Many old men who SHOULD be hale and hearty are suffering from ailments born of the drink habit, by which, in their earlier days, they were enslaved. In the "rheum, the dry serpigo and the gout" which rack their frames, make their bones ache and render miserable and thankless the evening days which should be so full of peace and beauty, they are reaping the fruits of their "harmless" moderate drinking. Two or three weeks ago we made reference to the report by Mr. Mesureur, Director of the Department of Charities, Paris, upon the results of alcoholism in France. That report was no sooner made public than the French liquor dealers were up in arms against it. Indignation meetings were held. The mails were flooded with all sorts of protests against the truth of Mesureur's claim that alcoholism was slowly but surely destroying the French people. The discussion at last became so heated that the government took it upon itself to subject the offensive report to a careful scrutiny, with the result that it was CONFIRMED in every particular. We quote from a poster, issued by the "Investigation Council for Promoting the Public Welfare," and now displayed all over France: "Alcoholism is the chronic poisoning resulting from the constant use of alcohol, even if it does not produce drunkenness. "It is an error to say that alcohol is a necessity to the man who has to do hard work, or that it restores strength. "The artificial stimulation which it produces soon gives way to exhaustion and nervous depression. Alcohol is good for nobody, but works harm to everybody. "Alcoholism produces the most varied and fatal diseases of the stomach and liver, paralysis, dropsy and madness. It is one of the most frequent canses of tuberculosis. "Lastly, it aggravates and enhances all acute diseases, typhus, pneumonia, erysipelas. "THESE DISEASES ONLY ATTACK A SOBER MAN IN A MILD DEGREE, WHILE THEY QUICKLY DO AWAY WITH THE MAN WHO DRINKS ALCOHOL. "The sins of the parents against the laws of health visit their offspring. If the children survive the first months of their lives they are threatened with imbecility or epilepsy, or death carries them away a little later by such diseases as meningitis or consumption. "Alcoholism is one of the most terrible plagues to the individual health, the existence of the home, and the prosperity of the nation." TO THOSE WHO DRINK HARD-- YOU HAVE SLIPPED THE BELT Men have explained variously their reasons for drinking to excess. An able architect drank too much every night. He said that he HAD to drink. If he went to bed perfectly sober his mind went on working and dreaming, after he had gone to sleep, and he woke up fatigued and unable to attend to his work. "I don't want to drink," said he, "but in order to do my work I must have the sleep that follows what is ordinarily called taking too much." Other men explained excessive drinking as follows: "I must have the mental excitement that comes from drinking."