They rise directly from the fact that the depressing effect of alcohol reaches to the inhibitory centers—the storehouses of self-control. The point is, then, that alcohol does not increase the power of action. It only decreases the power of self-restraint. The things one does and says when under the influence of liquor are simply the things from the doing or saying of which he would ordinarily have restrained himself. If he were sober, his words and actions would be tempered with good judgment. Under the influence of liquor, he has no fear of any kind of risk or trespass. Some have supposed that these manifestations prove the power of liquor to render one temporarily clever. The fact is that the seeming cleverness in the actions or words of a tipsy person simply represents the things which, as a sober person, he would know better than to do or say. Each advance in our knowledge of the effect of alcohol upon the human system only serves to confirm the old contention that it is a foe of efficiency. This is true not only because it tends to deteriorate the tissues and organs of the body, but also because it strikes directly at the seat of reason as well. The muscular reflex is dulled. The power to react to sounds and other _stimuli_ is distinctly lessened. The memory is affected. The fingers lose approximately nine per cent of their deftness. The eye loses about eleven per cent of its quickness and accuracy. These are results following directly upon the effects exerted by alcohol upon the brain and nervous system in general. Ordinary men failed to slay the hydra of old because they struck only at some one of its many heads. It perished only when there came a man who thought to strike at the one vital center. Alcohol does not content itself with striking at those parts of the physical life which are able to renew themselves or without which the life can still go on. It strikes at the seat of all that makes life worth while. It stands second in the list of causes of insanity. It damages the efficiency of many thousands, however, who never reach the stage of complete insanity. No further words are needed to indicate the truth of the old dictum that drink and workmanship do not go together. Each ounce of liquor consumed reduces a man’s capacity for skilled labor by a definite and unfailing percentage. It has always been important that a workman should be at his best, but it has now come to be more so than ever before. The powers of men are taxed in an unusual degree, and processes of production are put upon the most severe strain of all their history. In former years, one owed it to himself, his family, and his friends to steer clear of alcohol, but his obligation is now vastly increased. He owes it to his country and his flag as well.