the rocking chair close by the We should not and must not allow a sandwiches and beer. Now surely no one defeatist attitude to take possession of our can find fault with liquor drunk under Liquor Revenue thinking. We aren't making our voices such cheerful circumstances among such (Continued from page 5) heard as the drinkers, distillers, and dis- nice and respectable people! . referendum bill urged the legislatures not pensers. The trouble is that the advertisements to put a disproportionate emphasis upon Now is the time for everyone who wants show only one side of the liquor scene. liquor revenues but to look at the other a dry America to stand up and be counted. What I want to know is— side of the ledger. "There the entries are We have plenty of ammunition. Let's use Where are the children in these happy made in red," he said, "yes, in the red blood • it. homes who are left to amuse themselves of our citizens. Read the items on the debit while their parents spend the evening at sheet of our tax ledger. Drunken drivers; the beer joint around the corner? innocent victims of highway accidents. Are You an Alcoholic? How much did that cost? Criminal dockets Where are the "winos" the police find (Continued from page 9) where 90 per cent of the cases are due to in the parks dead-drunk under the trees, liquor. How much debit here? Murders, general rule against talking or thinking with streaks glistening on their clothes homicides, broken homes, wasted incomes, about liquor will be conversations with where the snails have crawled over them? those who have been over the road before suffering women and children. Can you Where are the "noisies"—the drunks so you and have won the victory. What they estimate that? Out of the income of the wild that they have to be quieted with • have to say about their experience is quite state you have hospitals, homes for unmar- paraldehyde or an injection of 1/2o grain likely to encourage you and to help you ried mothers, insane asylums, jails, peni- of apomorphinc? find the way to freedom. And you will tentiaries. The cost of these comes direct know that it does not come from persons And, above all, I want to know where are from your treasury, and how much is due who look down on you and do not under- the "men of distinction" we see at the to liquor? Yes, gentlemen, look at those stand your struggle. Probably the best emergency hospital. Where are the men— entries in red. way to ensure companionship and conver- and women—who are distinguished by a black eye, or a cut on the head that requires "But what do the liquor interests care sation with this class of people is to seek, about that? By this craft they get their half a dozen stitches to close? Where is out and join the nearest group of Alco- gain. . . . And they want to keep our holics Anonymous. the man who distinguished himself, while intoxicated, by wrecking his car and killing state subject to their invisible government But suppose your own resistance is ex- by .magnifying the taxes they pay." • hausted and human help has proved in- two persons? Where are "the men of dis- tinction" dressed in shapeless old clothes, "The truth of the matter," says W. W. effective. There is still one last resort. Smoak, a member of the legislature of You may seek divine aid—but do not think stained down the front, and reeking of sweat and stale beer? South Carolina, "is that there is no 'reve- you can do so lightly. If you are not ready nue' from intoxicating beverages. The to live the remainder of your life in com- How can this flood of liquor propaganda money which is obtained from the licenses pliance with your Father's will, you can be counteracted? One weapon not used and taxes upon these beverages is only a hardly expect Him to use supernatural sufficiently is satire. bit of salvage from the destruction wrought power in your behalf. There are too many Two hundred years ago the great -Eng- through their consumption." Says the Ala- persons who persist in having their own lish artist, William Hogarth, appalled by bama Baptist, editorially: "No business in way and then blaming Providence for the misery which drink had brought to the the world except the liquor traffic would the misfortunes that result largely from people of London, depicted the evils of long continue if for every dollar in profit their own wrong choices. Don't be like alcohol in scenes so terribly vivid and dra- it cost two or three dollars to keep it going." them. There are even more who misuse matic that they became one of the great the blessings that come their way, living moral forces of the eighteenth century. The argument that liquor is a legitimate solely for their own pleasure, with little Hogarth's chief weapon was satire. He source of revenue is sophistry, says the regard for the welfare of others and little held the abuses of his times up to ridicule Oklahoma City Times, and adds: "Public thought of the part they should be playing so devastating that there was no defense. welfare cannot be erected upon whisky. in the great plans of Providence for this Already there are indications that the Fine, courageous citizenship cannot be de- "men of distinction" advertising campaign veloped upon a foundation which whets • world of ours. Don't be like them, either. Page Fourteen * SIGNS of the TIMES unnatural appetites and dulls mentality." Finally, we should remember what Wil- liam E. Gladstone once said to Parliament: "Gentlemen, you need not give yourselves any trouble abdut revenue. The question of revenue must never stand in the way of needed reforms; but give me a sober popu- lation, not wasting their earnings in strong drink, and Ishall know where to obtain the revenue." The greatest fallacy in government today is the revenue from the sale of liquor. Lit Let Youth Know Now (Continued from page 12) cases brought before his court were brought there by alcohol. i. Vernon Kilpatrick, chairman of the California Legislature Assembly Interim Committee on County and City Jails, says: "More than 50 per cent of the court and jail problems are officially reported to be caused "SIXTY-ONE PER CENT of those who by drunks." form the drinking habit begin between the ages 4. Alcohol is often linked with juvenile His delinquency and with social disease. of ten and nineteen," says P. Wenger in the It also contributes to broken homes. First Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol. Give a. United States Attorney General youth the facts as they have been especially pre- Tom C. Clark reports that more boys and girls under seventeen are pared by John C. Almack, Ph.D.. Three unique arrested than any other age group volumes every young person should read: in the United States. " Arrests for boys under eighteen for Facts First on Narcotics. Jerry, Betty, Joe, drunkenness have increased 101 per cent. Dorothy, and their playmates thrillingly relate in- Drunkenness and driving while in- teresting "facts" about alcohol, tobacco, and nar- toxicated increased 174 per cent cotics in story form. Each narcotic is covered as a among girls under eighteen in the war years. separate topic. Every boy and girl will want to hear Study of the drinking habits of 400. the stories these children have to tell. For the junior inmates of Clinton Prison, New age. Price, $1.25. York, shows that 61 per cent began drinking between ten and nineteen years of age. The motive was so- A Clear Case Against Narcotics. The , ciability in 76 per cent of the cases. author in an interesting manner delves into narcotic b. FBI figures reveal that five times as many women were arrested for history and the effects upon the human system of all drunkenness in 1944 as in 1932. types of drugs, alcohol, and narcotics. For youth in c. 92,000 children under eighteen years their teens. The information is clear, factual, and in California in 1945 committed of- fenses serious enough to be classed convincing. Price, $1.25. as delinquent. In an analysis of 200 recent cases, more than 80 per cent Straight Thinking on Narcotics. The book had been drinking at the time the offense was committed. to guide mature youth into the pathway of clean d. Judge Brande, Chicago, finds at living. An expose of the deadly enemies that are least 33 per cent of all child delin- undermining the, morals of our youth. Price, $1.50. quency to .be due to alcohol. u~ix i e. The final report of the California State Assembly Interim Committee on Juvenile Delinquency, published April, 1945, reports that drunken- ness among girls is increasing in ORDER BLANK the United States at the rate of 30 .per .cent annually; prostitution 64 Please send me the following books, for which I enclose $ per cent; and disorderly conduct among girls, 69 per cent. Facts First on Narcotics $1.25 $ f. FBI figures show that drunkenness and driving while intoxicated in- A Clear Case Against Narcotics 1.25 $ creased in the first six months of Straight Thinking on Narcotics 1.50 $ 1945, over the same period of 1944, Narcotics Facts Set (3 books) 4.00 $ 16.5 per cent among girls under , Total twenty-one; among boys tinder twenty-one, 24.5 per cent. Name (Continued next week) Address OFTEN intemperance begins in the home. .. . Wrong habits of eating and drinking City Zone State destroy the health and prepare the way for drunkenness.—Ellen G. White. PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION, Mountain View, Calif. is is Page Fifteen WHEN 111Ell BECOME FOOLS

S What Drink Will Do to You If You Don't Watch Out n-1'1 HEY were two promising Yet that was not so bad as the army officers in Germany. case of the drunken American One was a young captain; whose wild bullet caused the the other, a twenty-year-old lieu- death of Madame Piednagel. Nor tenant who had won distinction by ARTHUR WARREN that of the drunken American when he was a cadet at the mili- who shot up the town and inci- tary school. dentally killed an unfortunate 'Here they were before a court- woman. And another victim, a martial with bowed heads, plead- Frenchman, was killed in a street ing guilty to the manslaughter of fight started by a group of a ten-year-old German boy, An- drunken soldiers who had been dreas Naterski. turned out of a French cafe. One could not help but feel These soldiers were "our boys," sorry for them—but sorry, too, who did so many deeds of valor for the poor mother of the boy. in the liberation of the world She had been out gleaning with from the oppressor. They were him, for they were short of food. loved and honored by mothers, They were on their way home sweethearts, and children. But when they saw an armored car alcohol transforms excellent men coming along on the wrong side into fools. of the road, firing red tracer bul- HaVe nothing to do with it! lets. She hurriedly seized the boy to drag him into the ditch, out of the way. But it was too late. The WOMEN AT THE BAR boy was hit, and died soon after. ONE of the saddest and as- It Was these two young officers suredly the ugliest social spectacle who were in the car. They had of city life nowadays is the dark been to the club for some whisky. and dingy cocktail bar where at The drinks had so confused them almost any hour of business the that they did not know what they • clientele is largely feminine and were doing, and they crashed the unescorted. 'car into a ditch. There they were The female bar fly, as this type found the next morning half of customer is described by other asleep. Neither of them knew habitues, has in fact become a they had hit the boy. ROOM FOR ONLY ONE standard character in the modern Three Majors testified to these saloon.. . . officers' gallantry in war and their If these women, who comprise previous good conduct. Good men! But anything before. This cocktail shaker was a wide range of classes and conditions, blame alcohol for the transformation! no good to him; he wouldn't have taken it were to hear the appraisals of them that Captain Blank, serving on a hospital if he had been his normal self. But he are current among the knowing and con- ship in Singapore harbor, was, according had taken some drink—and drink trans- temptuous barkeeps, the male drinkers, the to his superior officer, "normally a mild forms excellent men into fools. hangers-on, the touts and wily vagrants man, quiet-spoken, good and conscientious, It seems as though many excellent men who infest these places; if these women and the last man in the world I would ex- do not know when they have had enough should see themselves as these characters pect to use disrespectful words to me." —until they have done some crazy thing see them, they would run home in tears, Yet here he was before the court-martial which demonstrates it. It is much safer with an intolerable sense of besmirchment on three charges: He had caused a dis- to leave drink alone. and shame. turbance on the ship; he had assaulted one Nathaniel Gordon, in The Saturday Indeed, it is a pity they do not hear those of the troopers; he had used insubordinate Evening Post, had an article entitled, "GI things while it is yet time to change their language to his superior officer. Three Deviltry Costs Uncle Sam Plenty." The habits, . . . • serious charges. incidents related proved conclusively that They handle dynamite without recog- What had transformed such an excellent drink is an expensive luxury for Uncle nizing it. officer? "He was drunk," said his superior. Sam and his forces in Europe—and for Something is needed to bring that knowl- Usually he could "hold" liquor well; his some unfortunate Europeans, too." edge to them, in the plainest and sometimes capacity was half a dozen large whiskies. According to this writer, many mad the most brutal terms. • But this time the whisky held him—poor acts are committed by soldiers when under For, if this promiscuous and continual man! the influence of alcohol. On one occasion drinking in saloons continues much longer, Yes, it was alcohol again! American soldiers stopped a car, made too many mothers and wives and sisters to Then there was a workman of excellent nasty remarks to the Frenchman and his whom society looks for refuge and sanity • character, earning good wages as a ma- wife who were inside, pushed them out and health in an age of moral laxity, will chine operator. "No previous charge into the road, drove off with the car, and instead become derelicts, meriting at the against him," testified the detective. But finally crashed it into a tree. And Uncle worst disgust and at the best pity. here he was before the magistrate, charged Sam paid for the car—with your money, A cleanup is drastically needed, and with having stolen a cocktail shaker. Of of course. those who shrink from the word "prohibi- all things! And Uncle Sam's claim service admitted tion" will do well -to remove from the so- Much ashamed, this apparently honest, $12,000 of a claim for $40,000 damage cial scene one of the most potent argu- hard-working citizen confessed to the done by "celebrating" soldiers firing tracer ments for that very thing.—Editorial, Los theft. He said that he had never stolen bullets into some unfortunate's home. Angeles Examiner, January 2, 1947. 4( 4( 4( 4(