A Massachusetts shoe manufacturer told a recent writer on temperance that in one year his firm lost over $5000 in shoes spoiled by drinking men, and that he had himself traced these spoiled shoes to the workmen who, through their use of alcoholic liquors, had thus rendered themselves incapable. This is a serious handicap to our modern factory system, and explains why so many factory towns and cities are strongly favoring a policy of "No license" in opposition to the saloons. "It is believed that the largest number of accidents in shops and mills takes place on Monday, because the alcohol that is drunk on Sunday takes away the skill and attentive care of the workman. To prove the truth of this opinion, the accidents of the building trades in Zurich were studied during a period of six years, with the result shown by this table":-- [Illustration: Shaded, non-alcoholic; black, alcoholic, accidents. (From Tolman, _Hygiene for the Worker_.)] Another relation to efficiency is shown by the following chart. During the week the curve of working efficiency is highest on Friday and lowest on Monday. The number of accidents were also least on Friday and greatest on Monday. Lastly the assaults were fewest in number on Friday and greatest on Sunday and Monday. The moral is plain. Workingmen are apt to spend their week's wages freely on Saturday. Much of this goes into drink, and as a result comes crime on Sunday because of the deadened moral and mental condition of the drinker, and loss of efficiency on Monday, because of the poisonous effects of the drug. [Illustration: Notice that the curve of efficiency is lowest on Monday and that crimes and accidents are most frequent on Sunday and Monday. Account for this.] Effect of Alcohol upon Duration of Life.--Still more serious is the relation of alcohol as a direct cause of disease (see table). It is as yet quite impossible, in the United States at least, to tell just how many deaths are brought about, directly or indirectly, by alcohol. Especially is this true in trying to determine the number of cases of deaths from disease promoted by alcohol. In Switzerland provision is made for learning these facts, and the records of that country throw some light on the subject. Dr. Rudolph Pfister made a study of the records of the city of Basle for the years 1892-1906, finding the percentage of deaths in which alcohol had been reported by the attending physician as one cause of death. He found that 18.1 per cent of all deaths of men between 40 and 50 years of age were caused, in part at least, by alcohol, and this at what should be the most active period in a man's life, the time when he is most needed by his family and community. Taking all ages between 20 and 80, he found that alcohol was one cause of death in one man in every ten who died. [Illustration]