The Use and Need of the Life of Carrie A. Nation [126]
Toledo to obtain their opinions as to the real damage
which indulgence in malt liquors does the victim of that form of intemperance.
Every one is not only a gentleman of the highest personal character,
but is a physician whose professional abilities have been severely tested,
and received the stamp of the highest indorsement by the public and their
professional brethren. More skilful physicians are not to be found anywhere.
We have not selected those of known temperance principles. What
they say of beer is not colored by any feeling for or against temperance,
but is the cold, bare experience of men of science who know whereof they
speak.
A BEER DRINKING CITY.
Toledo is essentially a beer drinking city. The German population is
very large. Five of the largest breweries in the country are here. Probably
more beer is drank, in proportion to the population, than in any other
city in the United States. The practice of these physicians is, therefore,
largely among beer drinkers, and they have had abundant opportunities to
know exactly its bearings on health and disease.
Every one bears testimony that no man can drink beer safely, that
it is an injury to any one who uses it in any quantity, and that its effect
on the general health of the country has been even worse than that of
whiskey. The indictment they with one accord present against beer drinking
is simply terrible.
The devilfish crushing a man in his long, winding arms, and sucking
his blood from his mangled body, is not so frightful an assailant as this
deadly but insidious enemy, which fastens itself upon its victim, and daily
becomes more and more the wretched man's master, and finally dragging
him to his grave at a time when other men are in their prime of mental
and bodily vigor.
BEER KILLS QUICKER THAN OTHER LIQUORS.
Dr. S. H. Burgen, a practitioner 35 years, 28 in Toledo, says: "I
think beer kills quicker than any other liquor. My attention was first called
to its insidious effects, when I began examining for life insurance. I
passed as unusually good risks five Germans--young business men--who
seemed in the best health, and to have superb constitutions. In a few
years I was amazed to see the whole five drop off, one after another, with
what ought to have been mild and easily curable diseases. On comparing
my experience with that of other physicians I found they were all having
similar luck with confirmed beer drinkers, and my practice since has heaped
confirmation on confirmation.
"The first organ to be attacked is the kidneys; the liver soon sympathizes,
and then comes, most frequently, dropsy or Bright's disease, both
certain to end fatally. Any physician, who cares to take the time, will
tell you that among the dreadful results of beer drinking are lockjaw and
erysipelas, and that the beer drinker seems incapable of recovering from
mild disorders and injuries not usually regarded of a grave character.
Pneumonia, pleurisy, fevers, etc., seem to have a first mortgage on him,
which they foreclose remorselessly at an early opportunity.
BEER WORSE THAN WHISKEY.
"The beer drinker is much worse off than the whiskey drinker, who
seems to have more elasticity and reserve power. He will even have delirium
tremens; but after the fit is gone you will sometimes find good material
to work upon. Good management may bring him around all right.
But when a beer drinker gets into trouble it seems almost as if you have
to recreate the man before you can do anything for him. I have talked
this for years, and have had abundance of living and dead instances around
me to support my opinions."
WRONGS WE CAN NEVER UNDO.
(By Delle M. Mason.)
I have come home to you, mother. Father, your wayward son
Has come to himself at last, and knows the harm he has done.
I have bleached your hair out, father, more than the frosts of years;
I have dimmed your kind eyes, mother, by many tears.
Since I left you, father, to work the farm alone,
And bought a stock of liquors with what I called my own,
which indulgence in malt liquors does the victim of that form of intemperance.
Every one is not only a gentleman of the highest personal character,
but is a physician whose professional abilities have been severely tested,
and received the stamp of the highest indorsement by the public and their
professional brethren. More skilful physicians are not to be found anywhere.
We have not selected those of known temperance principles. What
they say of beer is not colored by any feeling for or against temperance,
but is the cold, bare experience of men of science who know whereof they
speak.
A BEER DRINKING CITY.
Toledo is essentially a beer drinking city. The German population is
very large. Five of the largest breweries in the country are here. Probably
more beer is drank, in proportion to the population, than in any other
city in the United States. The practice of these physicians is, therefore,
largely among beer drinkers, and they have had abundant opportunities to
know exactly its bearings on health and disease.
Every one bears testimony that no man can drink beer safely, that
it is an injury to any one who uses it in any quantity, and that its effect
on the general health of the country has been even worse than that of
whiskey. The indictment they with one accord present against beer drinking
is simply terrible.
The devilfish crushing a man in his long, winding arms, and sucking
his blood from his mangled body, is not so frightful an assailant as this
deadly but insidious enemy, which fastens itself upon its victim, and daily
becomes more and more the wretched man's master, and finally dragging
him to his grave at a time when other men are in their prime of mental
and bodily vigor.
BEER KILLS QUICKER THAN OTHER LIQUORS.
Dr. S. H. Burgen, a practitioner 35 years, 28 in Toledo, says: "I
think beer kills quicker than any other liquor. My attention was first called
to its insidious effects, when I began examining for life insurance. I
passed as unusually good risks five Germans--young business men--who
seemed in the best health, and to have superb constitutions. In a few
years I was amazed to see the whole five drop off, one after another, with
what ought to have been mild and easily curable diseases. On comparing
my experience with that of other physicians I found they were all having
similar luck with confirmed beer drinkers, and my practice since has heaped
confirmation on confirmation.
"The first organ to be attacked is the kidneys; the liver soon sympathizes,
and then comes, most frequently, dropsy or Bright's disease, both
certain to end fatally. Any physician, who cares to take the time, will
tell you that among the dreadful results of beer drinking are lockjaw and
erysipelas, and that the beer drinker seems incapable of recovering from
mild disorders and injuries not usually regarded of a grave character.
Pneumonia, pleurisy, fevers, etc., seem to have a first mortgage on him,
which they foreclose remorselessly at an early opportunity.
BEER WORSE THAN WHISKEY.
"The beer drinker is much worse off than the whiskey drinker, who
seems to have more elasticity and reserve power. He will even have delirium
tremens; but after the fit is gone you will sometimes find good material
to work upon. Good management may bring him around all right.
But when a beer drinker gets into trouble it seems almost as if you have
to recreate the man before you can do anything for him. I have talked
this for years, and have had abundance of living and dead instances around
me to support my opinions."
WRONGS WE CAN NEVER UNDO.
(By Delle M. Mason.)
I have come home to you, mother. Father, your wayward son
Has come to himself at last, and knows the harm he has done.
I have bleached your hair out, father, more than the frosts of years;
I have dimmed your kind eyes, mother, by many tears.
Since I left you, father, to work the farm alone,
And bought a stock of liquors with what I called my own,