Reformers are often bombarded with statistics by brewery owners, distillers and those whose ideas are regulated by personal benefits. The favorite weapon is the story of the man who lived to be old and always drank or smoked. Here is a reprint of such a story:
HALE AND HEARTY AT 102.
New Jerseyman Chews Tobacco as Preventive of Disease.
Newton, N. J., Dec. 22.—Charles Ashford Shafer, Sushex County's oldest resident, celebrated his one hundred and second birthday at the home of his son, George Shafer, to-day. Mr. Shafer is still active, hale and hearty, and walks several miles a day. He was born a few miles from here and has spent all his life in this section. For many years he conducted a distillery. The centenarian declares that chewing tobacco is a means of preventing disease, and he has been chewing it since a boy. Mr. Shafer reads without the aid of glasses.
But wait a minute—here is a better one:
TEETOTALER DEAD AT 115.
West Virginian Never Tasted Liquor or Tobacco in His Life.
Wheeling, W. Va., Nov. 29.—Henderson Cremeans, known to be the oldest man in West Virginia and probably the oldest in the United States, died to-day at the home of his grandson, Clark Cremeans, near Point Pleasant, Mason County, aged 115 years. He never tasted liquor or tobacco in his life.
And when we study statistics of the insurance business we may rest assured that they are correct, for an insurance company gets a premium on every policy and regulates its action upon the correct statistics. Here is another reprint:
SAYS PROHIBITION IN RUSSIA WILL SAVE 500,000 MEN
Insurance Expert Claims That If Czar Carries Out Present Intention, Loss of Half Million in War Will Be Made Up in Decade.
New York, Dec. 11.—Results of an investigation in which an entirely new set of statistics had been gathered were put before the Association of Life Insurance Presidents at their annual meeting at the Hotel Astor yesterday and threw a new light on the influence of alcoholism, overeating, undereating, and other factors in shortening lives.