“Many persons, belonging for the most part to the well-to-do classes, have no fixed occupation and feel the need of none. These persons do not know what it is to love work for work’s sake. Having all that they need to live upon they imagine that work exists only for those who have to earn their bread, and they themselves are created for ‘dolce far niente.’ Unfortunately the ‘far niente’ is not always sweet! Having nothing to do, these individuals do not know how to use their time; they are bored, they seek distractions and pleasures. Alcohol presents itself to them as procuring the pleasure sought for, but as this enjoyment is only momentary, they are forced to renew it and to prolong it.…”[202]
b. Another part of the bourgeoisie is composed of those who pass their lives in the fierce combat of competition, who are bent under the burden of material cares, and whose mind is occupied with a single idea, that of getting money. This is why in these surroundings also they frequently have recourse to alcohol to dissipate their vexations, especially when things go badly.
Having treated of alcoholism among the idle portion of the bourgeoisie, Kautsky says in the study quoted above: “Not all, of course, and perhaps not even the majority, of the moneyed class are idlers. Many work as long and hard as any working-man, even if the work they do is often superfluous. But it is always one-sided nervous work. Muscular exercise among the property-holding class has been constantly pushed ever further into the background since the sixteenth century, and the demands upon the nervous system have correspondingly increased. Besides the continual struggle with the working-class, from whom the surplus-value is taken, there is going on an equally uninterrupted battle of the spoilers among themselves for a share of this surplus-value. All these battles are carried on today by nervous, not muscular, energy, and the contests become constantly more bitter, the crises more tremendous, the battlefields more colossal, the forces involved more incalculable.
“Thus the nerves of the bourgeoisie become wrecked through their activity as well as through their idleness.… If part of the bourgeoisie befuddle themselves out of wantonness, another part grasp [[367]]for stimulants or for means of benumbing themselves, alcohol, morphine, cocaine, any thing to take away their feeling of sickness, to conquer their pains, to make them forget their cares; and as it is with the proletariat, so is it with the moneyed class, the power of resistance to these agents declines.”[203]
Finally, we must notice some causes of alcoholism which influence the whole population.
a. Imitation. This is reckoned among the important causes. In the first place there are many children (for whom alcohol even in small quantities is extremely harmful) who are accustomed to the use of alcohol as a consequence of the example set by their families. Dr. R. Frölich mentioned the following facts at the 8th International Congress against Alcohol at Vienna:[204]
Out of 81,187 children from 6 to 14 years of age going to school in Vienna, there were:
| 49.5% | who already drank beer | and | 32.1% | who drank beer | regularly |
| 82.1% | who,, already,, drank,, wine | and,, | 11.2% | who,, drank,, wine | regularly,, |
| 94.2% | who,, already,, drank,, brandy | and,, | 4.1% | who,, drank,, brandy | regularly,, |
But imitation is also important among those who have attained their full development. In the course of time certain circles have taken up the habit of drinking, and any one who frequents these circles must do the same under penalty of being looked down upon. However, I think that the importance that abstainers give to imitation is exaggerated. The number of those who are guilty of the abuse of alcohol from force of example and nothing else is certainly not very great. The other factors which have been at work at the same time to bring about this result are not so obvious. Finally we must not forget that imitation is not an independent factor; what does not exist cannot be imitated, and consequently there must be other causes primarily responsible.
b. The climate. Although so much importance is not attached to climate as formerly, it is nevertheless certain that a cold climate, especially if damp, favors the consumption of alcohol, since this dissipates temporarily the discomfort resulting from cold and humidity. It is for this reason that the inhabitants of the northern countries (for example, England, Denmark, and Holland) consume on [[368]]the average greater quantities of alcohol than southern countries (like Spain and Italy). However the facts show that the social environment is a much more important factor, and is apt to modify or overcome entirely the influence of climate. In Sweden and Norway, for example, the consumption per capita is smaller than in countries farther south, like Denmark and Holland. The great changes which occur at different times in the same country, where the climate remains a constant factor, are a further proof of the truth of this. And notwithstanding the climate the abuse of alcohol increases greatly in the southern countries in which industrialism becomes more and more prevalent (like northern Italy).[205]