Teach every child that alcohol destroys his chances of success, impairs his muscular efficiency, inflames the substance of the brain and prevents development--MAKE HIM FEEL THAT A DRINKING MAN IS A SECOND-CLASS MAN, AND YOU WILL HAVE DONE MUCH TO DESTROY THE DRUNKENNESS OF THE FUTURE. ---- As a matter of fact, drunkenness, like dirt, is mainly an accompaniment of poverty and a sad, hopeless life. For the man or woman given to drinking, when the troubles of life are no longer to be borne, some relief must be had. Make the lives of human beings more comfortable, make good food more plentiful, spread education--and you will solve the problem of excessive drinking. THE DRUNKARD'S SIDE OF IT You lucky, well-balanced ones talk much, and sincerely, of the horrors of drink, and of the drunkard's weakness. You think the whiskey drinker ought to stop. Do you ask yourself whether or not he CAN stop? Let us consider to-day the drunkard's side of the case. ---- Very often physical weakness causes drunkenness. Many a man takes a drink because the task put upon him is heavier than he can bear. The whiskey does not help him--it hurts him. But it cheats him and makes him THINK that he is helped. You realize that whiskey drinking as a settled habit must be fought with weapons of some kind. WILL POWER is the great weapon to use in our own behalf. You tell the drunkard to use his will power. But you forget that the first thing that whiskey attacks is will power. You remind the drunkard that his weakness brings suffering on others, and you appeal to his conscience. But you forget that whiskey weakens conscience even more than it weakens the nerves. You forget, too, that whiskey makes its victims suffer. If he could free himself he would do so, if only for his own sake. And you must not forget that whiskey argues ingeniously, in addition to its telling of lies. A man is overcome with some great grief. Whiskey makes him forget, or at least it makes him not care. A man is suffering some great humiliation, some sense of personal shortcoming, that is intolerable to him. Whiskey offers to relieve him, and for the moment it does relieve him. ---- YOU who talk nobly of temperance and advocate laws governing other men are apt to be proud of your own self-control. Perhaps you have been a drinking man and have stopped. But you do not know how much lighter whiskey's hold may have been upon you than upon others. Suppose you worked hard every day, every week and every year. Suppose you had no pleasure in life, save the fictitious pleasure and excitement that come from whiskey. Suppose you failed, and failed and failed again--and suppose that whiskey was always ready to praise you, make you feel proud of yourself, make you hold others responsible for your failures--are you sure you could let it alone? ---- In your condemnation of those who persist in whiskey drinking you must remember that what is easy for one man is very hard for another.