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."