Civics and HealthAllen, William H. (WIlliam Harvey)
Science
Civics and Health
Allen, William H. (WIlliam Harvey)
Hygiene; Public health
Fear of the negro victim of alcoholism, social evils of intemperance,
whether among white or black, industrial uncertainty and waste due to
alcoholism, are the three chief motives that have swept alcohol traffic
out of the greater part of the South. Knowledge of physiological evils
has had little influence, except as it may have rendered more
acceptable the claim that alcoholism is a disease against which there
is no insurance except abolition of alcohol as a beverage. Religious
revivals, street parades by day and by night, illustrated banners,
personal intercession, lines of women and children at the polls, made
it necessary for voters to make known their intention, and made it
extremely difficult for respectable men, engaged in respectable
business, to vote for saloons. Some states have gone so far as to
prohibit the manufacture of alcoholic stimulants, even though not
offered for sale within state limits. In Georgia wine cannot be used at
the communion service, nor can druggists sell any form of liquor except
pure alcohol. In Louisiana it is illegal for representatives of "wet
districts" to solicit orders for liquor in any of the "dry districts."
In Texas the sale of liquor in dining cars is forbidden, and the
traveler may not even drink from his own flask. Congress is being urged
by senators and congressmen, as well as by anti-saloon advocates, to
pass laws prohibiting common carriers from delivering alcoholics to any
"dry" community. The more optimistic anti-saloon workers believe it is
but a matter of a short time when Congress will pass laws prohibiting
the manufacture or sale of alcoholic beverages within any limits
protected by the United States Constitution.
Southern states have been warned that they could not afford the
depreciation of real estate values, of rents, and of business that
would surely follow the "confiscation of capital" and "interference
with personal liberty." This warning has been met by plausible
arguments that the buyers of legitimate and nonpoisonous commodities
could pay better rents, better profits on business and on real estate,
if freed from the uneven fight against temptation to drink. The
argument that schools and streets and health must suffer if the license
money was withdrawn, has been met by the plausible argument that the
ultimate taxpayer--the family that wants clothing, food, and
shelter--will save enough money to be able to spend still larger sums
than heretofore upon education, health, and public safety.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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