Much of the statistical evidence that has been produced on both sides of this question of the transmissibility of the effect of alcohol is misleading unless very critically analyzed, but the results of exact laboratory experiments can hardly be gainsaid.
Those who trifle with alcohol should at least take the precaution to be periodically examined in order to detect the earliest signs of ill-effect. One’s own feelings are not safe guides, and may fail to warn of danger until serious damage has been done.
In 1914, at the annual meeting of the National Council of Safety, at which there were present representatives from several hundred large industries, the members unanimously voted to abolish liquor from their plants. It has been well stated by Quensel[33] that “work and alcohol do not belong together, especially when the work demands wideawakeness, attention, exactness and endurance.”
The restrictive and prohibitive measures of the French and Russian governments, the well known opposition of the Kaiser to alcohol and the warnings uttered by Lord Kitchener and leading British statesmen, are sufficient evidence that the condemnation of alcohol represents the deliberate judgment of the world’s strong men.
REFERENCES
[1] United Kingdom Temperance and General Provident Institution of London, Annual Report, 1910.
[2] Sceptre Life Association, Annual Report, 1912.
[3] Scottish Temperance Life Assurance Company, Annual Report, 1912.
[4] The Abstainers and General Insurance Company, Ltd., Annual Report, 1912.
[5] McMahon, T. F.: The Use of Alcohol and the Life Insurance Risk. Proceedings of the Association of the Life Insurance Medical Directors of America, 1911, Twenty-second Annual Meeting, p. 473; Medical Record, LXXX, p. 1121.