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THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 AND THE PART PLAYED BY ORGANIZED MEDICINE 
 
THE 
 EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 AND THE PART PLAYED BY ORGANIZED MEDICINE 
 
 by 
 CHARLES TABER STOUT 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 MITCHELL KENNERLEY 
 
 MCMXXI 
 
 M 
 
COPYRIGHT 192 1 BY 
 MITCHELL KENNERLEY ^ 
 
 J 
 
 MAR 30 1922 
 
 
 n 
 
 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES 
 
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 ©CI.A661074 ^ 
 
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PREFACE 
 
 The first pages of this book were included in a 
 paper written as a protest against the candidacy of 
 a regular Army officer who was seeking the nom- 
 ination of one of the great parties for the office of 
 President of the United States. This general officer 
 had entered the Army through the medical branch 
 of the service and still maintained his membership 
 in the medical organization, which expected to avail 
 itself of his Administration (if that ever became a 
 reality) to push its special legislative programme. 
 Ten days after the protest referred to reached its 
 destination, together with the protests of others, 
 an inquiry as to the source of the candidate's cam- 
 paign fund was begun in the Senate. That investi- 
 gation ended his presidential aspirations. 
 
 With this inception, the book has been continued 
 and completed in order to draw public attention to 
 a question of national concern — the real meaning of 
 the prohibition movement, and its relations to Or- 
 ganized Medicine and other interests. Under the 
 guise of altruism, a grave injustice has been imposed 
 upon a free people by a relatively small number of 
 zealots and profiteers. It seems important, there- 
 fore, that the public should know the facts. 
 
 C. T. S. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Like many others, I used to look upon prohibition 
 as a dream of the idealist. It was a dream with 
 which I was not particularly concerned. My ideas 
 on the whole subject were rather vague, like the ideas 
 of most people on most subjects of importance; but 
 I believed in a general way that the removal of in- 
 toxicating liquors from ordinary use would be a good 
 thing for the country. The harm which alcohol had 
 done and was doing was quite obvious. Like others, 
 I had seen lives ruined by over-indulgence and homes 
 broken up. I had drawn what seemed natural con- 
 clusions from casual observation and reflection. But 
 when I began to give the question serious considera- 
 tion, I had to admit that I really knew nothing about 
 prohibition, good or bad. I had certain impres- 
 sions, which might be justifiable or otherwise. That 
 was all; and it was not enough. 
 
 I began to read some of the literature on the 
 subject. One of the first books which came to my 
 attention was Dr. Eugene Lyman Fisk's "Alcohol 
 — Its Relation to Human Efficiency and Longevity." 
 Many of his statements conflicted with the opinions 
 
viii INTRODUCTION 
 
 I had formed in the loose way just described. The 
 book, however, was persuasive, and I read it through 
 a second time. After this second perusal I became 
 skeptical; and I then read it once more, critically, 
 checking up the various statements, with the result 
 that I had to discard many of them as worthless. 
 I do not mean to question Dr. Fisk's sincerity, of 
 course; but apparently, as in the case of so many 
 of our scientists, his field of observation has been 
 distinctly limited. The impression which I received 
 from the book was that if the prohibitionists were 
 obliged to resort to propaganda such as this, there 
 must be something wrong with their cause. 
 
 I went over the matter with others. They became 
 interested, and we traced some of the propaganda 
 down to its sources. What had been at first merely 
 curious inquiry soon developed into an absorbing 
 study, not only of the theories of the prohibitionists, 
 but also of the forces behind the movement. The 
 moral plea on which prohibition was originally put 
 forward had now been subordinated to the question 
 of health. The American Medical Association had 
 joined the ranks of the anti-alcoholists and had 
 passed a resolution condemning alcohol both as a 
 food and a medicine. We followed the activities 
 of the association through its various channels of 
 influence. The trail led from one of the great medi- 
 cal institutions to another, until it finally brought up 
 
INTRODUCTION ix 
 
 in the medical departments of the national gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 The aged fisherman of the Arabian Nights could 
 not have been more astonished when he removed the 
 seal of Solomon from the mouth of the jar which his 
 net had brought to the surface, and saw the genie 
 issue forth, than we were at the result of our in- 
 vestigations. We found a giant organization oc- 
 cupying the centre of the stage. Torn by factions 
 within, pressed on all sides by virile foes without, 
 it was turning and twisting, grasping at any weapon 
 which would preserve its life for even a short time 
 longer. It was medievalism struggling against the 
 advance of civilization. We found, indeed, more 
 than the power behind prohibition itself; we found 
 the reason why disease has been able to flourish in 
 spite of all that science has accomplished for its 
 control. We found men of international reputation 
 in the world of medicine prostituting their profes- 
 sion, and forgetting their personal honor, to main- 
 tain an organization which has long outlived its 
 usefulness and which has no place in a civilized 
 community in a modern age. 
 
 There is but one excuse for prohibition, and that 
 is ignorance. Is the ignorance displayed by our 
 medical authorities on the subject of alcohol real 
 or assumed? Do they sincerely believe, or merely 
 pretend to believe, that prohibition will mean an 
 
x INTRODUCTION 
 
 improvement in the health of the people? The 
 question is on a par with another one which has 
 been asked rather frequently: Did the Inquisitors 
 of the Middle Ages believe that the rack and the 
 fagot would advance the cause of truth, or did a 
 certain proportion of them, at least, employ these 
 unpleasant arguments mainly to further their own 
 interests and protect their special organization? 
 
 Some light on the first question, at any rate, should 
 be found in the ensuing pages. 
 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION vii 
 
 I THE ISSUE 9 
 
 II THE MORAL PLEA FAILS 13 
 
 III THE HEALTH PLEA 17 
 
 IV ORGANIZED MEDICINE 22 
 V THE SERUM CONTROVERSY 3 o 
 
 VI A NEW FACTOR 35 
 
 VII THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CHEMOTHERAPY 41 
 
 VIII A PROFITABLE PARTNERSHIP 46 
 
 IX THE OTHER PARTNERS 50 
 
 X SOME PROHIBITION PROPAGANDA 59 
 
 XI ALCOHOL AND LONGEVITY 69 
 
 XII MORE FALLACIOUS PROPAGANDA 75 
 
 XIII THE LABORATORY vs. NATURE 84 
 
 XIV THE FOOD VALUE OF ALCOHOL 97 
 XV ALCOHOL AS A MEDICINE 104 
 
 XVI ALCOHOL AND FATIGUE 113 
 
 XVII FATIGUE AND DISEASE 123 
 
 XVIII THE ECONOMIC SIDE OF PROHIBITION 130 
 
 XIX THE LAW AND PERSONAL LIBERTY I49 
 
 XX THE LABOR UNION 159 
 
 XXI ENFORCEMENT 167 
 
 XXII GOVERNMENT BY PROPAGANDA? 187 
 
 XXIII THE WAY OUT 192 
 
 XXIV CONCLUSION 206 
 INDEX 213 
 
THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 AND THE PART PLAYED BY ORGANIZED MEDICINE 
 
For John the Baptist came neither eating 
 bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath 
 a devil. 
 
 The Son of Man is come eating and drink- 
 ing; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, 
 and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and 
 sinners. 
 
 St. Luke, vii : 33, 34. 
 
THE 
 EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 CHAPTER I , . 
 
 THE ISSUE 
 
 America has embarked upon a great experiment, 
 the elimination of alcoholic beverages from her na- 
 tional diet. The fact that wine has had its recog- 
 nized place in the human economy from time im- 
 memorial seemed a matter of small consequence to 
 the theorists who championed the prohibition move- 
 ment. There were certain manifest evils con- 
 nected with alcohol, therefore alcohol must go. 
 And alcohol has gone, to a large extent. True, it 
 still lingers in the homes of the rich and the provi- 
 dent; poisonous substitutes are being purveyed at 
 fantastic prices by bootleggers, saloon keepers and 
 other profiteers ; and the home-brewer is warming to 
 his work and gradually learning the secrets of suc- 
 cess. But the old order has certainly changed, 
 yielding place to new. Is the new, however, better 
 than the old, or is it fundamentally vicious? 
 
 9 
 
io THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 Whenever we interfere with natural laws or es- 
 tablished custom, trouble is to be expected; and 
 whether expected or not, it will come. It is safer 
 to build our houses, and even our ultra-modern 
 skyscrapers, from the foundation upward rather 
 than from the skyline downward; or the downward 
 will be very clearly accentuated. But in these days 
 of unrest, "try anything once" seems to have become 
 the maxim of the advanced thinkers who would guide 
 mankind to the great visionary higher level. 
 
 There has never been a time in the history of the 
 world when the theorist was more in evidence. The 
 wonderful progress seen everywhere in the arts and 
 sciences during the present generation has encour- 
 aged theoretical speculation. The hypotheses of 
 yesterday are the inventions and discoveries of to- 
 day, by which the earth, the sea, the air have been 
 brought under man's dominion. Success has bred 
 a carelessness, even a contempt, for nature's laws, 
 until we now find those who are willing to believe 
 that the very laws of life itself can be disregarded. 
 At the risk of platitude, it is just as well to state a 
 simple truism: It is not by ignoring natural laws 
 that man has triumphed, but by understanding them ; 
 not by denying, but by observing them. 
 
 The shallow theorist, the bigot or the misguided 
 moralist may become a source of serious danger to 
 a community. There is no more perilous element 
 
THE ISSUE n 
 
 in society than the fanatics who really believe in 
 their fallacies, unless it be those who are willing 
 to exploit their false doctrines for profit. "Uplift" 
 is being used more and more frequently to disguise 
 personal interest. It is time that people should be- 
 gin to think for themselves, for they are being ex- 
 ploited in a way which has become a menace to popu- 
 lar government. With the spread of education, or 
 rather the ability to read and write, the dissemina- 
 tion of false doctrines has become increasingly easy. 
 The prohibition movement offers one of the most 
 conspicuous examples. 
 
 The fate of the Eighteenth Amendment in the 
 Supreme Court cannot be allowed to end the contro- 
 versy. There is more than a legal principle in- 
 volved: there is the vital question whether a nation 
 can defy the laws of nature and still maintain its 
 economic position. And with this there are the con- 
 nected issues, the health, happiness and freedom of 
 action of the American people. 
 
 It must be remembered that the Supreme Court 
 can only pass upon a case as presented. Unfortu- 
 nately the real issue, the interest of the public in 
 (and so intimately depending upon) the question, 
 has never had a hearing. It has been a character- 
 istic feature of the prohibition propaganda to pre- 
 sent the controversy in a misleading aspect, and to 
 make it appear a conflict between temperance on 
 
12 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 the one side and the liquor interests on the other. 
 A careful consideration of the subject from the eco- 
 nomic standpoint is not desired. Any attempt to 
 turn on the light has been met by the Anti-Saloon 
 League — the stalking horse of the real interests be- 
 hind the movement — by raising the bugaboo of the 
 liquor trade. The liquor traffic as it once was, and 
 the true and continuing relation of alcohol to the 
 human system, are two very different things. 
 
 The public's interest in the case can be simply 
 stated, and it is doubtful whether any court — except 
 the final court of appeal of the whole people — has 
 the power, or is competent, to pass on the question : 
 Is alcohol necessary either as a food or a medicine 
 for our individual or national well-being? 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE MORAL PLEA FAILS 
 
 There are two aspects from which prohibition 
 may be considered : the physical side, its effect on the 
 health of the nation, or as Dr. Fisk phrases it, "its 
 relation to human efficiency and longevity"; and 
 the ethical side, its influence on national morals. 
 After all, our morals are in a way but a higher sani- 
 tary code, for we have been put on this earth pre- 
 sumably to do appropriate work — God's work, in 
 no canting sense — and moral guidance is to the end 
 that we shall be fit in mind and body to carry on 
 this work and assist our neighbors in the perform- 
 ance of their share, to the mutual welfare of all. 
 
 The morals, as commonly understood, of the 
 Western nations are rooted in the law of Moses 
 and the teachings of Christ. The miracles, sacra- 
 ments and revelations of the Christian and Jewish 
 religions alike are opposed to prohibition. It is 
 difficult to see how any moral ground can be as- 
 serted for this fetich unless we are ready to dis- 
 card the clear guidance of both the Old and New 
 Testaments. Nothing could be plainer than Christ's 
 acceptance of wine in the institution of the Blessed 
 
 13 
 
i 4 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 Sacrament, the miracle at Cana of Galilee, and his 
 teaching in the city called Nain. The Christian re- 
 ligion preaches temperance, not prohibition. There 
 is no Christian virtue, nor any other kind of virtue, 
 in a self-denial that is enforced by a prison cell or 
 moral straitjacket. If the Church had had the 
 disposal of the immense sum by which prohibition 
 was purchased, were there not vital purposes in ac- 
 cordance (not at variance) with Christ's teaching, 
 for which the money could have been well spent? Is 
 total abstinence so paramount that the Church is 
 willing to subordinate everything else for this one 
 aim, — or are we now practising evangelism inten- 
 sively, virtue by virtue ? 
 
 The law of Moses is accepted by both the Chris- 
 tian and the Jew as essentially the revelation of God. 
 It has an important bearing on the subject not only 
 morally, but physically also. There may be some 
 who doubt the divine origin of the Hebrew laws, 
 but they cannot question the historical fact that under 
 these laws the people rose from a condition of 
 slavery to the glory of a great nation under Solomon. 
 
 For four hundred and thirty years the Israelites 
 had lived in Egypt. Generation after generation 
 had been born in slavery, the burdens of their Egyp- 
 tian taskmasters pressing harder and harder upon 
 the subject race. Everything possible was done to 
 break their spirit, even to the murder of their male 
 
THE MORAL PLEA FAILS 15 
 
 children. Moses was called upon to lead his rescued 
 people to the Land of Promise and take possession 
 of a country already inhabited by warlike tribes. 
 A long period of preparation was necessary to fit 
 the wanderers for their task. During the pilgrim- 
 age a new generation was born free from the demor- 
 alizing influence of slavery, and trained under laws 
 of morality and health which have become the foun- 
 dation of our civilization. 
 
 The law of Moses deals distinctly with the use 
 of alcohol, in the form of wine. In the directions 
 for the harvest it divided the product of the vine- 
 yard in the same manner that the grain of the field 
 was apportioned. The first share was for a drink 
 offering to the Lord. After that came the share 
 of the owner of the vineyard. The third share was 
 reserved for the poor as a necessary food. There 
 is no hesitation or hypocrisy here. Wine is dedi- 
 cated both to the glory of God and to the natural 
 use of all the people. 
 
 So much, briefly, for the religious aspect of the 
 question. The prohibitionists cannot base any legit- 
 imate arguments on the Christian or Mosaic dis- 
 pensations. 
 
 Alcohol is a food in the broad sense, because un- 
 der certain conditions it may be essential for the 
 proper nourishment of the body. The alcoholic 
 craving has its foundation in normal requirements. 
 
1 6 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 This, together with the fact that alcohol is a free 
 gift of nature, will make it impossible to suppress 
 its use by prohibitory laws. The passage of the 
 Eighteenth Amendment has not changed the human 
 system: it has merely put back the cause of tem- 
 perance a hundred and fifty years. Anyone can 
 make alcohol. Indeed, in many of the products of 
 the kitchen, where sugars and acids are combined, 
 the housewife must exercise the greatest care to 
 avoid making it. The American people had become 
 accustomed to buying their alcoholic beverages ready 
 made. The manufacture was in the hands of a very 
 small percentage of the population and so was easily 
 regulated. The Eighteenth Amendment has changed 
 all this. America is fast becoming an. immense 
 brewery. The relation between supply and demand 
 is not a matter of fiat, but of fact. The substitu- 
 tion, however, of tyros for experts in brewing and 
 distilling, and of compulsory stealth for natural free- 
 dom, can scarcely be considered an improvement. 
 Still, experience teaches; the novice becomes an 
 adept, even under unpleasant conditions. There will 
 be more and better illicit alcohol as time goes by. 
 
 The use of alcohol may be regulated, but not 
 prohibited. So far from improving the morals of 
 the people, prohibition will only increase hypocrisy 
 and graft. There is not much doubt about this, for 
 it has already happened. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE HEALTH PLEA 
 
 Prohibition failed as a moral issue because the 
 two great American religions were traditionally op- 
 posed to it. Something new had to be tried, and the 
 success of the dry movement in certain Southern 
 states offered a suggestion. Prohibition had made 
 headway there because it was distinctly to the ad- 
 vantage of the South to remove temptation from the 
 negro race. Self-interest is a powerful entering 
 wedge for any argument, and the leaders of the dry 
 campaign began a survey of the country in an effort 
 to find interests which coincided with their own and 
 which they could utilize. 
 
 Of course, the soft drink manufacturers were not 
 overlooked. But while they might prove helpful 
 from the financial standpoint later on, they were 
 unorganized and of little influence in the country, 
 and the selfish viewpoint would be altogether too 
 obvious. However, three great and thoroughly 
 systematized interests were found in receptive mood : 
 the American Medical Association, the Life Insur- 
 ance Companies, and the Standard Oil Company. 
 
 17 
 
1 8 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 There were also certain other large corporations 
 whose efficiency experts had been able to show that 
 alcohol was increasing the cost of labor. 
 
 The American Medical Association maintained 
 the most powerful trained lobby in the country. As 
 far back as 1907 the association had an agent in 
 each of the 2,830 counties of the United States, 
 and its list of approachable political leaders num- 
 bered 16,000. Its interest was so distinctly on the 
 side of prohibition that it has become the great 
 power behind the movement. The financial backing 
 of the other organizations was naturally of great 
 importance. In addition, the life insurance com- 
 panies were able to furnish valuable statistics, and 
 the private charities of the Rockefellers offered a 
 convenient cloak. How much the latter were in- 
 fluenced by their relations with Organized Medicine 
 it is impossible to say. But the plea of health and 
 human efficiency was given the premier position in 
 the propaganda for prohibition. 
 
 In enlisting medicine in their cause the dry party 
 acquired one of the most powerful agencies in our 
 modern life, the influence of the family physician. 
 In many a home in America this is a greater con- 
 tinuous force than any other. There are many 
 stories to illustrate the doctor's prestige, but one will 
 suffice. 
 
 Tucked away in the hills of New England is a 
 
THE HEALTH PLEA 19 
 
 little village, the summer home of two intimate 
 friends. As boys they had left this same village to 
 make their way in the world beyond. They had been 
 schoolmates together, and later on attended the 
 same college. They were both interested in the same 
 sports and pursuits, and the boyish friendship grew 
 and ripened with the years. One of them took up 
 the study of medicine; the other went into business 
 and afterwards married. In the course of events a 
 child was born, and who more fitting to attend at 
 that critical period than the friend whom the father 
 had learned to trust since boyhood? Other chil- 
 dren came, and the physician, then a rising prac- 
 titioner, cared for them through the illnesses of 
 childhood, and the children learned to trust their 
 father's friend. And finally there came a time when 
 the doctor was called upon to share in the family's 
 affliction. The wife and mother, through an un- 
 fortunate accident, was injured beyond the curative 
 power of any physician. But day and night he 
 watched at her bedside, alleviating pain wherever 
 possible and giving the immeasurable comfort of his 
 presence and skill. If anything could add to that 
 household's love and respect, it was his sympathy 
 with their loss, his comprehension of their grief. 
 
 You may wonder, perhaps, as to the precise ap- 
 plication of this episode. It is given here because 
 
20 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 it is typical, not merely individual; because there 
 are thousands of similar cases throughout America. 
 Think of what that must mean; the enormous influ- 
 ence exerted by such physicians amongst the mem- 
 bers of innumerable families. And this influence, 
 in itself so natural and splendid, is being exploited 
 in a partisan cause and for special and specious in- 
 terests. The general practitioner himself has not 
 much choice in the matter. It is difficult for him to 
 oppose for any length of time the settled policy of 
 his professional organization. It is almost impos- 
 sible for him to remain in the association and defy 
 its crushing disciplinary powers, open and covert. 
 He can try to do so, of course, if he chooses. Others 
 have sometimes made the attempt, — and sometimes 
 regretted it. As an alternative, the practitioner may 
 resign his membership in the association and be- 
 come an "outlaw." But that involves a new profes- 
 sional outlook, the severance of old ties, the up- 
 rooting of fixed habits, and an absolutely fresh start. 
 Besides, he has still to face the resentment of the or- 
 ganization, which does not readily forget; and there 
 is no efficient outlaw organization to which he can 
 turn for protection. It is not surprising, then, that 
 the harassed practitioner, when he differs from the 
 views of the authorities, should decide to feign an 
 acquiescence that he does not feel. Only the prom- 
 
THE HEALTH PLEA 21 
 
 inent and pushing — the leaders of cliques and fac- 
 tions — have the privilege of self-assertion in medical 
 circles. The rank and file have to be content with 
 obedience, or the black list. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 ORGANIZED MEDICINE 
 
 To understand the recent opposition of Or- 
 ganized Medicine to alcohol, it will be necessary 
 to trace the development of this great power through 
 its earlier stages, describing in some detail the vari- 
 ous incidents and influences which have led up to 
 the present situation. Many of them are extremely 
 instructive. 
 
 Beginning in a small way, in the meetings of the 
 town and county medical societies for the discussion 
 of scientific matters or social betterment, a huge 
 organization has been built up. Gradually, the 
 agents of this organization have obtained positions 
 of importance in the various institutions and estab- 
 lishments concerned with the national health, until 
 finally they have taken over the complete control of 
 our medical departments, both state and federal. 
 
 Before the days of Pasteur the science of medicine 
 was little more than a mosaic of superstition. The 
 physician had learned to recognize certain diseases 
 and often obtained definite results in treatment, but 
 the causes of disease, its progress and the reactions 
 
 22 
 
ORGANIZED MEDICINE 23 
 
 of the body, were obscured. Of all the applied sci- 
 ences, medicine was the most backward. With the 
 discovery of germ life, and its relation to pathogeny, 
 a new era commenced. One after another, the or- 
 ganisms which are the cause of our various diseases 
 were isolated. And this knowledge was closely 
 followed by the discovery of the curative forces, of 
 the body itself. A wonderful and supremely im- 
 portant field of research was opening before the 
 eyes of the scientific world. 
 
 No one can take even a casual glance into the 
 maze of serum therapy without being impressed by 
 its intricacies and the tremendous amount of labor 
 necessary for its exploration. Especially is this true 
 of the body's own curative forces. Little by little, 
 and only after the most painstaking research, was 
 the knowledge of these forces obtained, one truth, 
 found after years of study and experiment, leading 
 on to another until finally nature's marvellous mech- 
 anism was revealed in its entirety. 
 
 This work was accomplished by the scientists of 
 Europe. The names of Pasteur, Metchnikoff, Bor- 
 det, Ehrlich, Behring, Pfeiffer, Wright and Douglas, 
 will always be associated with the great achieve- 
 ment. The fact that America, though leading the 
 world in other lines of effort through the inventive 
 genius of her scientists and mechanicians, neverthe- 
 less played so inconsiderable a part in medical de- 
 
24 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 velopment was due to the code of ethics originally 
 foisted upon American practitioners by their Euro- 
 pean brethren. Well-meaning in principle, this code 
 was fatal in practice. It was found depressing even 
 in the environment of its birth. Here, it was im- 
 possible. 
 
 The economic situation was an important factor. 
 America was then in the midst of a tremendous in- 
 dustrial boom. The great corporations were offer- 
 ing large financial inducements for the best brains 
 that the country could produce. The natural law 
 of supply and demand will apply whether the com- 
 modity is the brains of a scientist or a sack of pota- 
 toes. The medical code required — and still re- 
 quires — that any discovery or invention for the more 
 effective treatment of disease should be given to the 
 world for its free use. It is this old world theory, 
 denying the right of the skilled practitioner to the 
 product of his labor, which has done more than any- 
 thing else to retard the advance of medicine in the 
 United States. Deprived of its legitimate rewards 
 in the medical field, genius was inevitably diverted 
 into other channels. There was too much competi- 
 tion for it to remain where it would only stultify 
 itself. The laborer is worthy of his hire, and for 
 priceless labor it seems rather ironic to receive no 
 price at all. 
 
 I have recently had an opportunity of discussing 
 
ORGANIZED MEDICINE 25 
 
 this question with a bacteriologist of international 
 reputation. In explaining his point of view he told 
 the following story. When Behring perfected his 
 antitoxin for diphtheria, he attempted to patent 
 it. He was prevented from doing so because his 
 colleagues did not think, in view of the work which 
 others had done and by which he had profited, that 
 he alone should reap the reward; for although they 
 had failed, his success was built upon foundations 
 which they had established. If a reward was to be 
 given it should be distributed among all (or on be- 
 half of all), living or dead, who had contributed to 
 his final triumph. That may seem to some a counsel 
 of perfection; to me it seems simply a plea of in- 
 eptitude. Our civilization would be in a curious 
 state if the creators of our steam engines and auto- 
 mobiles had been denied patents, because someone 
 in a prehistoric age had used the wheel on the ox- 
 cart; or if perfecting the open-hearth furnace had 
 brought no reward from the steel industry because 
 some antediluvian ancestor had employed fire in 
 broiling a steak. 
 
 As a result of the success of the foreign investi- 
 gators, the practising physician became dependent 
 upon Europe for his medical knowledge. It must 
 be remembered that during this period the science 
 of medicine was making tremendous strides. More 
 was being accomplished than in all the years since 
 
26 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 Hippocrates. Our institutions were kept busy test- 
 ing the theories of the European schools and passing 
 them on to the practitioners. These institutions 
 of research thus became clearing houses and dis- 
 tributing points for the new medical facts, and the 
 control of medicine centered in the hands of the few 
 who were able to speak with authority. With such 
 a foundation it was a comparatively easy matter to 
 build up a political machine whose power has never 
 been exceeded, unless by the religious organizations 
 of the Middle Ages. 
 
 And then occurred the very thing which the code 
 of medical ethics was intended to prevent — the com- 
 mercializing of medical knowledge. Our medical 
 authorities embarked upon the manufacture of the 
 newly discovered biological products, some openly, 
 others sub rosa through the medium of their more 
 venturesome associates. And although many of 
 these vaccines and serums proved complete failures, 
 they were marketed in large quantities. 
 
 With the completion of their organization, one of 
 the first movements undertaken by the medical ring 
 was a campaign against the patent medicines. 
 There had grown up in the country a great business, 
 the manufacture of nostrums. Some of these were 
 utterly worthless, others contained drugs which any- 
 one could procure from the corner pharmacy. They 
 were prepared in fancy packages, under high-sound- 
 
ORGANIZED MEDICINE 27 
 
 ing titles, and sold to the credulous and unwary. 
 They had already been condemned by the practising 
 physician because in many instances the beneficial 
 effect was at best illusory, while they were often defi- 
 nitely detrimental either through harmful ingredients 
 or through the ignorance and improper use of the 
 buyers — "addicts" as many of them could justly 
 be called, for the patent medicine habit has a tend- 
 ency to become chronic. The campaign against these 
 nostrums unquestionably strengthened the hands of 
 the medical authorities, both with the sensible por- 
 tion of the lay public and with the general body 
 of practitioners, who naturally did not wish to see 
 their lawful practices thus cut into, to their own loss 
 and the manifest danger of their patients. 
 
 The campaign was conducted along two lines, the 
 education of the public and the passage of inhibitory 
 legislation. The association leaders attempted to 
 stop self-medication by making it necessary for the 
 layman to obtain a doctor's prescription before he 
 could purchase even the simplest form of drug. 
 Failing in this, they tried to force the publication 
 of the formulas of all proprietaries. The neces- 
 sary legislation was pushed in every state and in 
 Congress; the bills are part of our legislative rec- 
 ords. In this campaign we see the first leaning of 
 Organized Medicine towards prohibition. Speak- 
 ing before a meeting of the Women's Christian Tern- 
 
28 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 perance Union at Nashville, Tennessee, the spokes- 
 man of the American Medical Association said: 
 "The average drug-store in the United States is little 
 more than a saloon for the sale of disguised alcohol 
 and 'dope' under the pretence of patent medicines." 
 
 The drive against the proprietary preparations 
 had a very important though unforeseen effect, and 
 the American practising physician became the chief 
 sufferer. The campaign was conducted on such 
 broad lines that not only was it directed against the 
 fake nostrum, but even the legitimate proprietary 
 was attacked. Improvement in drugs was thus dis- 
 couraged and the physician had to look for his medi- 
 cines to the countries, particularly Germany, whose 
 laws encouraged pharmaceutical chemistry. 
 
 This was not the only result. The propaganda 
 against drugs was pushed so vigorously that it be- 
 gan to create a doubt in the minds of the public 
 as to the value of drugs in the treatment of dis- 
 ease. This idea was supported for financial reasons 
 by the manufacturers of the various biological prod- 
 ucts, who were aided by their partners in official 
 positions. As a consequence the regular school of 
 medicine, which had relied on drugs from time im- 
 memorial, suddenly found itself confronted by a new 
 and virile cult, the school of drugless medicine. 
 How serious a menace this has become to the pres- 
 tige of the regular practitioner is shown by the fact 
 
ORGANIZED MEDICINE 29 
 
 that these "physicians of health" — the osteopath, 
 the chiropractor, the dietician — are now able to 
 claim that their clients number twenty-eight millions. 
 
 It must not be supposed that the regular physi- 
 cians were satisfied to see their patients slip away 
 from them. There was much criticism, even ridi- 
 cule, of their leaders, and in some instances open 
 rebellion. But in the majority of cases the practi- 
 tioner decided that it was politic to retain his mem- 
 bership in the association. However, it began to 
 dawn upon him that some of the medical authorities 
 were lining their pockets at his expense. 
 
 In all this, serum therapy played an important 
 part. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE SERUM CONTROVERSY 
 
 When we consider that for centuries man had 
 been groping in vain for the causes of disease, it is 
 easy to account for the strong appeal of the new 
 science. After it was discovered that a small amount 
 of serum derived from a horse which had been 
 inoculated with the diphtheria bacillus would pro- 
 tect a human being against the specific toxin of the 
 disease, it was thought that within a short time suc- 
 cessful preparations would be secured from the 
 germs of other diseases. We now know that there 
 is great variety in pathogenic organisms and that 
 many of them do not yield to serum therapy. 
 Nevertheless, certain definite results had been 
 achieved and our medical authorities were able to 
 obtain support for their work in government appro- 
 priations and large contributions from private in- 
 dividuals. In addition, valuable publicity was se- 
 cured from the press of the country. With this 
 support, it was a comparatively easy matter to per- 
 suade the practitioner to accept serum therapy. 
 
 But it soon became evident that the authorities had 
 
 30 
 
THE SERUM CONTROVERSY 31 
 
 been over-sanguine and that serum therapy was far 
 from accomplishing all that had been hoped for. 
 The failure reacted against its advocates and opened 
 a point of attack for the osteopath and chiropractor, 
 which they were not slow to use to advantage. It 
 is quite possible that the newer medical schools 
 would have been content to "live and let live." They 
 had received some recognition from the regular prac- 
 titioners, who occasionally called in their assistance. 
 But Organized Medicine, jealous of its control, un- 
 dertook a campaign against them, hoping to limit 
 their practice by legislation. In some of the states 
 this was actually accomplished; and so the newer 
 schools felt compelled to retaliate. The following, 
 taken from Dr. Alma C. Arnold's "The Triangle 
 of Health," will serve as an example of their 
 methods : 
 
 "Infantile Paralysis and Vaccination: Do you 
 know that infantile paralysis often follows vac- 
 cination? (See report by James A. Loyster of 
 investigations of 54 cases of illness and death 
 from vaccination in New York State during 19 14, 
 and statistics.) 
 
 "Do you know that investigation of the epi- 
 demics of 1907 and 19 1 6 produced strong evi- 
 dence that they were started from vaccine virus? 
 (See New York Herald for September 28, 19 16.) 
 
32 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 "Do you know that the United States Govern- 
 ment proved that the epidemics of foot and 
 mouth disease, which swept this country in 1902-3 
 and 1908-14, were started from vaccine virus? 
 (See Bureau of Animal Industry, Circular No. 
 147, and Farmers' Bulletin No. 666.) 
 
 "Do you know that hundreds of United States 
 soldiers on the Texas border have suffered from 
 paratyphoid fever caused by typhoid vaccination? 
 (See newspapers and Army Reports.) 
 
 "Do you know that the cases of typhoid fever 
 among the Spanish- American war soldiers in 1898 
 (before the discovery of typhoid vaccine) 
 amounted to 8.8 per cent.? (See U. S. Army Re- 
 ports.) 
 
 "Do you know that when the 14th Regiment 
 N. Y. N. G., U. S., arrived at Camp Whitman 
 from the Texas border, the cases of paratyphoid, 
 together with the healthy active carriers, 
 amounted to 17 per cent. — double that of 1898? 
 (See N. Y. Health Department Reports.) 
 
 "Do you know that paratyphoid fever is human 
 hog-cholera? (Appleton's Medical Dictionary, 
 January, 19 16, defines it: 'Paratyphoid — resem- 
 bling typhoid fever or the typhoid bacillus. Par- 
 atyphoid bacillus — an organism belonging to the 
 hog-cholera group, which causes paratyphoid 
 fever.') 
 
THE SERUM CONTROVERSY 33 
 
 "Do you know that nearly 70,000 British sol- 
 diers (all vaccinated for typhoid immunity) 
 were sent home from the Gallipoli Peninsula 
 with tuberculosis, and as a result compulsory vac- 
 cination has been abolished in England? (See re- 
 port of speeches in the House of Commons.) 
 
 "Do you know that New York City statistics 
 show that cancer has increased there fully 225 
 per cent, since 1870? (See Board of Health Re- 
 port.) 
 
 "Do you know that cancer and tuberculosis 
 are traced by specialists to blood debasement from 
 vaccination? (See writings of Sir Robert Bell, 
 f° r 43 years cancer specialist in London; and 
 many others.) 
 
 "Do you know that, contrary to the general 
 belief, the wide use of diphtheria antitoxin has 
 neither lowered the number of cases, nor the 
 deaths? (See Report of special inquiry by the 
 New York City Health Department, published in 
 the New York World for June 12, 19 16.) 
 
 "Do you know that the Flexner serum for 
 cerebro-spinal meningitis was injected into 15 
 children in the City Hospital of Cincinnati, Ohio, 
 and that 14 died within five minutes? (See full 
 report in the Cincinnati Enquirer for March 18, 
 1914.) 
 
 "Do you know that the recurrence of the out- 
 
34 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 break of foot and mouth disease in 191 6 was due 
 to anti-hog-cholera serum? (See Report of the 
 Bureau of Animal Industry for September 28, 
 1915.) 
 
 "Do you know that, following this discovery, 
 the Canadian Government passed a law prohibit- 
 ing the use of these serums? 
 
 "These are facts! Can you disprove them, or 
 do you know anyone who can?" 
 
 In thus striking at serum therapy, the newer 
 schools were aiming a blow at the very foundation 
 of the medical power. Mystery, like superstition, 
 has always been a golden key in the hands of those 
 whose superior knowledge enabled them to use it. 
 Anybody who has followed the medical items in the 
 public press will recall how consistently the mysteries 
 of serum therapy have been overworked to reassure 
 the public during the recent epidemics, and to allay 
 the general clamor at the failure of the measures 
 adopted by the medical authorities. These attacks 
 were continued in pamphlets and in paid advertise- 
 ments in the newspapers. That they were not with- 
 out effect is shown by the difficulty which the advo- 
 cates of serum therapy began to experience in ob- 
 taining government appropriations for their work. 
 Serious as this might appear to those who aimed at 
 the permanent control of medicine in the United 
 States, a still graver danger threatened. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 A NEW FACTOR 
 
 Among the many brilliant investigators whose 
 names are associated with the solution of the dis- 
 ease problem, probably no one accomplished more 
 than Paul Ehrlich. One of our greatest authori- 
 ties on infection and immunity calls him the "Grand- 
 master of experimental medicine." It was Ehrlich 
 who demonstrated how the body, when attacked by 
 pathogenic organisms, produced its antibodies, thus 
 elucidating one of the most important problems in 
 medicine, that of nature's second and final defence 
 against disease. His side-chain theory has now 
 passed many corroborative tests and is generally ac- 
 cepted by the medical profession. 
 
 This discovery was of the greatest importance, 
 because hitherto it had been supposed that once the 
 mechanism of the body was understood, the control 
 of disease would be assured. Ehrlich was able to 
 show that if the infection exceeded a certain degree 
 of virulence, it was too powerful for the curative 
 forces of the body. But in other sciences man has 
 improved on nature's methods, and Ehrlich turned 
 
 35 
 
36 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 to the germicide to find a power greater than nature 
 herself was able to apply just where and when it 
 was needed. Antiseptics had come into very general 
 use for the treatment of all infections of the outer 
 parts of the body, and they were widely employed 
 in sanitation. Further, it had been shown that the 
 effectiveness of some of the drugs of the older phar- 
 macopoeia was partially due to germicidal proper- 
 ties. Ehrlich began a series of experiments with a 
 view to obtaining a germicide which could be used 
 effectively in the body. And thus a new theory in 
 medicine, chemotherapy, was born. 
 
 The ordinary germicide is so poisonous that any 
 attempt to employ it in the body for the destruction 
 of a parasite would also prove fatal to the host. 
 This was clearly the first difficulty to overcome. 
 There are many chemicals with germicidal proper- 
 ties whose toxicity can be partially or wholly neutral- 
 ized by combination with other chemicals. Ehrlich 
 conceived the idea of producing by chemical com- 
 bination a germicide which, though the toxicity had 
 been eliminated, would still retain sufficient germi- 
 cidal power to be effective in medication. A second 
 very serious difficulty was encountered. It soon de- 
 veloped that a germicide might prove effective in 
 the laboratory test tube but not when taken into 
 the system, where it entered into a chemical com- 
 bination with the albumins of the blood and so lost 
 
A NEW FACTOR 37 
 
 its germicidal power. Ehrlich, however, was not to 
 be baffled. Chemical after chemical was combined, 
 and at last, in his six hundred and sixth attempt, he 
 produced his Salvarsan. While Salvarsan was not 
 entirely effective it served to demonstrate the correct- 
 ness of the theory; and it was followed by a later 
 combination on the same lines, Neo-salvarsan. 
 
 In 1909 and 19 10 Ehrlich published treatises on 
 his experiments in chemotherapy. These created a 
 profound impression on the leaders of Organized 
 Medicine. It was realized that if his theories were 
 sound, chemistry would play the chief part in medi- 
 cine in the future and the chemist who produced a 
 perfect germicide would be in a position to dictate 
 to the profession throughout the world. If chemo- 
 therapy should replace serum therapy, the vast sums 
 which the manufacturers and other advocates of 
 serum were receiving might be turned into another 
 channel. It was even within the bounds of possi- 
 bility that chemists might be able to establish their 
 right to places on the medical boards. Then, too, 
 chemotherapy might be adopted by the newer schools 
 of medicine and the union of these two interests 
 form a combination which it would be difficult for 
 the organization to withstand. There seemed but 
 one way out, the passage of such laws as would in- 
 sure complete control to the association. 
 
 During the legislative campaign against patent 
 
38 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 medicines it had been demonstrated that restrictive 
 laws could not be passed without outside help. There 
 had been some successes, such as the passage of 
 the laws relating to habit-forming drugs. But the 
 legislatures were unwilling to restrict pharmaceu- 
 tical chemistry to the point desired by the medical 
 trust. The success of the drug law, however, sug- 
 gested a way out of the difficulty. If, through a 
 trade with the prohibitionists, the association should 
 be able to put whisky on the prescription shelf, it 
 would be but a short step further to extend the law 
 to proprietaries containing alcohol. And this might 
 be pushed further still to cover all pharmaceuticals, 
 including germicides, once the people had become 
 accustomed to government regulation in such 
 matters. 
 
 But time went by, Ehrlich died, and no chemist 
 had been able to produce an effective internal germi- 
 cide, although both European and American ex- 
 perts had made many attempts. The medical trust 
 began to breathe more easily. This, however, was 
 not to last. In 191 6 the American Medical Asso- 
 ciation was notified that a new germicide had been 
 produced and that its effectiveness had been sub- 
 stantiated by careful experiments. Some time was 
 spent by the organization in verifying these facts 
 and in negotiating for the control of formulas and 
 process. But it was evident that control could not 
 
A NEW FACTOR 39 
 
 be established in this way and that legislation must 
 be resorted to. A time for action had come at last. 
 At a meeting of the association held on June 6, 
 19 1 7, Dr. Charles H. Mayo made a strong address 
 in favor of national prohibition, and at a later meet- 
 ing of the House of Delegates the following resolu- 
 tion was passed: 
 
 "Whereas, We believe that the use of alcohol 
 is detrimental to the human economy, and 
 
 Whereas, Its use in therapeutics as a tonic or 
 stimulant or for food has no scientific value; 
 therefore be it 
 
 Resolved, That the American Medical Asso- 
 ciation is opposed to the use of alcohol as a bev- 
 erage; and be it further 
 
 Resolved, That the use of alcohol as a thera- 
 peutic agent should be further discouraged." 
 
 The medical value of alcohol was known to the 
 Babylonians and Phoenicians, and probably in the 
 days before history was written. Yet in one sweep- 
 ing statement the accumulated experience of cen- 
 turies was thrown overboard. There is no more con- 
 servative element in society than the medical pro- 
 fession; its traditions and training all tend toward 
 conservatism. How was it, then, that it permitted 
 its leaders to put through anything so radical? In 
 the first place, the sentiment was not unanimous. 
 
40 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 There was a strong minority feeling against the 
 resolution and, following its passage, the question 
 was agitated for months in the medical press. But 
 the theories of Ehrlich's followers were also revolu- 
 tionary. Medication by germicide was in some re- 
 spects a complete departure from established prac- 
 tice, and the very conservatism of the physician 
 favored the passage of the resolution as the choice, 
 if one must be made, between two evils. 
 
 The medical practitioner receives his compensa- 
 tion, in most instances, on the basis of the number of 
 visits made. Preventive medicine, in spite of its 
 boasted achievements, had not interfered with this 
 method of charging. But Ehrlich's followers had 
 demonstrated that the germicide would materially 
 shorten the period of illness. Its adoption there- 
 fore would reduce the physician's income until a new 
 system of arranging fees should be put in force. 
 This would not be difficult to devise, and common 
 sense clearly calls for it. But the inertia of the pro- 
 fession and the acquiescence of the public have so 
 far preserved the old way. That is natural enough, 
 no doubt; custom clings. But some clinging cloys. 
 However, the antiquated fee system played its part, 
 as has just been indicated, in the attitude assumed 
 by the profession toward the two questions of press- 
 ing importance brought before it — prohibition and 
 chemotherapy. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CHEMOTHERAPY 
 
 Society has long been looking for some method 
 of treatment that will shorten the period of disease. 
 Sanitation and preventive medicine have indeed done 
 much to reduce the toll which sickness exacts from 
 civilized communities. Nevertheless, there are still 
 many diseases which appear periodically and run 
 their course undeterred by scientific effort. There 
 could be no more important contribution to national 
 weal and wealth than cutting the waste caused by 
 disease. This is one of the arguments used most 
 frequently by the prohibitionists. We may there- 
 fore consider briefly the theories of the chemothera- 
 pists and see what, with the help of the prohibi- 
 tionists, Organized Medicine was attempting to sup- 
 press. 
 
 Since the earliest days of medical science the cure 
 of disease has been accomplished by the natural 
 powers of the body. In cases where nature's defence 
 and the attacking force of the infection approach 
 equality, the physician's influence may be the decisive 
 factor. By the use of drugs he may reduce fever, 
 
 41 
 
42 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 relieve pain, correct intestinal disorders or stimulate 
 activity in some organ; or by means of serum he may 
 add to the protective forces which the body itself 
 produces. But, in a large measure, we have relied 
 on nature to accomplish the cure. 
 
 The defensive forces of the body may be divided 
 into two classes: those which are available at the 
 time the infection occurs, and those which develop 
 as the direct result of the infection. In the first 
 class are normal serum and the power of the white 
 blood corpuscles and other phagocytes to ingest dis- 
 ease germs. In the second class are the various 
 bacteriolytic and antitoxic antibodies which are lib- 
 erated by the cells after disease has found a footing 
 in the system. 
 
 Infectious disease is caused by minute organisms 
 which make their way through the outer coverings 
 of the body into the system proper. This is termed 
 infection. When it occurs the organisms or germs 
 are met by the first defence of the body, the white 
 blood corpuscles gathering at the point of invasion 
 and taking up and destroying the invaders. If the 
 germs are able to overcome this first line of defence, 
 they multiply and infection develops into infectious 
 disease. The system then calls upon its second de- 
 fence, the antibodies. From this stage onward the 
 conditions are those of a great battle (in its own 
 sphere), each side bringing up its reserves in large 
 
SIGNIFICANCE OF CHEMOTHERAPY 43 
 
 numbers; the germs, it may be, attempting to pre- 
 vent antibody formation either directly, by the ac- 
 tion of their toxins on the cells, or indirectly by 
 their effect on the organs. Thus the disease advances 
 to a crisis, the outcome depending upon the relative 
 strength of the contending forces. All this involves 
 of course a great strain on the body, and when the 
 conflict is over and victory won, nature requires a 
 period of convalescence to repair the incidental 
 damage. 
 
 In putting forward its secondary defence the body 
 is responding to a stimulus, the presence of the germs 
 in the system. In other words, it reacts to the in- 
 fection. Antibody formation, or the manufacture 
 of the body's own germicides and antitoxins, is not 
 carried on actively until the infection has become 
 established. Valuable time is thus lost while the 
 system is adjusting itself to meet the invasion: un- 
 preparedness, here at least, has its manifest dangers. 
 Ehrlich's followers were able to demonstrate that 
 a greater germicidal power than that of the body it- 
 self could be applied as soon as the first symptoms 
 gave warning of the infection, and that the germs 
 could be destroyed in the body by means of a chemi- 
 cal germicide long before nature could produce anti- 
 bodies in sufficient number to affect the situation. 
 Thus the progress of the disease could be appreciably 
 shortened, and in consequence a long period of con- 
 
44 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 valescence avoided. But the chemotherapists went 
 even a step further. They advanced the theory that 
 the poison of disease in virulent form is almost as 
 rapidly destructive as some of the mineral poisons 
 and that often the time is limited in which success- 
 ful treatment can be undertaken. Not only, then, 
 did they advocate a treatment which would mate- 
 rially shorten the period of illness, but they went so 
 far as to say that disease must be cured at once 
 unless the physician would risk the loss of his patient. 
 There is nothing extraordinary in the opposition 
 of the medical association to the germicide. It is not 
 unprecedented for established interests to oppose the 
 innovations which mark the advance of civilization, 
 though they have always been forced to admit their 
 error later and acknowledge the benefits which have 
 come to them as to the rest of mankind. When 
 textile machinery was introduced into England, it 
 was met with riots and arson. At that time the 
 Manchester weavers numbered five thousand. Just 
 prior to the Great War this number had risen to 
 nearly thirty thousand, while individual yardage had 
 increased eight or ten times, though the population 
 had not more than doubled. Comparatively re- 
 cently, the introduction of the automobile was looked 
 on with disfavor by the horse and carriage trade, 
 from the manufacturer down to the lowest groom. 
 Yet the prosperity enjoyed by the manufacturer who 
 
SIGNIFICANCE OF CHEMOTHERAPY 45 
 
 has adopted the new vehicle has never been equalled 
 in industrial history, while the coachman or groom 
 has materially bettered himself by accepting the 
 chauffeur's position. 
 
 It is to be hoped that Organized Medicine, duly 
 concerned with its own material interests, will re- 
 alize that a living patient is more profitable than a 
 dead one, and that it will be better for the physician 
 to keep his patients alive even though a cure is ef- 
 fected in a fewer number of chargeable visits. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 A PROFITABLE PARTNERSHIP 
 
 The resolution of the American Medical Asso- 
 ciation condemning alcohol was of the utmost impor- 
 tance to the advocates of prohibition. They realized 
 fully that without this support it would be difficult to 
 maintain the constitutionality of the Eighteenth 
 Amendment. American institutions, including the 
 Supreme Court, were created to carry out certain 
 principles laid down in the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence. Among these was the right of every man to 
 live — apparently not an unreasonable proposition. 
 
 "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that 
 all men are created equal; that they are endowed 
 by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; 
 that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit 
 of happiness. That, to secure these rights, gov- 
 ernments are instituted among men, deriving their 
 just powers from the consent of the governed." 
 
 If alcohol were necessary either as a food or a 
 
 medicine to maintain life, then prohibition and the 
 
 4 6 
 
A PROFITABLE PARTNERSHIP 47 
 
 law for its enforcement would be clearly contrary 
 to the spirit of the Constitution. There was a de- 
 cision of the British courts declaring alcohol to be 
 a food. That was not a legal precedent for Amer- 
 ica, but it showed that an American precedent might 
 easily be established. By some, alcohol was con- 
 sidered almost fundamental in the treatment of dis- 
 ease. If this could be maintained, no law could 
 stand that would make it necessary to pay toll to a 
 small privileged class to obtain a commodity, simple 
 but indispensable, which can be manufactured in the 
 home far more easily than most foods can be pre- 
 pared. The resolution got around these difficulties 
 by the statement that "alcohol is detrimental to the 
 human economy." Thus the anomalous situation 
 was created that the legality of an amendment to the 
 Constitution of the United States might become de- 
 pendent not upon the decision of the Supreme Court, 
 but upon the fiat of a medical junto whose avowed 
 purpose was to safeguard "the material interests of 
 the medical profession.'* 
 
 A programme had already been adopted by the 
 association's Committee on Legislation. An exam- 
 ination of the various bills that have been introduced 
 from time to time will give some idea of the scope 
 of this programme. They provide for the follow- 
 ing: 
 
48 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 Control of medical education and license to 
 practise, including suppression of independent 
 opinion and conduct. 
 
 Compulsory publication of proprietary formulas 
 and control of the sales through physicians' pre- 
 scriptions. 
 
 Compulsory health insurance, or, in other 
 words, a state subsidy for the organized profes- 
 sion. 
 
 To these was now added the sole privilege of dis- 
 pensing alcohol. The monopoly would serve two 
 purposes. It would help to accustom the public to 
 medical control of foods and drugs. It would prove 
 remunerative, and thus restore some .of the income 
 which had been lost to the profession through the 
 active competition of the osteopaths and other health 
 schools. How lucrative prohibition has actually 
 proved to the medical profession is shown by a re- 
 cent statement of the federal prohibition director 
 of the State of Illinois. In the City of Chicago, 
 where the headquarters of the American Medical 
 Association are located, during the first four and 
 one-half months of national prohibition five hundred 
 thousand physicians' prescriptions for whisky were 
 issued, and the federal department estimates that 
 of these, three hundred thousand evaded the spirit 
 or letter of the enforcement law. 
 
A PROFITABLE PARTNERSHIP 49 
 
 To put the association's programme into effect, 
 control of the legislatures would be necessary. It was 
 also deemed advisable, if possible, to place a physi- 
 cian in the White House. This could only be ac- 
 complished with strong financial backing, but the 
 support given to the prohibitionists by the associa- 
 tion was worth any price which might be demanded. 
 The necessary supplies could be obtained from the 
 life insurance companies, whose medical departments 
 may be classed as a branch of Organized Medicine, 
 and through them from other great corporations, 
 many of which are partly controlled by the insur- 
 ance companies through their investments. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE OTHER PARTNERS 
 
 In 1908 the life insurance companies undertook 
 an investigation of the mortality among their policy 
 holders. A committee of actuaries and medical di- 
 rectors was appointed, of which Mr. Arthur Hunter, 
 the Actuary of the New York Life Insurance Com- 
 pany, was chairman. The material was taken from 
 the records of two million policy holders and the 
 inquiry covered the period from 1885 to 1908- 
 Careful attention was directed to the mortality 
 among those policy holders using alcohol and the 
 results were classified according to the degree of 
 their indulgence. The mortality among those en- 
 gaged in the various branches of the liquor trade was 
 ascertained separately, and the figures compared with 
 the general average of insured individuals. From 
 these statistics it was apparent that alcohol (or its 
 environment) was distinctly unfavorable to longev- 
 ity. Still, no attempt was made to analyze the dif- 
 ferent conditions prevailing among total abstainers, 
 so that no comparisons could be carried out to de- 
 termine how much of the increased mortality was 
 
 so 
 
THE OTHER PARTNERS 51 
 
 actually due to alcohol, and how much could be at- 
 tributed to unhealthy surroundings and other factors. 
 Life insurance is run on a strictly business basis. 
 The lower the annual premium, the better showing 
 life insurance will make when compared with other 
 forms of investment. If prohibition would improve 
 the mortality table by increasing the general expect- 
 ancy, the insurance companies could well afford to 
 devote a few years' savings towards the cause, and 
 this in itself would amount to an enormous sum. 
 But aside from financial support, the cooperation of 
 the life insurance companies was of special value 
 because their statistics could be used to place pro- 
 hibition in an attractive light before the corporations 
 of the country. In recent years a great deal of time 
 and thought has been given to increasing the effi- 
 ciency of our industrial life. It is not surprising that 
 alcohol should come under the unfavorable notice 
 of the experts. In some instances it was unques- 
 tionably increasing the cost of labor by depriving 
 the employer of services for which he had paid 
 and to which he was justly entitled. In addi- 
 tion, there was some waste of raw material through 
 bad workmanship. All this could be traced directly 
 to alcohol, but on the other hand there were no 
 means of computing its benefits, as the increased effi- 
 ciency due to a higher standard of health or morals 
 was problematical. The efficiency expert is seldom 
 
52 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 an economist, and further, he has to depend on 
 others for technical information. It is not surpris- 
 ing, therefore, that he was able to see only one side 
 of the prohibition question. 
 
 On account of our great natural wealth, American 
 industries are growing at a rate which exceeds the 
 natural increase of our population. This country 
 is consequently dependent upon immigration for a 
 considerable part of its labor requirements. Dur- 
 ing the past 145 years thirty-three million immi- 
 grants have entered the country. In 19 13, the last 
 year before the tide of immigration was interrupted 
 by the Great War, the net increase of population 
 from foreign sources was 891,276. In 19 19, the 
 year after the signing of the armistice, with national 
 prohibition an assured fact, this increase amounted 
 to only 20,790, and this, too, in spite of the unprece- 
 dented rise in wages and the fact that American 
 taxes are largely borne by the capitalistic class. It 
 was not until it became apparent that national pro- 
 hibition could not possibly be enforced that immigra- 
 tion began to resume its normal flow. 
 
 But there is still another side to the effect of 
 prohibition on the labor situation. The further we 
 descend in the social scale, the less man depends for 
 guidance upon reason and the more he has to rely 
 upon his instinct. The lower animals, if left to 
 themselves, can trust their instinct to select the food 
 
THE OTHER PARTNERS 53 
 
 which their bodies require. It is only when man or 
 famine interferes that we find malnutrition in our 
 wild or domestic animals. Similarly, the laboring 
 classes under normal conditions eat and drink to 
 restore the tissue which has been burned up in bodily 
 exercise. Prohibition deprived them of a nourish- 
 ment to which they had become accustomed, and no 
 amount of reasoning on the part of those who did 
 not share their conditions could convince them that 
 this was right. Nor were all affected in the same 
 way. It is an instructive commentary on the blun- 
 dering fashion in which the matter was approached, 
 that the efficiency experts apparently did not know 
 that many of our foreign laborers were obtaining 
 their alcohol in wines and other beverages made in 
 their own homes. This was especially true of the 
 Italians. There was hardly an Italian home with 
 any ground around it which did not contain its little 
 vineyard; and those less fortunate were often sup- 
 plied by their neighbors. Interference with such a 
 system, both primitive and picturesque, was bound 
 to add to the general discontent; and even a small 
 dissatisfied element is a dangerous thing in these 
 days of labor unionism, since it often becomes an 
 effective club in the hands of a radical leader. All 
 this was pointed out to the prohibitionists by the 
 officers of the American Federation of Labor, and 
 subsequent events have justified their warning. 
 
54 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 But in the case of the Standard Oil Company- 
 there were stronger reasons than the mere increased 
 cost of labor for joining in any movement which had 
 the approval of the American Medical Association. 
 
 In 1 90 1 the Rockefellers entered the medical field- 
 There could be no more important public service 
 than that for which the Rockefeller Institute for 
 Medical Research was established. It was with a 
 feeling of general satisfaction that the public viewed 
 this enterprise of our richest citizen, and it was not 
 through any fault of the founder that the under- 
 taking failed to fulfil its object. The institute was 
 handicapped from the beginning by the fact that it 
 had to look for its workers amongst establishments 
 already controlled by the association or in sympathy 
 with its aims and methods, and thus the blight which 
 has hung over medicine throughout the country was 
 inevitably introduced into the new foundation. 
 
 While little has been accomplished from the sci- 
 entific standpoint, the union of these two interests 
 has been a great success commercially. The Rocke- 
 feller support of the tenets of the association has 
 aided the latter materially in its conflict with the 
 newer schools. The reports of the institute have 
 been valuable propaganda for the medical organiza- 
 tion. No one could well question the disinterested- 
 ness of these reports, and yet there were influential 
 men within the institution who were able to guide its 
 
THE OTHER PARTNERS 55 
 
 activities along the lines best suited to the interests 
 of the association. 
 
 In return, the association has put the stamp of its 
 approval on the petroleum laxatives manufactured 
 by the Standard Oil Company. These products sell 
 for four times the price petroleum brings for illumi- 
 nating purposes. But the use of mineral oil and 
 other laxatives has been condemned both by the 
 physicians of health and the chemotherapists as a 
 worthless and dangerous practice. If Mr. Rocke- 
 feller's scientists had by any chance communicated 
 to the officers of his company the plans to discredit 
 the newer schools, they could scarcely have proved 
 objectionable to the sales management of the Stand- 
 ard Oil Company. Nor could any individual — cer- 
 tainly not Mr. Rockefeller himself — be blamed for 
 this condition of affairs. It is the system which is at 
 fault. To-day the science of medicine is an open 
 book to the initiated, but through a com- 
 plicated system of technical terms and hiero- 
 glyphics it has been made a mystery to the lay- 
 man, a mystery as fascinating and sometimes as 
 misleading as the fairy tales of our childhood. 
 The management of a great corporation is 
 carried on through a series of departments and the 
 responsibility is divided, from the president or chair- 
 man of the board down to the lowest clerk. It was 
 sufficient for the officials that Mr. Rockefeller was 
 
56 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 willing to back this charitable enterprise. They 
 trusted to a business acumen which until then had 
 never been at fault. Nor are his scientists to blarne. 
 The system of medical education in the United States 
 reaches down to the primary schools. If a man is 
 forced to wear red or blue glasses from boyhood, he 
 is apt to become color blind. 
 
 And so we find a collection of associations and 
 corporations whose interests were all closely allied. 
 Yet it were foolish to assert that prohibition was the 
 result of an arch conspiracy, although there was 
 much plotting and planning within the organizations 
 themselves. Each of these interests was probably 
 going quietly along, minding its own business, like 
 cattle grazing contentedly on a wide plain. Then 
 somebody started something, and the stampede came 
 off. 
 
 And what about the Anti-Saloon League? A 
 very interesting sidelight on the part played by this 
 organization has recently been disclosed. It seems 
 that when certain prominent citizens of Georgia 
 decided that for political reasons the state must 
 become dry, they encountered the opposition of the 
 league's representatives. For years these men had 
 been living on prohibition. Time after tima the 
 law had been brought to the point of passing, only 
 to be held over for a future legislature because they 
 feared that with prohibition the services of the 
 
THE OTHER PARTNERS 57 
 
 league would no longer be needed. When the new 
 interests took charge of the national movement, the 
 Anti-Saloon League was assigned to a place which 
 it could fill to the advantage of the cause, but in 
 which the Georgia fiasco would not be repeated. 
 The last days of Demon Rum resembled a tiger 
 hunt in the jungles of India ; the Anti-Saloon League 
 were the beaters. The organization was well 
 equipped to play the role. Men of the stamp of 
 William H. Anderson, Pussyfoot Johnson, William 
 Jennings Bryan, R. P. Hobson of Merrimac fame, 
 and Wayne B. Wheeler, the cock-horse of the Vol- 
 stead Committee, could be depended on to supply 
 the noise. But the men with the guns loaded with 
 silver bullets represented those interests which had 
 something more at stake than simply removing the 
 curse of alcoholism from the weakling. 
 
 If there is still any doubt in the mind of the reader 
 as to the real power behind the prohibition move- 
 ment, let him examine the foreword written by 
 Professor Irving Fisher for Dr. Fisk's book 
 "Alcohol — Its Relation to Human Efficiency and 
 Longevity." The following is a brief extract : 
 
 "Many things are now known concerning the 
 effects — physiological, psychological and social — 
 of alcohol, which were not known a few years 
 ago ; and there is, consequently, a growing desire 
 
58 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 on the part of men of affairs to learn the exact 
 facts and to make use of this knowledge in their 
 business. Indeed, it may be said that the chief 
 driving force to-day toward temperance and total 
 abstinence, whether voluntary or enforced, is an 
 economic force — the constant urge toward indus- 
 trial efficiency. It is this new force which, added 
 to forces previously at work, has in recent years 
 caused the tidal wave of prohibition to sweep over 
 this country." 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 SOME PROHIBITION PROPAGANDA 
 
 It may be only a coincidence, but the fact is never- 
 theless worth recording, that Dr. Fisk's book on 
 alcohol, the resolution of the American Medical 
 Association denouncing alcohol, and the association's 
 condemnation of the chemotherapists, appeared 
 within a few days of one another in the summer of 
 19 17. Dr. Fisk's book presents the life insurance 
 companies' case against alcohol. It is possibly the 
 most ambitious presentation of the prohibition ques- 
 tion from this standpoint. It has the endorsement 
 of many prominent members of the American Med- 
 ical Association sitting on the Hygiene Reference 
 Board of the Life Extension Institute. 
 
 Dr. Fisk's writings did much to further the cause 
 of prohibition. They acquired a wide circulation — 
 many of his chapters having previously appeared in 
 the form of magazine articles. They may therefore 
 be considered as typical examples of prohibition prop- 
 aganda. The book itself is more of a compilation 
 than an individual effort. The author seems to have 
 taken the prohibition arguments — many of them 
 
 59 
 
60 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 manufactured in the laboratory, away from actual 
 living conditions — at their face value, and to have 
 passed them on to his readers without any attempt 
 to analyze them. It is not so much what Dr. Fisk 
 has said as what he has left unsaid that brands many 
 of these representations as the rankest sophistry. 
 For example, under the heading of "Alcohol and 
 Resistance" we find: 
 
 u Fillinger found the resistance of the red blood- 
 cells much reduced after administration of cham- 
 pagne to healthy human subjects, and similar re- 
 sults were found in dogs and rabbits. Weinberg 
 confirmed these results by similar methods, show- 
 ing that 20 per cent, of the red cells lose their re- 
 sistance after the administration of 450 cubic cen- 
 timetres of champagne." 
 
 Here is a direct accusation against alcohol and 
 a very serious one, for antibody formation, the 
 body's natural defence against disease, is dependent 
 on the health of the cells. 
 
 Champagne contains about 13 percent, of alcohol. 
 If it were the alcohol in this beverage which caused 
 the injury to the red blood-cells, we might reasonably 
 expect a similar result from other wines or malt 
 liquors in proportion to their alcoholic content. As 
 this is not the case, we must look further for the 
 harmful effect of champagne. Now champagne 
 
SOME PROHIBITION PROPAGANDA 61 
 
 contains a deadly poison, carbon dioxide (C0 2 ) or 
 carbonic acid gas. There is probably more of this 
 gas in champagne than in any other beverage. Any 
 little chorus girl along Broadway will tell you that 
 the popular name for the popular wine is "bubbles." 
 If we turn to our chemistry we find: 
 
 A rose placed in a glass bulb from which the air 
 is removed while C0 2 is introduced will lose its 
 color at once. 
 
 An animal introduced into an atmosphere of 
 pure C0 2 dies almost instantly and without en- 
 trance of the gas into the lungs, death resulting 
 from spasm of the glottis (ventricle of the larynx) 
 and consequent apnoea (absence of respiration). 
 
 An animal will die rapidly in an atmosphere 
 composed of 21 per cent. O (oxygen), 59 per cent. 
 N (nitrogen), and 20 per cent. C0 2 by volume; 
 but it will live for several hours in an atmosphere 
 whose composition is 40 per cent. O, 37 per cent. 
 N and 23 per cent. C0 2 . When present in large 
 proportion, C0 2 produces immediate loss of mus- 
 cular power, and death without a struggle; when 
 more dilute, a sense of irritation of the larynx, 
 drowsiness, pain in the head, giddiness, gradual 
 loss of muscular power, and death in coma.* 
 
 * "The Medical Student's Manual of Chemistry"; Witt- 
 haus, pp. 355-6. 
 
62 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 This is the reason for the seriousness of the 
 "champagne jag." If Dr. Fisk has forgotten his 
 chemistry, was there no one on the Hygiene Refer- 
 ence Board who could have brought these elementary 
 facts to his attention? The doctor tells us in his 
 preface that "The Board was practically unanimous 
 in endorsing the author's presentation of the evi- 
 dence, only a few members dissenting." 
 
 Here is another example. 
 
 The prohibitionists have endeavored to create the 
 impression that alcohol is one of the chief causes of 
 insanity. Dr. Fisk says, "Psychopathic conditions 
 (i.e. those relating to mental disease), including 
 excessive or palpably injurious indulgence in alcohol, 
 developing after the 'risks' had been on the books 
 (of the life insurance companies) must be accepted 
 in the main as a charge against so-called moderate 
 drinking. They are quite as much a possible effect 
 of moderate drinking as any of the many other path- 
 ological conditions that are known to result from 
 steady drinking, such as cirrhosis of the liver, fatty 
 liver, or kidney affections, or the various forms of 
 nervous disease or life-failure that may result from 
 the psychic disturbances due to alcohol."* This is 
 all in a piece with the statement of the prohibition- 
 ists which was circulated in the public press, that 
 
 * "Alcohol — Its Relation to Human Efficiency and Lon- 
 gevity" ; Fisk, pp. 49, 50. 
 
-SOME PROHIBITION PROPAGANDA 63 
 
 "the intemperate use of alcohol is filling our insane 
 asylums, jails, poorhouses and cemeteries." Let us 
 see how near the truth these assertions are. 
 
 The total number of insane patients admitted to 
 our hospitals in the year 19 10, according to the 
 figures of the Census Bureau,* was 60,700. Of 
 these, 6,122, or 10.7 per cent., were suffering from 
 alcoholic psychosis. Careful investigations showed 
 that out of a total of 25,000,000 males who used 
 alcoholic beverages, about 5000, or one-fiftieth of 
 one per cent., developed alcoholic insanity annually. 
 This is the basis for the statement that "alcohol is 
 filling our insane asylums." A further examination 
 of these statistics showed that in a great many in- 
 stances alcoholism was not the cause but merely a 
 symptom of some inherent mental defect, either 
 congenital or acquired. Dr. William A. White, 
 superintendent of the government hospital for the 
 insane (St. Elizabeth's Hospital) at Washington, 
 D. C, says in his paper on the subject, presented at a 
 meeting of the Society for the Study of Inebriety : 
 
 "Is alcohol in these cases only a symptom of 
 some underlying fundamental condition which has 
 escaped our notice, simply because it is too subtle 
 to be seen by casual observation or found by ordi- 
 nary methods of inquiry? I think it is, and my 
 
 *The figures for the 1920 census are not yet available. 
 
64 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 attention was first attracted to this possibility 
 many years ago. Some of you at least will re- 
 member the work of the English hereditarian, G. 
 Archdall Reid, 'Darwinism and Race Progress/ 
 in which the author, who, I may remind you, has 
 since written many able and learned works, under- 
 took a statistical study of the effects produced by 
 prohibition in several of our prohibition states, 
 where prohibition statutes had been in operation 
 for a considerable number of years. His con- 
 clusions were no less striking than unexpected at 
 that time. They were to the effect that the sta- 
 tistics clearly indicated that in these states, as the 
 consumption of alcohol had been diminished and 
 as drunkenness had been lessened, the admission 
 to the insane asylums and poorhouses had pro- 
 gressively and correspondingly increased. If we 
 do not instantly discard such a conclusion as this, 
 and will stop for a moment and give it careful 
 consideration, we must be struck by the probability 
 of its truth and by its important social significance. 
 Such a conclusion can only mean that the alcoholic 
 as such is a mental defective in some way, and that 
 if his mental deficiency does not show as indul- 
 gence in alcohol, it will later show as a frank 
 mental disease, or as that type of deficiency which 
 leads to pauperism. 
 
 "This conclusion, I am convinced, is a correct 
 
SOME PROHIBITION PROPAGANDA 6s 
 
 one, and I am reminded as I dictate these words 
 of the occasion of a meeting of your society here 
 at Washington some two or three years ago in 
 which I heard your president, a man grown old 
 in this particular work, say in discussion that he 
 had never seen an inebriate who aside from his 
 inebriety was a normal man." 
 
 But the most convincing evidence of the fallacy of 
 Dr. Fisk's statement is furnished by the figures of 
 the Census Bureau. These statistics show that in 
 19 10 wet Nebraska had the lowest insanity rate of 
 any state in the Union, while dry Oklahoma had, 
 with the exception of Colorado and Nevada, the 
 highest rate. In Maine, the banner prohibition state, 
 the number of insane persons increased from 92.6 
 per 100,000 in 1890 to 169.5 per 100,000 in 1910, 
 a gain in the wrong direction of 83 per cent, for the 
 twenty year period. In Kansas, another prohibition 
 state, the insanity rate increased 94 per cent. Wet 
 Rhode Island, on the other hand, showed a gain of 
 only 16 per cent, during the same period. 
 
 So far as suicidal insanity is concerned, Dr. John 
 P. Davin, of New York, summed up unfettered med- 
 ical opinion on the figures since prohibition went 
 into effect, and placed the responsibility in the right 
 place. Here is his letter to the press :* 
 
 * See the New York World for August 15, 192.1. 
 
66 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 "That suicides have more than doubled, not in 
 a year, as you state, but in half a year, according 
 to the figures of the Save-a-Life League, is not to 
 be attributed to a suicide wave. Neither is it to 
 be attributed to a reaction of the war, to business 
 depression or to loss of work. 
 
 "In a previous report of the Save-a-Life League 
 the effects of prohibition and drug laws were em- 
 phasized as a factor in the increase which was 
 notecl by the society at that time also. 
 
 "Anyone at all familiar with the physical con- 
 ditions associated with the use of alcohol or nar- 
 cotic drugs knows that the deprivation of either is 
 followed by a depression that speedily deepens into 
 a contempt for life. This does not necessarily 
 mean the abuse of these agents by those addicted 
 to their use. . . . Crusades have been entered 
 upon by the government, urged on by lay agents 
 having no realization of the physical effects of 
 their actions, but who are carried away solely by 
 an enthusiasm for the moral regeneration which is 
 to follow their reforms. To what an extent this 
 has been carried on in this country is shown by 
 the legislative struggle now going on in Congress 
 to prohibit a physician from prescribing a bottle 
 of ale or beer for the sick or aged. No wonder 
 suicides are increasing here as they are nowhere 
 else unafflicted with this form of legislation." 
 
SOME PROHIBITION PROPAGANDA 67 
 
 Probably the most one-sided of all Dr. Fisk's 
 prohibition "arguments" is his distortion of the re- 
 ports of investigators as to the effect of alcohol on 
 human efficiency. He has devoted considerable space 
 to tests made in the Nutrition Laboratory at Boston 
 and to the experiments of German scientists, all of 
 which tend to show a lowered efficiency in the worker 
 when alcohol is taken even in small doses. The fol- 
 lowing is a typical quotation : 
 
 "Aschaffenberg found that moderate doses of 
 alcohol lowered the amount of work done by print- 
 ing compositors and increased the liability to 
 error." 
 
 Now let us look at the other side of the story. A 
 piece of machinery can be kept in operation for a 
 long time without rest or repair, but eventually it 
 must be stopped and overhauled or it will go to 
 pieces. The human machine can operate for a short 
 time only without rest or relaxation. But when the 
 body has become relaxed, from whatever cause, its 
 productive efficiency is temporarily impaired, of 
 course. Yet such relaxation, whether it begins with 
 the nervous system under the influence of alcohol, 
 or in some other way, is a necessary preliminary to 
 renewed efficiency. When the system is strained by 
 too great effort, alcohol helps materially to induce 
 relaxation. The highest form of relaxation is sleep. 
 
68 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 If these laboratory tests had been made while the 
 subject was under the influence of sleep they would 
 have been considered a joke. They are no less a 
 joke from the scientific standpoint because they have 
 been made to seem specious to those unfamiliar with 
 simple logical principles. 
 
 The impression we get from all this is that the 
 author depended for the success of his "arguments" 
 on the ignorance of his readers. It is by arguments 
 such as these that the dry party has attempted to 
 make prohibition appear attractive or at least rea- 
 sonable to the public. The other side of the 
 question has never been presented. Let us therefore 
 review the life insurance companies' case against 
 alcohol and see what they have found it expedient 
 to leave unsaid. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 ALCOHOL AND LONGEVITY 
 
 The interests of a nation and an individual citizen, 
 or group of citizens, are not always identical. Lon- 
 gevity is distinctly a case in point. It may be expe- 
 dient for the welfare of a nation, or even absolutely 
 necessary for its continued existence, that the lives of 
 some of its citizens be sacrificed. Many of our 
 countrymen voluntarily offered their lives for the 
 national cause in the Great War. If they carried a 
 life insurance company's policy, they had to pay an 
 extra premium for the privilege of being patriotic. 
 This may have been merely fair to the other policy 
 holders, but it was not in accordance with the wel- 
 fare of the nation as a whole. Such conflicts of 
 interests will be found in the pursuits of peace as 
 well as in the exigencies of war. 
 
 We have only to study the personal history of 
 some of our industrial leaders to see the fallacy of 
 applying the insurance companies' theories on lon- 
 gevity to our national life. There are many men, 
 well known in our banking and commercial circles, 
 who can still look back and recall with affection one 
 
 69 
 
70 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 of the principal figures of their early business expe- 
 rience. They see a little man seated at a table 
 before a soft coal fire in a sunny room in the financial 
 district, a sandwich in one hand, a pencil in the other, 
 working out some problem which could not be de- 
 layed for culinary comforts. Trained from boyhood 
 in the school of our great merchants in the days 
 when the clipper ships still thrust their bowsprits 
 across the streets on the river front, before the 
 telephone and the typewriter had simplified business 
 correspondence, when night work was often the rule 
 rather than the exception, he had acquired habits of 
 industry which he was never willing to forsake, even 
 under the pressure of failing health. If work was 
 to be done, it mattered little when it was completed, 
 and he often worked until midnight. It is industry 
 such as this that wins success. He was one of our 
 /dominant constructive men. 
 
 He built up America's leading company in a basic 
 industry. He endowed colleges, founded churches 
 and educational institutions. If a friend needed 
 assistance, he was always ready to leave his own 
 multitudinous affairs and give sage counsel or 
 material help. Yet, from the insurance companies 1 
 standpoint, his life was a failure because he literally 
 wore out his body before its allotted time. Which, 
 think you, is the better citizen or of more value to 
 the nation, a man such as this, or the man who lives 
 
ALCOHOL AND LONGEVITY 71 
 
 his eighty or ninety years in comparative idleness 
 and dies in the poorhouse? 
 
 There are occasions, after great physical or mental 
 effort, when the body calls for alcohol. Perhaps if 
 we could rest, "lay 06°' for a day or two as advised 
 by the physicians of health, spend the time in bed if 
 need be, the body would make its own repairs and 
 we should be the better for it. But this is not 
 always possible in our business life. A man may not 
 be able to leave his affairs in charge of his clerks. 
 A banker or a broker on the floor of the Exchange 
 would laugh at the idea of deserting his partners in 
 time of emergency because his nervous system was 
 overstrained. Instead, he was accustomed to steady 
 his nerves with a cocktail, "take a bracer" as he 
 called it, and thus stimulate digestion for his evening 
 meal, so that he would be able to sleep at night and 
 "go at it again" the next day. Alcohol has been 
 likened in such cases to the whip which kills a tired 
 horse. It is not the whip that kills, but the pace. And 
 so, if we could analyze the life insurance statistics, we 
 should find in many instances that it was not the 
 alcohol which shortened life, but the over-exertion 
 which it makes possible. This may be an abuse of 
 alcohol, but it is not the abuse of the temperance 
 lecturer. The question arises, Has the individual a 
 right to use his own judgment in these matters ? He 
 
72 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 may make mistakes, of course. On the other hand, 
 he may not. 
 
 Nature's ways are not the ways of civilization. 
 When she made alcohol it was perhaps without pre- 
 vision of the manifold changes which civilization 
 would effect in our mode of life. Alcohol may not 
 invariably fit these changes, but that is surely no 
 reason for depriving mankind of a vital gift. 
 
 We can sometimes get a clearer view of a subject 
 if we look at it from a new angle. I have spent 
 many a pleasant hour wandering over the hills of 
 New England. Recently, on the crest of a heavily 
 wooded hillside, I found the mark of the last furrow 
 turned by a plow on what had once been cultivated 
 land, in the days before the youth of New England 
 set out to find their fortunes in the prairie states of 
 the Middle West. New England is full of aban- 
 doned farms. It is an interesting study to see how 
 nature reclaims the worn-out pastures and restores 
 to its virgin fertility the soil which man has robbed 
 of its plant food until it will no longer bear a profit- 
 able crop. First, a carpet of weeds and rough 
 grasses is spread upon the land, then come the briars 
 and bushes, the sumacs, and the weeds of the forest, 
 the white birch. Every leaf that falls, every root 
 that dies, is adding its mite of plant food to the 
 renewed fertility of the mold. And now the young 
 forest trees spring up where the soil is strong enough 
 
ALCOHOL AND LONGEVITY 73 
 
 to bear them, growing with ever increasing vigor 
 and crowding off their weaker neighbors until a 
 forest again covers the hillside. Autumn after 
 autumn they cast their leaves upon the ground, to 
 be packed down by the snows of winter and rot when 
 summer returns. Nature's process is perfect, but 
 it may take a hundred years. It is too slow for the 
 husbandman. He employs the methods of civiliza- 
 tion. He stimulates the soil's flagging powers with 
 a fertilizer and, if his crops take more out of the 
 soil than he is able to return, he will tell you that it 
 is his land and he has the right to do with it as he 
 pleases. No one would think of blaming him for 
 overworking his land to prevent the foreclosure of a 
 mortgage and thus save the roof over his family's 
 head. Yet Dr. Fisk's theories condemn the business 
 man who overworks his body for the sake of his 
 pressing interests. Shall we hold up to scorn such 
 a man, who chooses to crowd the work of two life- 
 times into the productive years of his prime ? The 
 question is as old as Cicero's "De Senectute" : shall 
 we measure life by the calendar or by its accom- 
 plishments ? 
 
 After all, the body is but a human machine which 
 will wear out from too much service, like those made 
 of steel and brass, or which will rust and deteriorate 
 from neglect and imperfect use. No doubt it might 
 be better for the average citizen to seek a happy 
 
74 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 mean of safe and not exhausting effort. But man 
 cannot always find the good that he desires, or desire 
 the good that he may find. It is often necessary for 
 him to effect a compromise between his own ten- 
 dencies and the complex requirements of civilization. 
 If alcohol helps him to do this, should he be deprived 
 of a boon which nature herself has furnished ? 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 MORE FALLACIOUS PROPAGANDA 
 
 The life insurance companies' statistics feature the 
 "Occupational Hazards from Alcohol." "Not the 
 least important feature," says Dr. Fisk,* "of the 
 investigation conducted by the forty-two companies 
 was the mortality figures in occupations where 
 alcohol figured as a hazard." 
 
 These figures were as follows : 
 
 Hotels 
 
 Death-rate above 
 the normal. 
 Proprietors, superintendents and man- 
 agers not tending bar 35 per cent. 
 Proprietors, superintendents and man- 
 agers tending bar 78 per cent. 
 
 Saloons and Billiard-Rooms, 
 Pool-Rooms and Bowling-Alleys 
 with Bar 
 
 Proprietors and managers not tending 
 
 bar 82 per cent. 
 
 Proprietors and managers tending bar 73 per cent. 
 
 * "Alcohol — Its Relation to Human Efficiency and Lon- 
 gevity"; pp. 31-34. 
 
 75 
 
76 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 Breweries 
 
 Proprietors, managers and superinten- 
 ^ dents 35 per cent. 
 
 Clerks 30 per cent. 
 
 Foremen, maltsters, beer-pump repair- 
 men and journeymen 52 per cent. 
 
 Distilleries 
 
 Proprietors, managers and superinten- 
 dents below normal 1 5 per cent. 
 
 Travelling salesmen and collectors for 
 distilleries, breweries and wholesale 
 liquor houses (excluding lifelong total 
 abstainers) above normal 28 per cent. 
 
 Wholesale Liquor Houses 
 
 Proprietors and managers 22 per cent. 
 
 Clerks 12 per cent. 
 
 Restaurants with Bar 
 
 Proprietors, superintendents and man- 
 agers not tending bar 52 per cent. 
 
 Waiters in hotels, restaurants and clubs 
 
 where liquor is served 77 per cent. 
 
 "These figures indicate," Dr. Fisk says, "that 
 saloon-keepers have a death-rate higher than that 
 of underground mine foremen; that brewery fore- 
 men, maltsters, and the like, have a death-rate higher 
 than electric linemen, glass- workers, city firemen 
 (laddermen, pipemen, hosemen), metal grinders or 
 hot-iron workers, although there is nothing in the 
 
MORE FALLACIOUS PROPAGANDA 77 
 
 brewery or saloon business per se that is at all haz- 
 ardous or unhealthful, aside from the possible temp- 
 tation to drink and its collateral hazards. Proprie- 
 tors of distilleries are obviously not so directly ex- 
 posed to temptation or to other adverse influences 
 that obtain in the retail liquor trade; this accounts 
 for the favorable mortality." 
 
 The further we follow these life insurance statis- 
 tics, the more we are apt to wonder whether any 
 real attempt has been made to analyze them. Cer- 
 tainly the interpretation which is here given to them 
 is not in accordance with scientific facts. There is 
 no mystery about the cause of premature old age, 
 with all its infirmities and early death. Metchni- 
 koff's work in this particular field of research is 
 well known. Unquestionably his greatest contribu- 
 tion to medical science was his discovery of the 
 function of the white corpuscles of the blood. But 
 his popular fame will always rest upon his theories 
 for the prolongation of human life. 
 
 It is nature's familiar law that all flesh returns to 
 the soil from which it came. Nature's agents of 
 disintegration are the putrefying bacteria which 
 cause flesh to decay. The activities of these bacteria 
 are not confined to the dead animal body. The mi- 
 nute organisms are in the air and are taken into the 
 system with our food. Under favorable conditions 
 (for the bacteria) the intestines become infested, 
 
78 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 with the result that there is putrefactive fermenta- 
 tion of the animal and vegetable substances in proc- 
 ess of digestion. Thus toxins are formed which are 
 absorbed by the blood, causing a slow, insidious 
 poisoning of the vital organs and the entire system, 
 until finally the body is forced to give up the struggle 
 long before its allotted time. Metchnikoff proved 
 that the presence or absence of putrefaction in the 
 large intestine is the chief factor that affects the 
 duration of life. Over ninety per cent, of all human 
 ailments are directly or indirectly traceable to these 
 intestinal poisons, or, as the condition is commonly 
 called, auto-intoxication. 
 
 Alcohol is contra-fermentative. Vegetable and 
 animal products are often preserved in alcoholic 
 liquors. Therefore, even if it does not actually 
 correct the fermentation, it could in no way add to 
 the putrefaction in the digestive tract. It is quite 
 evident that if we have an increased death-rate 
 among the proprietors of saloons of 82 per cent., 
 due to alcohol, we cannot in addition attribute 90 per 
 cent. — : the established quota — to auto-intoxication. 
 A very simple arithmetical calculation will demon- 
 strate that the death-rate would be 72 per cent, 
 above the possible. The reader must, therefore, 
 choose between the theories of Dr. Fisk and those of 
 Professor Metchnikoff. 
 
 A closer inspection of the figures will throw fur- 
 
MORE FALLACIOUS PROPAGANDA 79 
 
 ther light on the subject. In nearly all the situations 
 in which the highest death-rate occurs, we find that 
 the occupant is deprived of proper exercise. While 
 everybody is subject to auto-intoxication, it is far 
 more prevalent amongst those who lead a sedentary 
 life. Nature's corrective for this condition is exer- 
 cise. By invigorating the intestinal tract, this in- 
 duces a more perfect evacuation of the waste matter, 
 and the toxemia is carried off through the pores of 
 the skin in perspiration. Exercise in which the 
 abdominal muscles are brought into play is the most 
 effective. 
 
 In the saloon or hotel barroom the hours were 
 long. In many of our cities it was found expedient to 
 regulate the hours for closing. The larger barrooms 
 employed two staffs to handle the night and day 
 business. But in a large number of the smaller 
 places this could not be afforded; consequently the 
 proprietors, managers and bartenders remained at 
 their desks or behind the bar for long hours at a 
 time. I venture to believe that, if the truth were 
 known, the death-rate among bartenders was no 
 higher than among shop-girls spending the same 
 amount of time day in and day out, year in and year 
 out, behind the ribbon counter. 
 
 We also find a much higher mortality among pro- 
 prietors and employees of breweries than among the 
 same class of individuals connected with distilleries. 
 
80 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 The death-rate among proprietors, managers and 
 superintendents of distilleries is even fifteen per cent, 
 below normal. Malt liquor contains from three to 
 seven per cent, alcohol, distilled liquor about fifty 
 per cent. But beers also contain nitrogenous nu- 
 trients subject to fermentation, and the alcoholic con- 
 tent is too low to have any appreciable deterrent ef- 
 fect. No less an authority than Dr. Abraham Jacobi 
 maintained that alcohol is an intestinal antiseptic. 
 If this is true, the higher the alcoholic content the 
 greater the protection against fermentation and con- 
 sequent self-poisoning. Of course, when Dr. Fisk 
 says "Proprietors of distilleries are obviously not so 
 directly exposed to temptation," he is simply guess- 
 ing. If I also should hazard a guess, I should say 
 that the manufacture of whisky was lucrative, and 
 the distillery-proprietor could afford to take, and did 
 take, sufficient time away from his business to ride, 
 shoot, play golf, etc., and so keep his body in better 
 physical condition. 
 
 It is easy to prove almost any proposition by 
 figures, if one is careful to select only statistics which 
 support the contention. What is the effect of alcohol 
 on those who lead an active life? Here are some 
 data obtained by Dr. Charles E. Woodruff, surgeon 
 with the rank of major in the United States Army, 
 from the observation of about twenty-eight hundred 
 United States infantry and cavalry on active duty in 
 
MORE FALLACIOUS PROPAGANDA 81 
 
 the Philippines in the early days of the American 
 occupation. 
 
 "Approximately n per cent, of the abstainers 
 died, while about 3}4 per cent, of the moderate 
 and less than 2 per cent, of the excessive drinkers 
 died. About 15 per cent, of abstainers were 
 invalided home, about 9 or 10 per cent, of the 
 moderate and about 8 per cent, of the excessive 
 drinkers. About 26 per cent, of abstainers, 24 
 per cent, of moderate and 24 per cent, of excessive 
 drinkers deteriorated in health. About 49 per 
 cent, of abstainers, 64 per cent, of moderate and 
 66 per cent, of excessive drinkers retained their 
 health. There were very few who improved in 
 health in any class, but the percentage among the 
 abstainers was a trifle higher than among the 
 excessive and less than among the moderate 
 drinkers." * 
 
 On his return from the islands, Dr. Woodruff 
 published his conclusions in the New York Medical 
 Record of December 17, 1904, from which the fol- 
 lowing is taken: 
 
 "In 1902 I obtained a mass of data as to the 
 physical condition and drinking habits of a regi- 
 ment of infantry which had been about three 
 * "Medical Ethnology"; Woodruff, p. 149. 
 
82 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 years in the Philippines, to which was added about 
 two troops of cavalry of about fifteen months' 
 service. Each company commander divided his 
 men into four classes as to health: i. those who 
 retained health; 2. those who deteriorated in 
 health; 3. those who were invalided home for 
 disease, and 4. those who died of disease. The 
 drinking habits of each man were also given, as 
 1. total abstainers; 2. moderate drinker, who was 
 never drunk; 3. excessive drinker, who was occa- 
 sionally or periodically intoxicated. I know the 
 figures to be as near the truth as it is possible to 
 make them, because officers gave me the data, and 
 their minor personal equations were neutralized. 
 
 "I must confess to being somewhat disconcerted 
 and disheartened at first by the totals; the exces- 
 sive drinkers were far healthier than the abstain- 
 J ers, only one-half as many were sent home sick, 
 and only one-sixth as many of them died. I had 
 hoped to prove the opposite. . . . The damage 
 done to these young men by occasional sprees is 
 not so great as the damage done by the climate to 
 abstainers. What a lot of misstatements have we 
 received from our teachers, text-books and au- 
 thorities ! 
 
 "I suppose some medical editors would advise 
 hiding these figures on the ground that they would 
 be an advantage to the whisky dealers who buy 
 
MORE FALLACIOUS PROPAGANDA 83 
 
 Kansas corn- from prohibition farmers. They 
 would no doubt rather see our soldiers die than let 
 them know that a drink of wine at meals might 
 save their lives." (Truly a prophecy of what 
 was to occur later in the Army camps and in the 
 United States Navy during the Great War.) 
 "Think of the statement that 'the claim that the 
 use of alcohol is desirable in the tropics is refuted 
 beyond the possibility of discussion/ (Boston 
 Medical and Surgical Journal, June 21, 1900), a 
 statement for which there is no basis in fact. 
 There are no figures, statistics or trustworthy 
 data in existence upon which such a statement 
 could be based. 
 
 "This attitude in defence of current opinion is 
 dangerously near to the old one, which we hoped 
 had disappeared from New England forever; we 
 can almost hear the echo of that short dark period 
 when its people said, 'The claim that there are no 
 witches is refuted beyond the possibility of dis- 
 
 cussion.' " 
 
 That is a valuable contribution to the subject, by 
 a man clearly more interested in the truth and bear- 
 ing of his facts than in clinging to preconceptions 
 which his own experience has proved to be mistaken. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE LABORATORY VS. NATURE 
 
 There are many things which we have learned to 
 use and enjoy in moderation, such as alcohol and 
 other foods and beverages, fire and ice, steam, 
 electricity and various familiar agencies, which may 
 become sources of danger if allowed to get beyond 
 control. Moderation is of course one of the car- 
 dinal rules of our existence. Too much of a good 
 thing is often more harmful than a little of what is 
 really bad. The immoderate use of alcohol is clearly 
 detrimental not only to the individual, but also to 
 society. In well-governed communities drunkenness, 
 like other excesses, is taken care of in the police 
 courts or hospitals. It was necessary for the pro- 
 hibitionist to prove that even the moderate use of 
 alcohol was harmful, lest, with the proper enforce- 
 ment of existing laws, he should find himself in the 
 position of Don Quixote, tilting at his windmills. 
 
 In recent years much thought and study have been 
 
 given to the nourishment of the body. Many foods, 
 
 and alcohol among them, have been the subjects of 
 
 careful laboratory examination and experimentation. 
 
 The prohibitionists have made good use of the un- 
 
 84 
 
THE LABORATORY VS. NATURE 85 
 
 favorable side of these experiments to further their 
 propaganda. In this way they have endeavored to 
 show that alcohol is not a stimulant, but, on the 
 contrary, a narcotic, a depressant; that it has no 
 food or medical value, but is a toxic substance and 
 definitely injurious, even when used in moderation. 
 The following comments by Professor W. S. Hall 
 will serve as an example of the methods adopted. 
 
 'The Energy from Alcohol not Avail- 
 able. — Is the energy liberated in the oxidation of 
 alcohol in the liver available for the use of 
 muscles, nervous system or glands? If this ques- 
 tion is answered affirmatively, then alcohol is a 
 food. If negatively, then alcohol is not a food. 
 
 "All body oxidation may be classified in two 
 groups: 1. Active Oxidations, which take place 
 in the active tissues, muscles, nervous system or 
 glands, — and take place incident to action. Active 
 oxidations are under perfect control of the ner- 
 vous system and are proportional to normal ac- 
 tivity. 2. Protective Oxidations, which take place 
 in the liver. This class of oxidation-process is 
 wholly independent of the usual tissue activity, 
 and is proportional to the ingestion of toxic 
 substances and independent of muscular action, 
 brain action or gland action (other than liver 
 action). 
 
86 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 "If the oxidation of alcohol in the liver belongs 
 to Class i, the following consequences should be 
 found: First, the ingestion of alcohol would lead 
 to an increased muscular power and an increased 
 capacity for brain work, and increased glandular 
 activity. Second, the ingestion of alcohol would 
 serve to maintain body temperature in the healthy 
 individual subjected to low external temperature. 
 Third, the increase of muscle, brain or gland ac- 
 tivity would be proportional to the amount of 
 alcohol ingested. Now laboratory observations 
 and general experience show that none of these 
 things is true: that is, the ingestion of alcohol 
 decreases muscle, brain and gland work and de- 
 presses body temperature when external temper- 
 ature is low. The oxidation does not therefore 
 belong to Class i. 
 
 "If the oxidation of alcohol in the liver belongs 
 to Class 2, the following consequences would be 
 found: First, the ingestion of alcohol would be 
 followed by its early oxidation in the organ in 
 question. Second, if the oxidation capacity of the 
 liver is limited this capacity may be overloaded 
 by exceeding the physiological limit of alcohol. 
 Third, if the oxidation capacity of the liver is 
 taxed nearly to its limit, by the oxidation of the 
 uric acid xanthins and other toxic substances, the 
 ingestion of alcohol may seriously interfere with 
 
THE LABORATORY VS. NATURE 87 
 
 this protective oxidation by overtaxing the ca- 
 pacity. Fourth, if the oxidation capacity is over- 
 taxed, an excess of uric acid, xanthin bodies, and 
 other toxic substances will get by this portal and 
 reach the active tissues of the kidneys. Now all 
 of these things take place, so we are forced to the 
 conclusion that the oxidation of alcohol is a 
 protective oxidation. 
 
 "Alcohol is, therefore, a toxic substance and not 
 a food in any sense." 
 
 Propaganda such as this carries weight with the 
 layman. He has no means of determining the truth 
 or falsity of the conclusions. It "listens well," as 
 they say. Like the child's decalcomania, it brings 
 out a picture where before there was only a blank, 
 and if in the picture we find a purple cow or a green 
 cat, his untutored mind is unable to detect the error. 
 
 The thought which the prohibitionists intend to 
 convey is that alcohol being a poison is not fit for 
 human consumption. Salt also is a poison. Salt 
 poisoning is quite common among our domestic 
 animals, yet salt is a necessary part of our diet. 
 The first question which naturally suggests itself is, 
 if alcohol is a poison, why is it produced in the body? 
 
 It must be remembered that physiological chemis- 
 try is still in swaddling clothes. Our knowledge of 
 the body's processes is very limited and many seem- 
 
88 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 ing contradictions occur. Take, for instance, the 
 problem of the gastric juice. 
 
 The body digests its food by the aid of certain 
 juices in the digestive organs. These juices are 
 powerful enough to break down the tissue of any 
 flesh with which they may come in contact. Why, 
 then, are they not dangerous to the body itself? 
 Some animals devour their own species. A pack of 
 hungry wolves has been known to fall upon a 
 wounded comrade and completely devour it, includ- 
 ing its digestive apparatus. If the gastric juice is 
 strong enough to break down tissue of the digestive 
 organs of another creature, why does it not have the 
 same effect upon the stomach that produces it? 
 Why does not the body digest itself? The problem 
 may seem quite formidable until we consider the 
 great resistance of the living cell. It is this resist- 
 ance which withstands the action of the gastric juice, 
 as it withstands the toxic effect of salt and alcohol 
 when properly used.* 
 
 * To illustrate the great vitality of the living cell, it may 
 be noted that laboratory investigations have provided a 
 method of showing that the life of the tissues may be 
 preserved even after these have been removed from the^ body. 
 Dr. Carrel has demonstrated {Journal of Experimental 
 Medicine, May I, 1912) that by washing cultures of con- 
 nective tissue in Ringer's solution and then placing them in 
 a new medium the growth was accelerated, senility prevented 
 and the duration of life greatly prolonged. Some of the 
 
THE LABORATORY VS. NATURE 89 
 
 The best evidence that alcohol is necessary to the 
 human economy is the fact that the body obtains a 
 supply through the alcoholic fermentation of sugar 
 and other carbohydrates, which takes place in the 
 intestines. The digestive process separates the fit 
 from the unfit. Alcoholic fermentation is a purify- 
 ing process. It eliminates much that is harmful in 
 the natural fruit juices. A pure light wine is a 
 healthier beverage than unfermented grape juice, 
 sweet cider or the fruit juices of the soda water 
 fountain. Many of the arguments which the pro- 
 hibitionists use so freely against alcoholic beverages 
 could be applied with greater consistency against the 
 so-called temperance drinks. Anyone who has 
 watched alcoholic fermentation in light wines or beer 
 will probably agree that it were better to have this 
 take place outside the body instead of in the vital 
 organs. 
 
 Let us look on the subject from nature's stand- 
 point. The most primitive forms of alcoholic bev- 
 erages are the wines pressed from grapes, apples and 
 other fruits. In our forefathers' time, and until 
 labor-saving devices in manufacture and transporta- 
 tion had commercialized wine-making, these wines 
 were produced in the homes throughout America. 
 
 cultures were living at the beginning of the third month of 
 their life in vitro. (See "The Immortality of the Cells and 
 Tissues": Medical Record, May 11, 1912.) 
 
90 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 The harvest feast of Thanksgiving found the house- 
 wife bringing to the table her cider, or currant, 
 blackberry and grape wines, along with the turkey, 
 the mince pies and other evidences of her culinary 
 skill. Cider-making is still familiar enough to most 
 of us, so that we may observe nature's guiding hand 
 in the process and see how she has planned for our 
 welfare. 
 
 Cider is made from the juice of the ripe apple. 
 The same juice is obtained when the apple is eaten, 
 but the fruit contains a lot of bulky roughage which, 
 by filling the stomach, limits the amount of fresh 
 juice that can be absorbed in this way. At harvest 
 time, when the juice is first pressed, the cider is 
 sweet. But here again nature steps in to prevent 
 over-indulgence, for the juice remains in this condi- 
 tion only until fermentation, which begins immedi- 
 ately, has done its work. Man has been able to 
 kill the germs of ferment by heating or by the intro- 
 duction of benzoate of soda or other chemicals, and 
 thus preserve the juice in its unfermented form 
 throughout the year. But that this was contrary 
 to nature's purpose is clearly discernible if we follow 
 the process of wine-making. 
 
 Let us suppose the juice has been pressed and 
 carefully strained and that we have a clear sweet 
 cider (or grape must). This is placed in a barrel. 
 In from twenty-four to twenty-eight hours it will 
 
THE LABORATORY VS. NATURE 91 
 
 commence to work and a frothy mucilaginous scum 
 will rise in a sticky mass through the bunghole. 
 This frothy scum will be filled with yeast and paren- 
 chyma and other impurities. This is the first effect 
 of fermentation and is called by the wine-makers 
 "purging." It is followed immediately by a less 
 tumultuous, effervescent fermentation with a rise in 
 temperature, which continues until all the saccharines 
 have been turned into alcohol. 
 
 We have an ocular demonstration of nature's 
 efforts to purify her beverage in the column of froth 
 which rises through the bunghole. When fermenta- 
 tion is completed, what has been accomplished is 
 apparent not only to the eyes but to the palate also. 
 The reader has doubtless often noticed the dregs at 
 the bottom of a bottle of wine or ale. The small 
 percentage of impurities to be found in a bottle of 
 wine which has been carefully drawn off from the 
 cask to avoid disturbing the liquid, is as nothing com- 
 pared to the murky mass of lees deposited at the 
 bottom of the barrel in the process of fermentation. 
 And these are in addition to the impurities which 
 are purged through the bunghole. If the lees are 
 disturbed the wine becomes cloudy and bitter, and to 
 drink it would bring on intestinal disturbances which 
 would soon convince the experimenter that the whole 
 juice of the fruit was only intended by nature to be 
 partaken of at harvest time. In guarding against 
 
92 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 over-indulgence in the fruit juices, nature has com- 
 pleted her work by providing the matured wine with 
 alcohol, which, by causing intoxication, raises the 
 danger signal for those who would imbibe too freely. 
 Let us hear what one of our dietitians has to say 
 on the subject: 
 
 "Alcohol is made through fermentation and 
 distillation, and both these processes would be 
 impossible without sugar. When we understand 
 this, we find that we can make alcohol by simply 
 eating sugar, because this alkaline substance com- 
 ing in contact with the hydrochloric acid of our 
 stomach, ferments quickly and causes as much 
 stimulation to our nerves as though we partook 
 of the prefermented article in the shape of light 
 beers or wines. 
 
 "Everybody is familiar nowadays with the 
 usage of giving sugar to soldiers before they go 
 into battle, or of giving sugar to athletes. But 
 how few people know that this article of food 
 is given to these people because it creates an al- 
 cohol which is taken up by the nervous system 
 more quickly than the prefermented alcohol in 
 the shape of wine or beer ! A good pair of kid- 
 neys eliminates the prefermented article very 
 quickly, not so the fermenting one. 
 
 "A simple knowledge of how wine is made 
 
THE LABORATORY VS. NATURE 93 
 
 will explain this question to the reader more 
 fully. Wine is made by crushing fruit, vegetables 
 or grains, and allowing the natural sugar of these 
 foods to ferment. In order to hasten the process 
 we add cane sugar and water, and let this stand 
 in a warm place until fermentation has brought 
 to the surface all waste products, leaving a clear, 
 watery fluid, according to the ingredients of which 
 it is made. 
 
 "The alcohol made in this manner is concen- 
 trated before it even enters the stomach, and 
 through its very density is eliminated much more 
 quickly than when we depend on the stomach itself 
 to perform the process of fermentation. The tee- 
 totaller, without realizing it, creates his stimulant. 
 Lacking the immediate pleasing effect of alco- 
 holics, he generally turns into a dyspeptic grouch 
 — much more objectionable than his friend who, 
 admitting he wants a stimulant, partakes of a glass 
 of beer or light wine, and thereby draws his 
 nervous energy to his stomach. This friend might 
 be accused of a little undue conviviality, but cer- 
 tainly he becomes more human than his grouchy 
 sick friend. 
 
 "It must be understood that I am not advocat- 
 ing the use of alcohol, but wish rather to explode 
 the mistaken notion that alcoholics are the only 
 stimulants. Harm comes from partaking of al- 
 
94 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 cohol in moderation only when the function of 
 the kidneys is impaired, and all liquor should 
 be excluded from the dietary in such cases. But 
 how much more should sugar be excluded! 
 
 "Sugar is present in all fruits, vegetables and 
 grains, and such sugar of course should be used. 
 But the concentrated sweetness of sugar cane, 
 figs, dates and bananas should be used only in 
 moderation because, next to the oxygen we 
 breathe, sugar is the strongest stimulant there is. 
 
 "Next to sugar, alcohol is strongest in brandy 
 and whisky, and these strong liquors should also 
 be avoided, leaving for consideration the light 
 wines and beer. The latter is a liquor originally 
 brewed in Germany, and the English people, brew- 
 ing it in a slightly different manner, manufacture 
 ale and porter instead. The foundations of these 
 drinks are hops and malt. The latter is a product 
 made by steeping, drying and concentrating grain, 
 which may be either peas, beans or wheat. 
 
 "The water in beer is distilled, and the per- 
 centage of alcohol is so small that it cannot be 
 objected to by anyone who thoroughly under- 
 stands the manufacture of it. Every human being 
 has his idiosyncrasies, and there are people whose 
 kidneys are not normal, to whom beer might be 
 harmful, but to such people meat and sugar are 
 
THE LABORATORY VS. NATURE 95 
 
 even more harmful, and the discredit should not 
 all be given to beer. 
 
 "The average teetotaller clothes himself with 
 the 'mantle of righteousness' because he doesn't 
 drink alcoholic stimulants. Then he turns into 
 the next drug store to have some soft drink or 
 candies, by which he injures himself tenfold as 
 much as by drinking any of the light liquors. 
 
 "Most soft drinks are flavored with syrups, and 
 I have already shown how we manufacture al- 
 cohol in our stomachs when we eat sweets. All 
 sweets turn into an acid, causing fermentation. 
 They set up diseases more quickly than if we 
 were to partake of the already manufactured al- 
 coholic beverages such as light beer and wine." * 
 
 That alcohol in some form is necessary to the 
 human system cannot be doubted. There is one way 
 and one way only by which prohibition could be 
 accomplished, and that is by tearing down and re- 
 building the human machine. If, as science has been 
 able to demonstrate, this machine has been evolved 
 through countless steps of evolution from a lower 
 stratum of animal life, it might be possible through 
 other countless steps so to change it that alcohol 
 would no longer be essential for its proper function- 
 ing. That this is not beyond the bounds of plausi- 
 
 * "Triangle of Health"; Arnold, p. 129. 
 
96 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 bility, we have as evidence the other earthly crea- 
 tures which apparently exist in health and vigor with 
 little dependence on this gift of nature. The lower 
 we descend in the scale of animal life, the less re- 
 quirement there is for alcohol. The fish, the frog, 
 the lizard, the snake and other cold-blooded crea- 
 tures are familiar examples. Yet it may be that 
 alcohol, like oxygen, is one of the immutable essen- 
 tials for the animal kingdom. At any rate, no animal 
 capable of free locomotion can dispense with it al- 
 together. They may use very little, but some they 
 must have. Possibly the oyster and clam are com- 
 plete abstainers and represent the ideals of prohibi- 
 tion at their highest point. Yet their existence 
 scarcely commends itself as a goal for human aspira- 
 tion. Whatever evolution brought us from, we have 
 the habit of preferring to go forward rather than 
 back. We are content to follow the purposes of 
 Providence so far as we can glimpse them. And 
 though there are doubtless some zealous reformers 
 who believe that if they had the directing of the 
 universe they could produce a better race and a 
 better world, most of us are willing to take creation 
 as we find it. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE FOOD VALUE OF ALCOHOL 
 
 The food and medical values of alcohol have a 
 very close relation to each other. Proper nourish- 
 ment is the foundation of health. The body, by its 
 own efforts, is able to overcome disease in most 
 instances, if it can obtain and assimilate its natural 
 food. 
 
 What is food? Stedman's Medical Dictionary 
 gives: "Food. Anglo-Saxon Foda, aliment, nour- 
 ishment, what is eaten to supply the necessary nutri- 
 tive elements. — Nutritive. Nutrition. Latin 
 Nutrire, to nourish. A function of living plants and 
 animals consisting in the taking in and assimilation 
 through chemical changes (metabolism) of material 
 whereby tissue is built up and energy liberated; its 
 successive stages are known as digestion, absorption, 
 assimilation, and excretion; in highly organized 
 animals digestion is preceded by mastication and 
 deglutition, and excretion is effected by expiration, 
 perspiration, urination and defecation." These 
 functions are carried on by the various organs of the 
 body, under the control of the nervous system, of 
 which the brain is the head. 
 
 97 
 
98 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 Foods may be divided into two classes: those 
 which primarily produce tissue and energy, and those 
 which enable the organs to function. This is a simple 
 rather than a strictly scientific way of putting the 
 matter, because all foods serve both purposes. But 
 the foods in the first class go more directly into the 
 production of tissue and energy, while those in the 
 second class work, in a measure, indirectly. For 
 example : Digestion is under the control of the gas- 
 tric! nerves. Food, producing tissue and energy, 
 also creates nerve force — nerve force makes possible 
 digestion, assimilation and elimination. Foods like 
 alcohol, by their effect on the nervous system, aid 
 assimilation and are therefore indirectly assisting in 
 building tissue and energy. The human body is 
 often likened to an engine. To carry the simile 
 further, the foods of the first class may be regarded 
 ks the gas or steam which produces the driving force, 
 while the foods of the second class are the oils which 
 effect the lubrication. Of these, alcohol is the most 
 important. To deprive the body of its necessary 
 amount of alcohol will have the immediate effect of 
 lowering its energy-producing power. Some systems 
 require more alcohol than others, and to attempt the 
 artificial regulation of this necessity because it some- 
 times produces intoxication, is about as sensible as 
 to ask the motorist to give up the use of lubricating 
 oil because it occasionally works into the cylinders. 
 
THE FOOD VALUE OF ALCOHOL 99 
 
 In infancy the body obtains its supply of alcohol 
 from milk sugar. The new-born babe begins acquir- 
 ing the alcohol habit with the first drop of milk it 
 takes from its mother's breast — the habit of manu- 
 facturing alcohol for its body's needs. As the child 
 develops, more alcohol is required, and a taste for 
 sweets and candies develops. The need for alcohol 
 is never more plainly demonstrated than at this stage 
 of our existence. The healthy, romping child eats, 
 with the greatest eagerness, all kinds) of cakes, 
 candies, ice cream and other sweets. The result is 
 an exuberance of high spirits and muscular activity, 
 while the child with a weak digestion, who must of 
 necessity control his desire for sweets, is sickly and 
 unable to play and romp like other children. 
 
 During the early years of childhood the body, 
 except under abnormal conditions, obtains all the 
 alcohol it requires from the sugars and starches of its 
 daily diet. If we could go through life as children, 
 playing and exercising without restraint, and without 
 the strain of labor and responsibility, it would be un- 
 necessary to add to our alcohol supply by other 
 means, except when disease or some unusual occur- 
 rence made it advisable. But with the approach of 
 manhood, with its duties and ambitions, comes an 
 increased demand on the body, and the alcohol sup- 
 ply must be increased. 
 
 This demand, however, does not come to all alike. 
 
ioo THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 A Samson or a Sandow can lift a hundredweight 
 with less exertion than the man whose muscles are 
 undeveloped. In the same way the brilliant mind 
 can do its thinking with less effort, or less friction, 
 than one more sluggish; and while the latter in the 
 end may perhaps accomplish just as much, it is at 
 the expense of greater labor and a greater tax on 
 the system. Mental effort uses up more nervous 
 energy than physical labor. The man who sits at a 
 desk all the time is often more tired at the end of 
 the day's work than the laborer in the fields. There 
 is thus a wide variation in the food requirements of 
 different individuals, in accordance with physical and 
 mental development, occupation and mode of life. 
 Any attempt to standardize the daily diet will inevi- 
 tably work injustice and will result in many cases of 
 malnutrition and the consequent breeding of disease. 
 Enforced rationing is dangerous at its best because 
 of its effect on the nerves. Let us follow the work- 
 ing of the nerves in the digestive process and see 
 why alcohol may be necessary for their proper 
 functioning. 
 
 The body selects its food by the senses, and their 
 messages are transmitted to the brain by the nerves. 
 The sight of the bright red apple, the smell of the 
 savory dish of bacon, the sweetness of the lump of 
 sugar, are all conveyed to the brain over the nerve 
 telegraphs. The gustatory and olfactory nerves, 
 
THE FOOD VALUE OF ALCOHOL 101 
 
 responsible for taste and smell, and the gastric 
 nerves, which regulate digestion, are integral parts 
 of one system and may be equally affected by outside 
 influences. The odors coming through the open 
 door of a bakery or cook shop will stimulate the 
 appetite or add to the pangs of hunger. The sight 
 of blood may have a directly opposite effect. The 
 taste of a bad oyster will produce nausea long before 
 any toxic action can occur. 
 
 The body adjusts itself to changes of conditions, 
 but this adjustment does not take place so rapidly 
 as in self-regulating man-made machines. For in- 
 stance, to give a concrete case : If a man ordinarily 
 engaged in office work should spend a day behind the 
 plow or in some other strenuous exercise, he will 
 burn up more tissue than his body has been accus- 
 tomed to restore at short notice. The consequence 
 will be that for three or four days following he will 
 be unusually hungry before every meal, and even 
 though he eat more food, as he almost certainly will, 
 it will not alter the result. 
 
 The body is constantly meeting abnormal condi- 
 tions. Disease, fatigue, worry, fear, all have their 
 influence on our nervous system, including the gas- 
 tric nerves. We often hear the expression u too 
 tired to eat." The craving felt for alcohol under 
 such circumstances is only nature calling for a food 
 which the body must have before it can return to 
 
102 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 "normalcy." This need may show itself in a desire 
 for sweets from which the body can make its own 
 alcohol, or in the craving for a drink, according to 
 the habits of the individual. Manufactured alcohol 
 is preferable because it is more easily assimilated. 
 To attempt to obtain alcohol from sugar or starches, 
 when the digestive apparatus is worn with fatigue, is 
 to invite chronic dyspepsia. 
 
 The reason for the body's craving for alcohol 
 under these conditions now seems clear. It has been 
 recently demonstrated that alcohol acts as an anti- 
 dote to the effect of disease toxins on the nervous 
 system, even in the case of some toxins which cause 
 permanent impairment. If alcohol will thus counter- 
 act the more serious toxins of disease, it seems only 
 reasonable to suppose that it will have the same effect 
 in the case of fatigue toxins. Much evidence has 
 already been produced to support this conclusion, 
 which fits in so perfectly with the known facts about 
 alcohol that there can be little doubt about its cor- 
 rectness. This, then, is the logical explanation of 
 the stimulating effect of alcohol, in itself a depres- 
 sant. 
 
 There is another side to the question of the food 
 value of alcohol, which is generally ignored in the 
 arguments of the prohibitionists. Alcoholic bever- 
 ages, particularly the malt liquors, contain other 
 nutrients which, in combination with alcohol, form 
 
THE FOOD VALUE OF ALCOHOL 103 
 
 an easily digested and highly beneficial diet. We do 
 not make three square meals a day from salt alone 
 nor do we drink pure alcohol. Many of the argu- 
 ments against alcoholic liquors can certainly be 
 modified to take into account the additional nutrients 
 which these beverages contain. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 ALCOHOL AS A MEDICINE 
 
 There is no drug in the whole pharmacopoeia 
 which has been more generally employed or has had 
 a wider field of usefulness than alcohol. Its medici- 
 nal value was recognized by Biblical and other early 
 writers : 
 
 "Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, 
 And wine unto those that be of heavy hearts." 
 
 Proverbs xxxi : 6. 
 
 Its use as a therapeutic agent goes back indeed to 
 prehistoric times, where, naturally, we cannot now 
 follow it. But it seems more than probable that 
 alcohol originally taught mankind the value of drugs 
 in the treatment of disease. We can easily conceive 
 the feeling with which sickness was regarded by 
 primitive man, as a visitation beyond control. The 
 sense of warmth and well-being which alcohol pro- 
 duces may certainly have led our interesting ancestors 
 to make their first attempts at medical treatment. 
 
 To-day, alcohol is as highly regarded for its 
 medicinal qualities, except by a portion of one med- 
 ical cult, as it ever was. Yet it has been placed by 
 
 stringent legislation quite beyond the reach of the 
 
 104 
 
ALCOHOL AS A MEDICINE 105 
 
 ordinary individual, unless he is prepared to break 
 the law. The first law of nature is self-preserva- 
 tion, which is usually considered higher than man- 
 made laws, even though these are the laws of our 
 own country. If alcohol is necessary to maintain 
 life, no statutes, and no methods of enforcement, will 
 ever be able to prevent its use. 
 
 A little knowledge is proverbially a dangerous 
 thing. It is the hasty, superficial half-knowledge of 
 the laboratory that has condemned alcohol. For- 
 tunately, we do not live in the laboratory; and the 
 theories that are born there are of little value unless 
 they can be applied to the betterment of our daily 
 life. Before this can be done, we must have a 
 fuller, clearer knowledge of the human body. What 
 we think we know has only led to confusion. Thus 
 we find alcohol is a depressant, yet it stimulates. It 
 is a nerve sedative, yet it produces nerve force. It 
 retards the action of the digestive ferments, yet it 
 aids digestion. It is no tissue builder, yet it adds 
 to the body's weight. It lowers the body's tempera- 
 ture, yet it warms the body. It dulls men's wits, yet 
 it increases the activity of thought and speech. It 
 induces sleep, yet it will keep the faculties awake. 
 It may lower the capacity of the individual worker, 
 yet it increases labor's output. Itself a poison, it 
 protects against more serious poisons. There is 
 probably no drug more complex in its physiological 
 
106 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 action than alcohol. On account of its great power 
 for good and evil, it may well be considered the 
 Jekyll and Hyde of the pharmacopoeia. Hare sums 
 up the pros and cons as follows : 
 
 "Clinical experience, too great to be ignored, 
 stands for the continued employment of the drug. 
 The drug does not act as a stimulant in the or- 
 dinary sense of the term, but nevertheless read- 
 justs the circulation by dilating the peripheral 
 vessels and influences the protective powers of the 
 body by affecting the blood-cells or the blood- 
 serum or the lymph. This belief seems to find 
 support by reason of experiments carried out by 
 the author, in which he was able to show that 
 alcohol produces a distinct increase in the bacteri- 
 olytic power of the blood in disease, probably by 
 increasing the activity of the complemental 
 body."* 
 
 Like many of the things which nature has pro- 
 duced, alcohol will lose its power for harm as soon 
 as we are able to dispel the ignorance which still 
 surrounds it. Much has already been accomplished, 
 and now that prohibition has become a national 
 issue the work will unquestionably be completed. So 
 there will be at any rate one good result of the 
 
 * "Practical Therapeutics" ; Seventeenth Edition, p. 76. 
 
ALCOHOL AS A MEDICINE 107 
 
 attempt at prohibition: we shall have a better 
 knowledge of alcohol. 
 
 The science of medicine is passing through a 
 transition period. The old theory of symptomatic 
 treatment is being abandoned. The physician of 
 to-day no longer treats the symptom where it is 
 possible to strike at the cause. Alcohol may or may 
 not be a heart stimulant. It may equalize circula- 
 tion. It may have the property of sparing tissue. 
 But all these are of secondary importance. To pass 
 the test of modern medicine we must be able to show 
 that alcohol will assist the body to remove the cause 
 of disease. This has now been definitely established, 
 with the result that the whole structure of the pro- 
 hibitionist's arguments against the use of alcohol in 
 medicine has fallen like a house of cards. 
 
 Our knowledge of disease, and by this is meant 
 infectious disease, has been brought to a point where 
 we are able to classify and distinguish between the 
 various forms of germ life in much the same way as 
 we classify the different forms of terrestrial life. 
 Just as we divide the latter into beasts, birds and 
 fishes, so the former are classified as necroparasites, 
 semiparasites, true parasites and tissue parasites. 
 Of these, the first two produce toxins. The necro- 
 parasites possess a low grade of infectiousness, that 
 is, of the power to multiply and spread through the 
 body, but they cause death by their highly fatal 
 
io8 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 poisons. The germs may be unable to maintain 
 themselves in normal tissue, but their toxins are 
 powerful enough to kill, even after the germs them- 
 selves have ceased to exist. On the other hand, 
 the semiparasites are highly infectious and aggres- 
 sive and multiply rapidly in the system. Their 
 poisons are less deadly, but continued production of 
 the toxins may prove fatal. These are the germs 
 with which we have to deal in influenza and many of 
 our serious diseases. 
 
 With the production of a practical germicide, it is 
 now possible to stamp out these infectious semi- 
 parasites at any period of the disease, unless, of 
 course, the case has gone altogether too far for 
 curative treatment. Under the most favorable cir- 
 cumstances, when the germicide is given by mouth, 
 the germs can be destroyed in from twelve to four- 
 teen hours. Thus it has been possible to measure 
 the effect of the toxins on the various organs of the 
 body. Exhaustive experiments were carried on in 
 influenza and semiparasitic animal infections in 
 which many thousand cases were treated. In the 
 course of these experiments it developed that the 
 effect of the toxins on the gastric nerves sometimes 
 results in complete suspension of the digestive 
 functions. Of course this was nothing new. Loss 
 of appetite indicates impaired digestion. A sick 
 animal does not eat because his instinct teaches him 
 
ALCOHOL AS A MEDICINE 109 
 
 that it is useless to put food in his stomach to putrefy 
 if he is to derive no benefit from it. But these ex- 
 periments were a conclusive corroboration. They 
 were carried on as follows : 
 
 The germicide was given by mouth. Results 
 could be expected in from twelve to fourteen hours 
 if digestion was not impaired. If no results were 
 obtained, the germicide was given by intravenous 
 injection, which, in most cases, proved effective. In 
 an attempt to clear up the gastric disturbance, alcohol 
 was given with the germicide and an immediate ab- 
 sorption was obtained, the case responding at once 
 and thus demonstrating that alcohol acts as an anti- 
 dote to the effect of the toxins on the digestive or- 
 gans. To grasp the importance of this fact we must 
 understand how the body forms its antibodies. 
 
 The cells are the active basis of all animal and 
 vegetable organization. According to Ehrlich's 
 side-chain theory, which is the best conception of the 
 phenomenon, a cell is composed of a central nucleus 
 upon which its life and activity depend. Attached 
 to the nucleus are a variable number of subsidiary 
 mouths or receptors (side chains) by which the nutri- 
 tion of the cell is regulated. These receptors differ 
 from each other in certain chemical affinities, accord- 
 ing to the nature of the food molecules to be ab- 
 sorbed by the cells. The many different body cells 
 (for example, the blood cells, the nerve cells, the 
 
no THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 muscle cells), varying in nutritional requirements, 
 account for a considerable variation in the receptors. 
 Ehrlich conceived that toxin molecules may acci- 
 dentally possess the same affinity for certain recep- 
 tors as the food molecules which the latter are ac- 
 customed to receive under normal conditions. To 
 the possibility that different disease germs are at- 
 tracted by a different set of side chains is attributed 
 the specific immunity which follows various infec- 
 tions. When infection occurs the germ or its toxin 
 becomes affixed to a receptor with the result that not 
 only is the cell deprived of necessary nourishment, but 
 injury or complete destruction may also follow. The 
 cell rids itself of this condition by casting off the re- 
 ceptor, and its loss stimulates regenerative cell activ- 
 ity to replace the damage. According to Weigert's 
 law of regeneration, the defect in the cell structure 
 is repaired beyond the necessary measure. Each 
 individual receptor which the cell loses is replaced 
 by numerous mouths, of which the fittest will remain 
 with the mother cell, the remainder being cast off 
 into the blood circulation, where they act as anti- 
 bodies. The same law of regeneration is common 
 in the vegetable kingdom. If a limb is removed 
 from a tree, many small branches will spring forth 
 to supply the requirements of the roots, the most 
 favored branch crowding off the others, just as in 
 the case of the new mouths which the cell produces 
 
ALCOHOL AS A MEDICINE in 
 
 without intending to retain them all. The free re- 
 ceptors thrown off into the circulation (antibodies) 
 retain their affinity for the germs and their toxins. 
 They combine with these, and thus putting an end 
 to their activities, render them harmless. All this 
 is dependent on the cells receiving their accustomed 
 nourishment from the digestive organs. When this 
 is cut off not only are the cells weakened, but even 
 the incentive to form new mouths no longer exists, 
 since there is no food to fill them, no work for them 
 to do. Thus we see that alcohol, by its antitoxic 
 action on the digestive organs, may be the saving fac- 
 tor which enables the body to form the protective 
 antibodies which are its main defence against 
 disease. 
 
 In the summer of 191 8, when influenza, which 
 had broken out in Europe in virulent form, was 
 threatening invasion, but before the great pandemic 
 had actually reached our shores, the records of these 
 experiments were laid before the Medical Section of 
 the Council of National Defence at Washington. 
 It was not long before the disease found its fatal 
 way here, and it soon became epidemic. The concen- 
 tration camps were among the first to suffer from its 
 ravages. After every other treatment had failed, 
 alcohol in the form of whisky was resorted to. There 
 was an immediate drop in the death-rate. One 
 young buddy who was driving the dead wagon in a 
 
ii2 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 southern camp tells the story that his nightly load of 
 forty coffins was reduced to three or four through 
 the introduction of the whisky treatment. Stories 
 like this continued to come from the camps, but no 
 move was made on the part of the American Medi- 
 cal Association to modify its resolution against 
 alcohol, although the work amongst the soldiers was 
 in charge of high officials of the association and 
 they were daily receiving proof of the value of al- 
 cohol in the treatment of disease. But the Eight- 
 eenth Amendment had not yet been approved by 
 the Supreme Court and, if the truth were known, 
 it might nullify all the work which the organization 
 had done to further the cause of prohibition. How- 
 ever, the public was not slow to appreciate the 
 importance of the facts, familiar to them through 
 personal experience, the evidence of friends, and the 
 columns of the press. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 ALCOHOL AND FATIGUE 
 
 From time immemorial alcohol has been used by 
 man to counteract the effect of too great mental or 
 physical effort, or what we call "fatigue" ; and be- 
 cause the body responded to alcohol, and relief was 
 obtained, it was looked upon as a stimulant. This 
 very natural mistake has been handed down for 
 generations. Alcohol is not really a stimulant, as 
 we understand the term. The stimulating effect 
 which it produces in the tired worker appears to 
 be due to its power of acting as an antidote to the 
 fatigue toxins. As long as the effect is there, it is a 
 matter of little consequence to the ordinary indi- 
 vidual how it is brought about. Nevertheless, it 
 is of importance to our subject, for to ignorance 
 on this point can be traced many of the abuses for 
 which alcohol has had to shoulder the blame. 
 
 Fatigue is nature's five o'clock whistle — the signal 
 that our day's work should be brought to an end. 
 In its daily toil the body burns up a certain amount of 
 tissue. This is replaced by the foods we eat, but 
 the capacity for replacement is limited by the capac- 
 ity of the digestive organs. The waste of tissue, 
 
 "3 
 
ii4 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 therefore, must also have a limit; and fatigue has 
 been provided to warn us when this limit is approach- 
 ing. The more we study the human machine, the 
 more we find cause to marvel at the Omniscience 
 which created it. 
 
 Our knowledge of fatigue is still very limited. 
 In 1904 Weichardt announced that he had discov- 
 ered a specific substance, a fatigue toxin, which he 
 claimed was the chief cause of fatigue, and against 
 which the body was able to produce an antitoxin. 
 To test this theory, Lee and Aronovitch (Depart- 
 ment of Physiology, Columbia University, N. Y.) 
 instituted a series of experiments. Cats and rab- 
 bits were fatigued by running in a revolving wheel. 
 After the animals were thoroughly fatigued they 
 were killed, the muscles of the hind legs were re- 
 moved and the muscle juice extracted. This juice 
 was then injected into the peritoneal cavity of guinea 
 pigs. As a "control," a similar experiment was 
 carried out, the muscle juice of non-fatigued animals 
 being used. The results in both cases were some 
 disturbance of respiration and an immediate fall of 
 temperature. The fall continued from v thirty min- 
 utes to an hour and was followed by a slower return 
 to normal. Some of the animals died on the fol- 
 lowing day. This occurred in the case of the "con- 
 trol" animals as well as in those which had been 
 treated with the juice from the fatigued muscles. 
 
ALCOHOL AND FATIGUE 115 
 
 It would therefore appear that there is in the nor- 
 mal muscle a substance which, when brought into 
 contact with other parts of the body, produces a 
 toxic effect. 
 
 The body eliminates its waste tissue through the 
 circulatory system. It is carried off in the venous 
 blood and is finally emitted by way of the lungs. 
 Every muscle is supplied with blood vessels and 
 lymphatics. With this information to build on we 
 may conclude that the use of the muscles eventually 
 releases certain toxic substances which, finding their 
 way into the circulation, are the direct cause of 
 fatigue. 
 
 We may now go a step further. When the fatigue 
 toxin reaches the circulation, an antitoxin is set up. 
 Thus we find the individual, let us say the black- 
 smith, who uses his muscles regularly in the course 
 of his daily work, can do this without being tired. 
 On the other hand, the office worker who suddenly 
 takes up some strenuous exercise is rapidly fatigued; 
 but if he continues the exercise his body will become 
 accustomed to it and he will no longer feel fatigued, 
 because the antitoxins have been produced. There 
 is however a limit to muscular exertion, and when 
 this limit is reached the muscles draw on the other 
 parts of the body and the nerves become affected. 
 
 The process of mental fatigue is not so clear. We 
 know that the nerves can be trained to withstand a 
 
n6 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 certain amount of strain, just as our muscles can be 
 trained. But it is apparent that the brain cannot be 
 used — or at any rate is not so used in ordinary life — 
 with the same regularity as the muscles of the work- 
 man. The bricklayer performs the same task day 
 after day, while the business man may be suddenly 
 called upon, after a week of routine, to decide some 
 momentous question which will require the best 
 thought of which he is capable. If from this effort 
 antitoxins are set up, they are gradually eliminated 
 until some new crisis brings a reproduction. The 
 manual worker, for his part, may suffer another form 
 of mental fatigue. A common case is the fatigue 
 which is the result of monotony of employment or 
 environment. American industries have been stand- 
 ardized to a great extent. A job which necessitates 
 doing the same thing over and over again, attending 
 interminably to the same detail, affords no mental 
 relaxation. The mechanic who bores the same-sized 
 hole in wood or metal thousands of times during the 
 work-week becomes subject to a nervous strain, which 
 may be more or less severe according to the dis- 
 position and habits of the individual. A country 
 boy, coming from a farm where the work and sur- 
 roundings are varied and entering upon a job of this 
 sort within the four blank walls of a machine shop, 
 will feel the strain more than the experienced mill 
 hand. Monotony such as this may be described as 
 
ALCOHOL AND FATIGUE 117 
 
 a passive monotony in contradistinction from the 
 active, aggressive monotony which is forced upon the 
 mind of the worker in the never-ending shop noises 
 or eyestrains — the steam hammer of the boiler shop, 
 the whir of machinery, the dizzying revolution of 
 wheels, and so on. The wearing effect of any such 
 form of monotonous repetition was recognized by 
 the Chinese in one of their well-known punishments 
 — the tickling of the soles of the feet until the 
 nervous system was completely shattered. 
 
 These are some of the causes of the everyday 
 changes which occur within the body and must be 
 taken into account in any study of the effect of alcohol 
 upon the human system. To make a man the me- 
 chanical subject of a laboratory experiment without 
 any consideration of his previous history, and feed 
 him alcohol in the hope of obtaining accurate data 
 as to the effect of the drug, is merely ridiculous. 
 
 Here is a simple test which the reader, if he is 
 accustomed to using alcohol in moderation, can make 
 for himself. If he has spent a quiet morning, with 
 nothing to disturb his physical or mental poise, let 
 him take a drink of alcoholic liquor — a cocktail or 
 whisky — at luncheon time. In a very short while 
 the slight feeling of exhilaration will wear off, and 
 in its place will come a feeling of depression. Let 
 him, however, take the same drink before his evening 
 meal — -after a hard day's physical or mental labor — 
 
n8 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 and there will be a sustained feeling of stimulation. 
 Where alcohol is taken to overcome the effect of 
 fatigue, depression iseldom follows; for just as 
 alcohol will counteract fatigue, so the fatigue toxins 
 seem to prevent the depressant action of alcohol. 
 
 Have you ever noticed how much more easily the 
 manual worker becomes intoxicated than the man 
 who works with his brain? The fatigue antitoxins 
 which physical labor sets up appear to be more con- 
 stant than those which may be produced by mental 
 effort. Consequently, in the steady manual worker 
 there is little to offset the intoxicating effect of 
 alcohol. There are many instances to show the 
 slight effect alcohol will have on those who are under- 
 going severe mental strain. A colonel of artillery 
 in one of the armies of the Allies tells the story that, 
 during the German drive for the Channel Ports in 
 the spring of 191 8, he and his officers on some days 
 drank a quart of Scotch whisky apiece with no more 
 effect than if it had been so much water. A farm 
 hand may become intoxicated on three per cent, cider, 
 because his work does not cause mental strain. A 
 mill hand may drink with impunity on Friday night 
 an amount of alcohol which, if taken on Monday 
 after his day of rest, would make him drunk. 
 
 One of the strongest arguments for prohibition 
 was the harm done by the corner saloon. A large 
 part of the saloon patronage came from the laboring 
 
ALCOHOL AND FATIGUE 119 
 
 classes. Their ignorance of the proper use of alcohol 
 often led to excesses, and thus the saloon became a 
 public nuisance. Would it not have been better to 
 attempt to dispel some of the ignorance which has 
 surrounded alcohol than to attempt to enforce a 
 nation-wide prohibition which is bound to result in 
 failure? The question has already been answered 
 by the disastrous results which followed war-time 
 prohibition and are now emphasizing the contempt- 
 of-nature provisions of the Eighteenth Amendment. 
 So many arguments and data have been advanced 
 to show the harmful effects of alcohol that the reader 
 will doubtless require on the other side more than 
 the mere theory of the value of alcohol as related to 
 fatigue. Some years ago the subject was brought 
 home very forcibly to the author, and as a result a 
 series of observations was undertaken to determine 
 the value of alcohol as an antidote for fatigue in 
 athletics. For this purpose (to say nothing of other 
 purposes) no sport can equal golf. The golf stroke 
 itself, from the short put to the full stroke, requires 
 the most exact coordination of mind and muscle. 
 During the swing the head of the club travels varying 
 distances, from a few inches to over twenty feet. 
 The most perfect rhythm must be observed, the club 
 head travelling at its maximum speed just as it comes 
 in contact with the ball. While the player may make 
 his strokes instinctively, nevertheless every oppor- 
 
120 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 tunity is given for mature deliberation and a fault 
 which may spoil one stroke can be corrected at the 
 next. Thirty-six holes of golf require about six 
 hours of physical effort, and there is no greater 
 mental strain in any sport than can be found on the 
 putting green when the match is close and the prize 
 worth winning. In the full stroke the value of mus- 
 cular power is fully demonstrated. The three-quar- 
 ter and half strokes and the wrist shots supply a 
 perfect test of mental control. To apply the proper 
 speed to the club head, to play a ball from a cuppy 
 lie and drop it within a few feet of a hole one hun- 
 dred and thirty yards away, is a test of delicacy of 
 touch which will compare favorably with the finest 
 laboratory measurements. The results are all set 
 forth accurately on the score card. 
 
 In the observations made for comparative pur- 
 poses, many prominent golfers unwittingly took part. 
 The results were almost invariably the same. Where 
 a moderate amount of alcohol was taken at luncheon 
 time, the play of the afternoon compared more favor- 
 ably with the morning round than where total absti- 
 nence was observed. If more than enough alcohol 
 to counteract the fatigue of the morning were taken, 
 the toxic effect of the drug could be seen in the falling 
 off of the play. The following scores, with the 
 distances, are submitted to demonstrate to our labo- 
 
ALCOHOL AND FATIGUE 121 
 
 ratory friends that a man may still take a cocktail 
 occasionally without impairing his efficiency. 
 
 Golfer No. i Date: July 8, 1906 
 
 Alcohol. One Martini cocktail, one Scotch high- 
 ball : approximately 45 cubic centimetres. 
 
 Conditions. No golf for two weeks previous to 
 day of score. Morning round mediocre, score not 
 kept. 
 
 123456789 Total 
 Distance 427 276 106 240 580 555 396 210 155 
 
 Score 54246 5443 37 
 
 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 
 Distance 300 344 309 275 382 470 255 140 260 
 
 Score 544455433 37 
 
 74 
 
 This score established an amateur record for the 
 course. As every golfer knows, the mental strain 
 increases towards the end of a record score, which 
 one misplay may spoil. 
 
 Golfer No. 2 Date: October 22, 19 16 
 
 Alcohol. Two Martini cocktails, one Bass' Ale : 
 approximately 75 cubic centimetres. 
 
 Conditions. Eighteen holes played the afternoon 
 before. No golf on the five previous days. 
 
 123456789 Total 
 Distance 212 312 326 140 540 606 640 180 350 
 
 Morning 354366745 43 
 
 Afternoon 344355634 37 
 
122 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 IO II 12 13 14 15 l6 17 l8 
 
 Distance 380 360 455 565 280 150 363 120 225 
 
 Morning .556543534 40 
 Afternoon 5 4 6xxxxxxi5 
 
 Total for Morning 83 
 Total for Afternoon 52 
 
 This score was made in the finals of a club cham- 
 pionship, which fact formed the mental hazard. The 
 match ended with a victory on the twelfth green. 
 An interesting sidelight is that on the same day the 
 year before the same contestants met in the finals of 
 the same championship. For that occasion the 
 scorer had been on a training-table diet for two 
 months and played the whole match without alcoholic 
 stimulation. In the morning round he recorded an 
 eighty-two, but in the afternoon he began dropping 
 strokes and was finally defeated on the fourteenth 
 green, his score showing ten strokes worse than the 
 one recorded here. 
 
 From these and a great many similar records it 
 seems clear that when alcohol is taken only in suffi- 
 cient quantity to offset the effect of fatigue, it does 
 not interfere with accuracy of performance or the 
 will to win. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 FATIGUE AND DISEASE 
 
 The craving for alcohol which fatigue produces is 
 a natural craving, that is to say, the body is only 
 expressing a demand for something which it really 
 needs and for which it will be the better, once it has 
 been obtained. Fatigue is a very real cause of 
 bodily impairment. How serious a factor it may 
 become is now fully recognized. Sleep is the sover- 
 eign remedy, but as an emergency treatment alcohol 
 supplies the most effective antidote. Sleep is not 
 always obtainable when it is most needed; the slug- 
 gard may be drowsy with over-indulgence, while 
 the keen worker and keen brain, the strained and 
 exhausted nerves, may look in vain for nature's 
 quiet hand to knit up "the ravell'd sleave of care." 
 Or time may press; we cannot leave our work un- 
 finished and go calmly to bed; the task, whatever it 
 may be, must be finished, and finished efficiently. We 
 have only twenty-four hours a day to live on, as 
 Arnold Bennett points out; and sometimes alcohol, 
 used with judgment, will enable us to get and give 
 full value for every one of the twenty-four. To 
 
 withhold alcohol under conditions which clearly call 
 
 123 
 
i2 4 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 for its use, is a very serious responsibility. The 
 prohibitionists may affect to ignore this responsibility, 
 but they lay themselves open to the specific charge of 
 making their own profit through others' loss. In 
 this connection one may properly point out that in 
 spite of its resolution professing to condemn alcohol 
 absolutely under all conditions, the American Med- 
 ical Association permits its members to make an 
 enormous profit through their monopoly of prescrib- 
 ing alcohol for medical purposes. A little more 
 outward consistency might at any rate be expected. 
 
 Fatigue may cause injury by its direct effect upon 
 the system, or it may act indirectly by lowering our 
 powers of resistance and thus lay the system open to 
 attack by the germs of disease. One of our leading 
 American pathologists has expressed his firm convic- 
 tion that in the course of time fatigue would be 
 recognized as one of the main causes of disease; 
 and Sir James Paget is quoted as writing: "You will 
 find that fatigue has a larger share in the promotion 
 or transmission of disease than any other single 
 causal condition you can name."* Nervous prostra- 
 tion and other similar affections are examples of the 
 direct effect of fatigue. The disastrous ending of 
 Mr. Wilson's Western speaking tour in favor of 
 the League of Nations showed how serious may be 
 
 * "The Human Machine and Industrial Efficiency" ; Lee, 
 p. 79. 
 
FATIGUE AND DISEASE 125 
 
 the effects of fatigue caused by great mental and 
 physical effort following a long period of overwork. 
 If the President, to set an example to the nation in 
 the observance of war-time prohibition, deprived 
 himself of necessary alcoholic stimulation, he was a 
 victim of the ignorance which brought this measure 
 upon the country, and his misfortune can never be 
 wholly repaired now. It is so easy to destroy, so 
 hard to rebuild. But valuable as alcohol may be in 
 such emergencies, to arrest destructive action and re- 
 store the equilibrium of the system, we find its 
 greatest usefulness in the relief of the lighter cases 
 of fatigue-strain, which, if persisted in, will lower 
 our powers of resistance and impair our physical 
 fitness. Every athletic trainer knows the danger of 
 getting his squad too "fine." Overtraining is the 
 result of a greater effort than the recuperative powers 
 of the body can take care of, the cumulative effect of 
 a small surplus of fatigue produced daily or at fre- 
 quent intervals, with the consequent injurious action 
 on the body. 
 
 The individual cannot stand alone. His physical 
 deterioration is a menace to the whole community. 
 We are only just beginning to understand the mean- 
 ing of virulence in infectious disease. It is possible 
 to breed the germs of disease and increase their 
 natural powers precisely as we are able to improve 
 the breed of our draft horses or dairy cows. Nour- 
 
126 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 ishment and congenial surroundings are the founda- 
 tions of this improvement. In the impaired body, 
 which is able to offer only a weak resistance to the 
 progress of an infection, the organisms of disease 
 find a host altogether too hospitable; they feel 
 happily at home and are able to attain their highest 
 development. A little care, an ounce of prevention, 
 — in cases such as this an ounce or so of alcohol, — 
 would have saved the proverbial pound of cure. Yet 
 how often do we hear the expression, "Prohibition 
 means nothing to me, I never drink alcoholic 
 liquors"? The man whose life runs so smoothly 
 that he never needs manufactured alcohol may or 
 may not be a fortunate individual, but he will find 
 that prohibition, if enforced, will have for him a very 
 real meaning on account of the malnutrition it will 
 be responsible for among his neighbors whose need 
 for alcohol is distinctly different from his. 
 
 The great influenza pandemic already referred 
 to,* which reached this country in the late summer of 
 19 1 8, is an example of the serious conditions which 
 are to be expected as a natural consequence of fatigue 
 and malnutrition. For four years Europe had been 
 undergoing the physical and mental strain of the 
 greatest war in history. In most of the belligerent 
 countries, control of foodstuffs was resorted to and 
 laws were passed reducing the consumption of 
 
 * See Chapter XV. 
 
FATIGUE AND DISEASE 127 
 
 alcoholic beverages. While it is too much to say, 
 with so many conditions favoring disease, that de- 
 priving the workers of necessary alcohol was the 
 primary cause of the scourge, nevertheless it is a 
 factor which cannot be ignored. If more attention 
 had been paid to the study of fatigue and its allevia- 
 tion by alcoholic stimulants and other proper mea- 
 sures, the sweeping disaster might have been avoided 
 or at least minimized. Sixteen months after the 
 beginning of the war, the British Committee on the 
 Health of Munition Workers gave the following 
 picture of conditions in Great Britain : "Taking the 
 country as a whole the Committee are bound to 
 record their impression that the munition workers in 
 general have been allowed to reach a state of reduced 
 efficiency and lowered health which might have been 
 avoided without reduction of output by attention to 
 the details of daily and weekly rests." It is difficult 
 to find a more monotonous occupation than the manu- 
 facture of munitions. In March, 1917, the Food 
 Controller, Lord Devonport, reduced the annual out- 
 put of beer in the United Kingdom from 26,000,000 
 barrels, which had been allowed for the year ending 
 March 31, 1916, to 10,000,000 barrels. Six months 
 later the Health of Munition Workers Committee 
 wrote : "The conditions are not the same now as 
 they were in the early days of the war; not only 
 have large numbers of the youngest and strongest 
 
128 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 workers been withdrawn for military service, but 
 those who remain are suffering from the strain in- 
 separable from a continuous period of long hours of 
 employment. . . . The effects of the strain may 
 even have been already more serious than appears on 
 the surface, for while it is possible to judge roughly 
 the general condition of those working in the factory 
 to-day, little information is available concerning the 
 large number of workers who, for one reason or 
 another, and often because they find the work too 
 arduous, are continually giving up their job." In 
 many of the other countries the conditions were far 
 worse. 
 
 The danger to the health of a community which 
 may result from depriving the normal human being 
 of alcohol was convincingly demonstrated by our own 
 experience during mobilization. When the draft 
 called our millions to the colors, it took the pick of 
 the nation's manhood. Men in the prime of youth- 
 ful vigor were selected after a careful medical exam- 
 ination and sent away to the concentration camps. 
 It is true that the camps were sometimes crowded, 
 but many of these men came from the crowded quar- 
 ters of our large cities. It is also true that they 
 were unable to choose their own food, but their 
 rations were selected by men of experience and should 
 not have affected their physical condition adversely. 
 The one great dietary change which came to them 
 
FATIGUE AND DISEASE 129 
 
 when they entered the Army was that they were no 
 longer able to obtain the customary alcoholic drink to 
 meet their bodily requirements. They were then 
 put through a severe course of physical training, and 
 in addition to the fatigue produced by this muscular 
 exercise, they were continually subject to the mental 
 strain of the thought of separation from home and 
 family to take part on a foreign soil in the greatest 
 war in history. It is no wonder that epidemics broke 
 out in these camps, nor is it surprising that the death 
 rate from diseases like pneumonia should have been 
 two or three times the normal. When we hear 
 stories of the great improvement which prohibition 
 has wrought in some homes by the reformation of the 
 drunken husband, we must think also of the fathers 
 and mothers whose sons were carried off in these 
 camp epidemics through official ignorance of the 
 proper use of alcohol. Drunkenness is a vice, but 
 it is curable. No one can cure death. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE ECONOMIC SIDE OF PROHIBITION 
 
 Before discussing prohibition more closely from 
 the economic standpoint, let us consider some of the 
 conditions by which we are surrounded — conditions 
 under which we are permitted to exist. We are all 
 subject to certain natural laws, — man and beast, fish 
 and fowl, insect and plant life. From chaos to the 
 present day there has been, it is hoped, a gradual 
 improvement in terrestrial life. That this improve- 
 ment may go on, nature endeavors to maintain an 
 even balance in her dealings with her creatures, so 
 that those who by their own efforts rise above the 
 general mass may go forward, while those who slip 
 back fall finally to oblivion. Where man has gained 
 a thorough knowledge of particular conditions, he has 
 frequently been able to improve on nature's methods. 
 But too often, through a facile enthusiasm born of 
 ignorance, he has run counter to nature's purposes 
 and has thus been brought to disaster. Take as an 
 example some of the legislation designed to protect 
 wild life. Bounties have been offered for the de- 
 struction of certain predatory birds, because the in- 
 
 130 
 
THE ECONOMIC SIDE 131 
 
 jury they did seemed obvious; yet when they have 
 been driven from the locality, it has been found that 
 these very outlaws had been keeping down dangerous 
 vermin, which became an uncontrollable pest as soon 
 as nature's guard had been removed. This leaping 
 before looking is typical of prohibition to-day. The 
 average temperance worker may have excellent inten- 
 tions, but he knows little or nothing about alcohol 
 from the scientific side. He has had the usual expe- 
 rience — an intemperate friend or acquaintance, some 
 information gleaned from police courts or police 
 reports, some misinformation absorbed from the 
 ranting of an ignorant enthusiast, mistaking denunci- 
 ation for demonstration. Yet through organized 
 effort the prohibitionists have been able to impose 
 their will upon the legislatures of the country and en- 
 graft upon the fundamental law a measure which 
 should never have passed beyond the dignity of a 
 village ordinance. It is an extraordinary case of 
 wholesale modern dragooning. But intolerance does 
 not cease to be vicious simply because it is exhibited 
 on a vast scale. Congress cannot repeal the laws of 
 nature. Be sure of one thing : evolution will never 
 bring any species down to the level of its unfit. And 
 no nation can adopt measures which sacrifice its 
 manhood and womanhood for the benefit of its 
 drunkards and debauchees and still hold its economic 
 position. The country will go forward, but there 
 
132 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 will be a good deal of wreckage to be cleared out of 
 the way. 
 
 A nation's economic position is dependent on — i. 
 natural resources; 2. industry; 3. commerce; 4. 
 thrift. With industry is included the health and 
 efficiency of the workers, and thrift embraces the 
 thrift of the people themselves and the conservation 
 of the nation's finances and natural resources. Prac- 
 tically all national wealth is the result of industry, 
 for however favored a nation may be in natural 
 resources these can only be brought into marketable 
 form as the result of labor. To reap the reward of 
 industry, labor's product must be bartered. If a 
 nation is able to produce a surplus in excess of its 
 own needs, it may add to the national wealth by 
 exchanging this surplus for some form of permanent 
 property, or for some product which can be produced 
 more cheaply abroad, thus releasing labor for more 
 remunerative production at home. 
 
 It is still too early to estimate the effect of prohi- 
 bition on our industries : first, because of lack of 
 effective enforcement, and second because, following 
 so closely upon a great world upheaval, during which 
 labor's powers of production were taxed to the limit 
 with the natural consequence that wages rose with 
 the increased demand, many disadvantages which 
 might be attributed to prohibition may be due wholly 
 or partly to other conditions. It is much easier to 
 
THE ECONOMIC SIDE 133 
 
 disprove the economic arguments of the prohibi- 
 tionists than to arrive at definite conclusions on the 
 other side from the records now available. It will 
 require a long time and a careful study of statistics 
 before we shall be able to gauge the full effect of the 
 new order of things upon the country. While certain 
 outstanding facts may be considered, the question as 
 a whole can only be discussed in principle. 
 
 What will be the effect of enforced prohibition 
 upon labor? A requirement of primary importance 
 for productive industry is that labor must be well and 
 suitably fed : because if the body is undernourished, 
 its capacity for physical effort is lowered, and because 
 starvation, whether sudden or gradual, naturally 
 breeds discontent and may lead to revolution in the 
 future as in the past. But a man may eat his fill and 
 yet starve his body. Any radical change of diet may 
 cause malnutrition until the people have accustomed 
 themselves to it. Malt liquor has been an important 
 part of the laborer's diet. It is no easy matter to 
 provide a substitute. Since national prohibition 
 went into effect the country has been agitated by 
 strikes and other forms of labor unrest. Lowered 
 production is everywhere apparent. Here is the 
 report of a special grand jury that has been looking 
 into the cause of housing shortage in the City of 
 Cleveland : 
 
134 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 "The testimony adduced indicates conclusively 
 that it requires approximately twice as long with 
 the same number of men to erect a house to-day 
 as it did in pre-war times. Impartial tests show 
 that it takes twice as many carpenter hours to do 
 carpenter work on a building as it did five years 
 ago. Bricklayers lay less than half the number of 
 bricks; paperhangers, painters, and plasterers all 
 do less than half the work in the same time that 
 they did five years ago. 
 
 "Manufacturing firms which make and sell 
 building materials prove by their records that 
 while wages have gone up 200 per cent, in some 
 cases, labor costs have gone up 400 per cent., 
 indicating that the employees are getting double 
 pay for one-half the work as compared with before 
 the war." 
 
 These conditions have been duplicated in many of 
 the cities throughout the country, and though wages 
 have been tending to come to a lower level under the 
 pressure of industrial necessity, there has been no 
 recognizable readjustment of the work-rate in the 
 direction of pre-war efficiency. The very thing which 
 has occurred — deterioration — was predicted by the 
 leaders of labor. The following is the opinion of 
 Mr. Samuel Gompers, President of the American 
 Federation of Labor, as to the effect that prohibition 
 
THE ECONOMIC SIDE 135 
 
 would have upon the working man. This effect is 
 only the natural sequel of causes which science has 
 fully explained. 
 
 "It is not a question of right or wrong. It is 
 not a question of whether we approve or dis- 
 approve of beer or drinking. It is his habit. And 
 when you invade a man's habits, what happens? 
 You upset that man. You unsettle him. Uproot- 
 ing one habit uproots others. And you find that 
 the man who was heretofore satisfied to labor as 
 he had been laboring, to go home nights and talk 
 or read, becomes restive and discontented. In- 
 stead of sitting down to rest and read, he goes out 
 into the street. There he meets other men, rest- 
 less and unsettled like himself. And in the rubbing 
 together of their mutual grievances there are 
 sparks and sometimes fire. 
 
 "I have heard it stated, and I believe it, that 
 the birth of the Bolsheviki was in prohibition. 
 Harmful as vodka was, it enabled the Russian 
 peasant to find surcease from the dull monotony 
 of his life. Without it he found only trouble and 
 torment and the desire to tear down what he could 
 not rebuild. And to-day Russia lies bleeding, tor- 
 tured. It was too big a price to pay. 
 
 "It is time for all of us to recognize the fact 
 that a thing like prohibition cannot be attained by 
 executive decree. 
 
136 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 "It cannot be pounded, with heavy hand, from 
 the top downward. It must, like democracy, flow 
 from the bottom upward." 
 
 In the prohibition propaganda, much capital has 
 been made of the alleged foodstuff waste incfdent to 
 the manufacture of alcoholic beverages. Dr. Fisk, 
 in his book on alcohol, says : 
 
 "Exact figures are not obtainable, but it is con- 
 servatively estimated that probably 110,000,000 
 bushels of grain are utilized in the manufacture of 
 alcoholic beverages. Grapes and molasses (152,- 
 000,000 gallons) must not be forgotten in con- 
 sidering these matters. Grapes utilized for sweet 
 wines when converted into raisins constitute a 
 most valuable preserved food, and this wine-grow- 
 ing industry might well be transformed into a 
 food-growing industry. 
 
 "It has been estimated that enough grain is 
 used in this country in the manufacture of alcoholic 
 beverages to supply 11,000,000 loaves of bread 
 daily. 
 
 "In addition to the grain used in the manu- 
 facture of beer, as at least approximately stated 
 in the proclamation of the Brewers' Board of 
 Trade (70,505,488 bushels), there should be con- 
 sidered the 39,000,000 bushels of corn, rye and 
 malt used in distilling spirits, one-half of which 
 
THE ECONOMIC SIDE 137 
 
 was used for industrial purposes in 19 16. Also 
 there must be considered the labor of those en- 
 gaged in the brewing and distilling business as well 
 as in the liquor-selling business. The loss to the 
 country involved in depriving real wealth-produc- 
 ing industries of the labor of these men and the 
 destruction of coal, gasoline, steel, wood and other 
 material that is used in the alcohol industries, must 
 also be figured in the bill against alcohol — the 
 purely economic bill. 
 
 "The plea, therefore, that grave industrial and 
 economic injury would result from prohibiting the 
 manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages 
 naively ignores the real effect of such a measure, 
 the diverting into healthful occupations of those 
 now engaged in unhealthful occupations that 
 involve the destruction of food and the manu- 
 facture of a poison instead of the production of 
 wealth."* 
 
 No objection whatever is made by the prohibition- 
 ists to what they please to term "food waste" and 
 "loss to the country involved in depriving real wealth- 
 producing industries of labor," etc., when it occurs 
 in the process of manufacturing fruit syrups for the 
 soda water fountain or unfermented beverages from 
 grapes, apples and other fruits. 
 
 * "Alcohol — Its Relation to Human Efficiency and Lon- 
 gevity"; pp. 147, 152-4 
 
138 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 Dr. Fisk's grain figures look large by themselves, 
 but, like so many of his statements, they lose their 
 impressiveness as soon as they are placed in their 
 proper perspective. The United States produces 
 annually about 5,400,000,000 bushels of grain, so 
 that 110,000,000 bushels is only about two per cent, 
 of the total. If the grain used in the manufacture 
 of alcohol and alcoholic beverages were all loss, the 
 cash equivalent would still be less than we pay for the 
 activities of the rat. As a purely business proposi- 
 tion, extermination of the rat would be a better and 
 cheaper undertaking than elimination of the liquor 
 industry. 
 
 But even conceding that as the demand for grain 
 for home consumption increases, the 110,000,000 
 bushels used in the manufacture of alcohol may take 
 on a growing importance: what then? In the first 
 place, there is a good deal of acreage that the farmer 
 does not always use to its full extent. It is better 
 for him to plant and sell than deliberately to re- 
 strict his output. In the second place, this alcohol 
 grain was not entirely lost to other industries. 
 Thirty-five per cent, of the grain used in brewing beer 
 was returned to the farmer as a dairy food. Soren- 
 sen, a Danish authority on the pure food question, 
 has recently demonstrated that when barley, which 
 is the principal grain used by brewers, is fed to cattle 
 only 5 1 per cent, of the food value is utilized. On 
 
THE ECONOMIC SIDE 139 
 
 the other hand, when fed in the form of brewers' 
 grain 61 per cent, of the nutritive value is retained. 
 In the third place, will prohibition stop the alleged 
 waste? To-day our brewers are using the same 
 grain in the manufacture of non-alcoholic beers. The 
 difference from the economic standpoint is that the 
 product has lost much of its food value. 
 
 There is still another side to the question. The 
 people are now buying grain and making their own 
 beer. Signs like the one below have become familiar 
 in the grocers' windows : 
 
 Make Your Own at Home 
 
 Ask Us How 
 
 While home-made beer has the full food value, the 
 grain from which it is made goes into the swill pail 
 and is lost to the farmer and cattle breeder. Yet the 
 argument of grain waste is still being used to pro- 
 mote the cause of prohibition. Dr. C. W. Saleeby, 
 the British authority on eugenics and an advocate 
 (but scarcely authoritative) of temperance, speak- 
 ing at the international conference against alcohol- 
 ism, expressed the opinion that England must adopt 
 prohibition as a grain conservation measure. The 
 childish simplicity of some minds is truly remark- 
 able. The law of supply and demand cannot be 
 long evaded by governmental fiat. The economic 
 
140 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 question to be considered is not precisely how much 
 grain, grapes or molasses is destroyed in the manu- 
 facture of alcohol, but whether it is better and 
 cheaper for the nation to obtain its alcohol in this 
 manner, or through sugars, starches and other 
 alcohol-producing foods in the form of candies, 
 sweets, etc. A rather interesting comment on Dr. 
 Saleeby's statement is provided by the Act of Parlia- 
 ment which has just been passed, removing many of 
 the war-time restrictions on the sale of manufactured 
 alcohol and allowing the brewers and distillers to 
 return to the pre-war standard of strength. 
 
 How will prohibition affect our commerce ? Wine 
 making is an important industry in many of the 
 countries of Europe. Before the Great War the 
 United States received large consignments of wines 
 from France, Italy and the Rhineland, and whiskies 
 and ales from Britain. Our markets for these prod- 
 ucts have now been closed to Europe. This is 
 particularly unfortunate because of the condition of 
 foreign exchange. When the new Greenback party 
 came into power in the United States they set an 
 example, in their "elastic currency," which started 
 the printing presses of the European nations in the 
 busy production of paper money as a war measure. 
 In June, 19 14, the world's stock of gold coin and 
 bullion far exceeded the amount of paper money in 
 
THE ECONOMIC SIDE 141 
 
 circulation. The ratio of gold to paper at that time 
 was estimated at $141 gold to every $100 paper. 
 According to the latest figures, although the gold 
 supply has increased, the ratio to-day (excluding the 
 Bolshevik government) is only $19 gold for every 
 $100 paper. Statistics issued by the British Govern- 
 ment in November, 19 19, showed that the expansion 
 of currency, taking 19 13 as par (100) was: 
 
 In the United States (up to May, 19 10) 173 
 
 In Great Britain (August, 19 19) 244 
 
 In France (June, 1919) 365 
 
 In Italy (April, 19 19) 440 
 
 Substantial additions to the paper currencies of 
 the Allied Nations have accrued since these statistics 
 were compiled. 
 
 Great issues of paper money have been made in 
 Germany. The Bank of Germany lost 1,458,508,- 
 000 marks gold during the year following the arm- 
 istice, but added 13,669,154,000 marks to its note 
 circulation. The gold cover on November 15, 191 8, 
 was 14 per cent, and a year later it had shrunk to 
 3 . 1 per cent. This currency inflation has of course 
 been reflected in the rates for foreign exchange, as 
 will be seen by reference to the following table. 
 Serious depreciation has occurred even in the case of 
 Great Britain, although she is producing large quan- 
 tities of gold in her colonial possessions. 
 
142 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 Parity Oct. 1920 Aug. 1921 
 Great Britain Sterling $4.8665 $3,435 $3.65 
 France Franc • I 93° -0645 .0772 
 
 Italy Lira . 1930 -0374 .0432 
 
 Germany Mark .2380 .0141 ,0119 
 
 It is perfectly obvious that foreign paper is no 
 longer effective as a medium for negotiating a pur- 
 chase in other countries. What is the solution? 
 These nations must return to the ancient system of 
 barter, or, what is but one step removed, must 
 establish credits by the shipment of goods. 
 
 A substantial part of the export trade of Europe 
 consists in the shipment of fine wines, brandies and 
 other alcoholic liquors. These commodities must 
 now find another market, for no one is foolish enough 
 to suppose that France, Italy and the Rhineland will 
 abandon their wine-growing industries to please 
 American financiers who preach prohibition in their 
 churches while their business associates invest their 
 money in corn products, sugars and other alcohol- 
 producing foods, which will become increasingly 
 necessary with the enforcement of the Eighteenth 
 Amendment. The credits set up by the wine-grow- 
 ing countries will be lost to America, and will be used 
 to make purchases in other countries; cotton from 
 Egypt, grain and beef from The Argentine, etc. 
 In turning away this business we are deliberately 
 encouraging trade with our competitors. Every de- 
 
THE ECONOMIC SIDE 143 
 
 partment-store owner is familiar with the advantages 
 to be gained by offering attractive bargains to bring 
 customers into the shop. The loss of our wine- 
 growing customers, and the trade which these exports 
 to other countries will encourage, will undoubtedly 
 lead to great commercial changes — how great we 
 cannot now foresee. 
 
 The following schedule should be found interest- 
 ing for reference. 
 
 Importations from Europe of alcoholic bever- 
 ages for the year 19 13 (the last year before 
 the trade was interrupted by the war). 
 
 England 
 
 Malt liquors and other beverages 
 
 in bottles or jugs 872,964 gals. 
 
 in other coverings 575,245 
 Brandy 4*699 pf. gals. 
 
 Cordials 16,764 " " 
 
 Whisky 57,143 " " 
 
 Gin 703,070 " " 
 All other spirits distilled 33*836 " " 
 
 Champagnes and other sparkling 
 
 wines I 5>7 2 9 doz. qts. 
 
 Still wines in casks 32,352 gals. 
 
 Still wines in other coverings 5,586 doz. qts. 
 
 Scotland 
 
 Malt liquors and other beverages 
 
 in bottles or jugs 11*273 gals, 
 
 in other coverings 5*969 " 
 
144 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 Brandy 
 
 326 pf. gals. 
 
 Cordials 
 
 939 " " 
 
 Whisky 
 
 895,026 " " 
 
 Gin 
 
 4,950 " " 
 
 All other spirits distilled 
 
 6,034 " " 
 
 Champagnes and other sparkling 
 
 
 wines 
 
 2,915 doz. qts. 
 
 Still wines in casks 
 
 2,581 gals. 
 
 Still wines in other coverings 
 
 725 doz. qts. 
 
 Ireland 
 
 
 Malt liquors and other beverages 
 
 
 in bottles or jugs 
 
 461,422 gals. 
 
 in other coverings 
 
 676,650 
 
 Brandy 
 
 610 pf. gals. 
 
 Cordials 
 
 23 " « 
 
 Whisky 
 
 162,17s " " 
 
 Gin 
 
 3.135 " " 
 
 All other spirits distilled 
 
 342 " " 
 
 Champagnes and other sparkling 
 
 
 wines 
 
 
 Still wines in casks 
 
 35 gals. 
 
 Still wines in other coverings 
 
 204 doz. qts. 
 
 France 
 
 
 Malt liquors and other beverages 
 
 
 in bottles or jugs 
 
 71 gals. 
 
 in other coverings 
 
 
 Brandy 
 
 487>445 P^ gals. 
 
 Cordials 
 
 190,027 " 
 
 Whisky 
 
 739 " 
 
 Gin 
 
 544 " " 
 
 All other spirits distilled 
 
 5,656 " " 
 
THE ECONOMIC SIDE 145 
 
 Champagnes and other sparkling 
 
 wines 246,361 doz. qts. 
 
 Still wines in casks 232,152 gals. 
 
 Still wines in other coverings 227,273 doz. qts. 
 
 Italy 
 
 Malt liquors and other beverages 
 
 in bottles or jugs 
 
 in other coverings 
 
 Brandy 10,980 pf. gals. 
 
 Cordials 168,569 " " 
 
 Whisky 245 " " 
 
 Gin 4 " " 
 
 All other spirits distilled 9,005 " " 
 Champagnes and other sparkling 
 
 wines 1,575 d° z - q ts « 
 Still wines in casks 1,912,500 gals. 
 
 Still wines in other coverings 236,134 doz. qts. 
 
 All Other European Countries 
 Malt liquors and other beverages 
 
 in bottles or jugs 95, J 93 gals* 
 
 in other coverings 4,978,397 
 
 Brandy 
 
 
 97,604 
 
 pf. gals. 
 
 Cordials 
 
 
 174,368 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 Whisky 
 
 
 6,337 
 
 u 
 
 ii 
 
 Gin 
 
 
 139.352 
 
 (( 
 
 u 
 
 All other spirits distilled • 
 
 117,011 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 Champagnes 
 
 and other sparkling 
 
 
 
 
 wines 
 
 
 14,120 
 
 doz. 
 
 qts. 
 
 Still wines ir 
 
 1 casks 1 
 
 ,713*619 
 
 gal 
 
 s. 
 
 Still wines in 
 
 other coverings 
 
 173.295 
 
 doz. 
 
 qts. 
 
 There is probably no more important influence on 
 national thrift than the methods employed by the 
 
146 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 government in raising the necessary funds to meet 
 the national expenses. The question of what is the 
 best form of taxation has been agitated by all politi- 
 cal parties. Prohibition has deprived the treasury 
 of over $1,000,000,000 in taxes,* and this loss must 
 be made up from some other source, — a very serious 
 problem, coming as it does at a time when the coun- 
 try is overburdened with taxation. The Dry party 
 has attempted to belittle the issue by statements that 
 the loss will be made up by the saving which the new 
 order of things will promote and that the excise tax 
 is an immoral tax, based on drunkenness and vice. 
 This is sheer nonsense. There is probably no better 
 form of taxation than the liquor tax. Compared 
 with our present income and inheritance taxes, it is 
 highly moral. The excise tax sat lightly on the 
 people. For those who used alcohol in moderation, 
 it was negligible. It was an appreciable tax only 
 on luxury and waste and acted as a restraint to self- 
 indulgence, except in the case of those improvident 
 people who like to indulge in luxury for its own sake. 
 On the other hand, the income and inheritance taxes, 
 in their graduated form, impose a burden on the 
 industrious and thrifty for the benefit of the shiftless 
 and improvident. In addition to all this, there is 
 
 *The figures given by Professor E. R. A. Seligman of 
 Columbia University when testifying before the Senate 
 Finance Committee. 
 
THE ECONOMIC SIDE 147 
 
 the very considerable cost to the taxpayer of enforc- 
 ing the amendment, for the necessary moneys for 
 administering the Volstead Act and state laws like 
 the Mullan-Gage Act certainly cannot be obtained 
 from fines and penalties unless our revenue agents 
 are prepared to encourage law-breaking. 
 
 In computing the expense of prohibition, we must 
 add the increase in our food bill, for in limiting the 
 sources from which alcohol can be obtained (and 
 unquestionably the malting of grain is cheaper than 
 any other method of producing it), the price of a 
 necessary commodity has been raised, whether it is 
 produced naturally in the system or is obtained by 
 manufacture. 
 
 Eventually we shall be able to make an approxi- 
 mate estimate of the monetary cost of prohibition, 
 but no one will ever be able to calculate the price we 
 shall have to pay through the impairment it will 
 cause in the morale of the nation. Hobson, the 
 professional prohibitionist, has estimated that at the 
 time the Eighteenth Amendment went into effect 
 there were one million heavy drinkers in the United 
 States — less than one per cent, of the population. 
 To-day there are many millions of law-breakers, for 
 the people have resented the intrusion upon their 
 personal liberties and are not obeying the law. 
 America has grown great because of the freedom 
 which was guaranteed to her people under the Bill of 
 
148 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 Rights given to us by the Fathers, This freedom has 
 attracted some of the best blood of the old world, 
 and the nation developed it under the Constitution. 
 The men who were able to conquer a wilderness were 
 able to conquer self. But the national character 
 has now fallen so low that it must be taken in hand 
 by a paternalistic government. It is a strange turn 
 of the wheel of fortune that to-day, when the example 
 which we set has borne fruit and democracy has 
 spread throughout the world, the freedom which we 
 once enjoyed should be distorted and strangled by 
 bureaucratic regulation. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE IAW AND PERSONAL LIBERTY 
 
 The legality of the Eighteenth Amendment has 
 been upheld by the Supreme Court. A majority of 
 the states, through their legislatures, have decided 
 that prohibition is for the best interests of the coun- 
 try, and according to the court's decision they had 
 the right so to amend the Constitution. The court 
 has ruled that every technical safeguard that the 
 Fathers provided has been fully complied with. The 
 decision is of momentous importance to the people 
 of America because of the questions of the rights of 
 property, state rights and personal liberty involved. 
 
 There is a condition which no form of popular 
 
 government has been able to guard against — the 
 
 ignorance or apathy of the people themselves. In 
 
 this case ignorance was organized — organized by 
 
 selfish, sordid interests which hoped to profit by the 
 
 new order of things. There is but one way in which 
 
 this condition can be met by a law-abiding people; 
 
 that is, by education and repeal. In the case of 
 
 prohibition this is all the more difficult because the 
 
 movement has been clothed in a false mantle of 
 
 righteousness, by which the real situation has been 
 
 149 
 
150 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 concealed. The weakness of the whole proceeding 
 from the legal standpoint is shown by the fact that 
 its promoters deemed it necessary to amend the Con- 
 stitution, to nail the flag of prohibition to the mast- 
 head as it were, beyond the reach of recall. If the 
 measure had been wise, this would have been un- 
 necessary. A law must pass the test of wisdom to 
 survive. No form of enactment can prevent a 
 vicious law from becoming a dead letter. 
 
 Law is the accumulated experience of humanity 
 codified for use in the regulation of human relations. 
 All law has its foundation in the laws of nature. By 
 his inability to govern wisely, man has shown only 
 too often that his interpretation of nature and na- 
 ture's requirements was at fault. In every age, 
 from the dawn of history to the present day, there 
 have been periods when he has been led astray and 
 has forgotten that there are limits to his lawmaking 
 which nature has imposed and beyond which he can- 
 not go. Whatever contradicts the fundamental 
 naturally cannot prosper. 
 
 It is becoming more and more of a practice in 
 legislation to place the interest of the community 
 above the rights of the individual. We must not 
 forget that the community is made up of individuals 
 and that any injury to the latter may react upon the 
 former. Prohibition is a serious invasion of the 
 property rights of the individual. One of the pre- 
 
LAW AND PERSONAL LIBERTY 151 
 
 dominant human instincts is our desire to own and 
 enjoy what we have acquired as the result of our 
 own labor. We have this instinct in common with 
 the lower animals. It is the right of ownership with 
 all that goes with it which induces the squirrel to 
 gather nuts for his winter store. Nature prescribes 
 individual ownership of what is necessary for individ- 
 ual development. This is the rock on which all 
 socialistic schemes have split, from More's Utopia to 
 Bolshevism. For large numbers of men, unless a 
 spirit of almost inhuman self-sacrifice becomes more 
 prevalent than we have any reason to expect, will 
 never work for a state or community of all sorts 
 and conditions, including the shiftless and lazy, as 
 they will work for their own interests. 
 
 The right of possession, the right to own property, 
 is fundamental in the laws of civilized nations. Land 
 is the most enduring form of property. The titles 
 to real estate are jealously guarded by law. Land is 
 valuable primarily for what it will produce. The 
 right of ownership carries with it the right to dispose 
 of the products of the soil, including alcohol. That 
 there are some people who make an improper use of 
 alcohol is not a sufficient reason for preventing the 
 landowner from selling his product, thus depriving 
 him of a part of the value of his land. To prohibit 
 the sale of alcohol, for the sake of those who abuse it, 
 is no more just or right than it would be to prevent 
 
152 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 the farmer from selling his wheat because there are 
 some who injure themselves by overeating. There is 
 an old saying that man digs his grave with his teeth. 
 It has been computed that for every man who drinks 
 himself to death there are eleven who die from over- 
 eating. But we have no constitutional amendment — 
 unenforceable, of course — to prohibit the sale of 
 meat or bread. The absurdity would be too self- 
 evident even for the shallowest type of propagandist. 
 Yet they cannot see the absurdity of prohibiting the 
 sale of alcohol, which nature has made essential for 
 the well-being of the human system. The fact that 
 a medical labor union has denied this elementary 
 scientific fact — and then proceeded to profit finan- 
 cially to an enormous extent by denying its denial (in 
 practice) and prescribing alcohol for medicinal pur- 
 poses — does not prove that nature has made a mis- 
 take and should be duly corrected. It simply proves 
 that the medical authorities made no mistake in 
 seeing that a monopoly in a vital commodity would 
 be extremely lucrative. 
 
 A practical test of the wisdom of any enactment 
 is to try to put it in operation. As a secondary 
 though not always reliable test, we may inquire as to 
 the knowledge and probity of the legislators who 
 passed upon the law. It is little to the credit of 
 those responsible for the adoption of the Eighteenth 
 Amendment that they ignored the failure of prohibi- 
 
LAW AND PERSONAL LIBERTY 153 
 
 tion when put to a practical test in other countries 
 and in sections of the United States; nor does it 
 speak well for their intelligence that they were will- 
 ing to disregard a fundamental principle in our 
 government, that in matters of intimate concern to 
 the individual and the home the states are better 
 fitted than the federal authorities to decide upon 
 suitable action. 
 
 When the Constitution was adopted and the 
 United States became a nation, the Founders rec- 
 ognized the principle of states' rights. Even at 
 that time the difference in climatic and other condi- 
 tions made it plain that there were certain matters 
 which could only be regulated properly by the states 
 themselves. The f arseeing wisdom of those builders 
 for future generations has become increasingly evi- 
 dent with the expansion of our territories. What 
 was but a fringe of states along the Atlantic seaboard 
 has become a great nation, extending from the At- 
 lantic to the Pacific, from Alaska to Florida and the 
 tropical Philippines. The fact that this expansion 
 occurred during the railway age prevented the far 
 greater differences of opinions and customs that 
 would have been inevitable at an earlier period in 
 the world's history. But the differences that exist 
 cannot be ignored by statesmen or economists, and 
 prohibition should certainly have been left for regu- 
 lation to the states, which understood and could pro- 
 
154 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 vide for local conditions and opinion. It is typical 
 of the ignorance which surrounded the subject that 
 the legislators of the granger states of the West 
 should have presumed to pass on an enactment regu- 
 lating the habits of the manufacturing and commer- 
 cial population of the East; that the farmers of 
 Kansas should attempt to tell the workers in the 
 brass factories of Connecticut or the sailors of 
 Rhode Island and Massachusetts what they must or 
 must not eat and drink. We might as well expect 
 the State of Florida to dictate to the citizens of 
 Alaska what they must wear and at what hour they 
 must go to bed. Nature is the only authority whose 
 dictation fits the conditions. 
 
 The extent of the prohibition propaganda is even 
 now perhaps not fully realized. It was limited only 
 by the size of the fund which the interests behind 
 the Anti-Saloon League were willing to supply. We 
 can get some idea of the amount of money spent an- 
 nually for prohibition purposes from the budget 
 which the Anti-Saloon League gave out early in 1920, 
 after prohibition had become an accomplished fact. 
 This budget carried the stupendous total of $27,- 
 920,300. There is a good deal of persuasive force 
 in practically twenty-eight millions of dollars. 
 
 The people's representatives, like the people them- 
 selves to a certain extent, were deliberately cor- 
 rupted — not with cash, but with sophisms. For 
 
LAW AND PERSONAL LIBERTY 155 
 
 years false information on alcohol has been pounded 
 into the public, and our legislators have absorbed it. 
 They may have the best intentions without having 
 infallible intelligence. Corruption is corruption 
 whether it is of morals or of mind. It was cor- 
 ruption in Shakespeare's time. It was thus that Iago 
 was able to warp the mind of Othello. It is cor- 
 ruption to-day. Are we going to permit laws passed 
 by such methods to stand upon the statute books? 
 There is no such thing as personal liberty if we must 
 be constantly on our guard against this kind of legis- 
 lation. 
 
 Let us look a little more closely into the 
 methods by which these modern Iagos were able to 
 sway popular opinion and influence our legislators. 
 We can pass over the appeals which were made to 
 the lowest side of their natures, for although stories 
 of intimidation and coercion are current, in a na- 
 tional movement such as this these would have but 
 a limited influence. That bribery may have been 
 used we will not question. We are only too familiar 
 with the temptations that beset our public officials, 
 and we have become accustomed to almost daily dis- 
 closures of graft in government departments. 
 Where there are so many professional politicians we 
 must expect some corruption of a gross kind. Law- 
 makers are not the only lawbreakers: every class 
 has its objectionable elements. But those who could 
 
i 5 6 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 be reached by admittedly fraudulent methods were in 
 the minority. A large majority of the men who 
 voted for prohibition were either convinced that it 
 would be for the good of the country or were willing 
 to give it the benefit of the doubt and let it have a 
 trial. If it proved a failure, that would be the surest 
 way to end the agitation among their constituents at 
 home. 
 
 In bringing legislators to this point of view, the 
 stand which medical authorities had taken against 
 alcohol was the deciding factor. When they wrote 
 the word "Poison'' across the label of the whisky 
 bottle, it accomplished far more for prohibition than 
 all the other propaganda put together. No more 
 convincing argument could have been used, especially 
 among those fathers and mothers whose children 
 were just approaching manhood or womanhood. 
 The father was besought to save his boys from the 
 temptations that he as a young man had been sub- 
 jected to. It possibly never occurred to him that it 
 would be better to teach children how to use alcohol 
 properly, just as they are taught to ride and swim, or 
 to drive an automobile. Would it not have been 
 better for the indulgent mother to teach her children 
 self-restraint rather than turn their moral and phys- 
 ical welfare over to the United States Government, 
 as if they were foundlings of the nation? Will our 
 women, now that they have received the respon- 
 
LAW AND PERSONAL LIBERTY 157 
 
 sibility of the suffrage, attempt to evade their natural 
 duty of caring for their own offspring? What will 
 be the effect upon the characters of future gener- 
 ations if this policy of parental suicide is continued? 
 
 It was among the women of the country that the 
 medical propaganda was most effective. The 
 mother in caring for her children through their early 
 illnesses has come to rely on the family physician, 
 and the trust which he has personally inspired has 
 taught her a respect for official medical opinion. 
 The practising physician stands between the people 
 and the medical politicians. His word goes unques- 
 tioned because of general ignorance of the fact that 
 his medical efficiency is limited by a strict control 
 exercised by the leaders of his union. To use an 
 expression of one of the shining lights of the pro- 
 fession, the practising physician is only the plumber 
 who uses the lead pipe which is given him. The 
 practitioner is exploited by the leaders of organized 
 medicine just as the ironworkers, the carpenters and 
 masons are exploited by the Sam Parks and Bob 
 Brindells of the building trade. The disastrous 
 results to medical practice are every day more ap- 
 parent. 
 
 You can scarcely have forgotten the great influenza 
 epidemic, when the people died by thousands and the 
 dead lay unburied in the receiving vaults and under- 
 taking establishments throughout the country. Long 
 
158 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 before the outbreak of the pandemic science had 
 mastered the disease, but the knowledge was sup- 
 pressed by the medical ring for selfish reasons. Do 
 you think these men would hesitate at such a little 
 thing as conveying false information on alcohol to 
 our legislatures if it served their own ends ? When 
 we realize the toll which disease is exacting from old 
 and young alike, when we think of a life like Theo- 
 dore Roosevelt's sacrificed to medical ignorance or 
 indifference, it is only too apparent that new methods 
 are badly needed, and that the revolt against the 
 medical organization, which the prohibition contro- 
 versy has so largely developed, must not end until 
 present evils have been rooted out and the health of 
 the nation has been placed in safer hands. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE LABOR UNION 
 
 In a country as large as the United States there 
 are naturally many and varied interests, continually 
 increasing with the development of the nation. What 
 was once chiefly an agricultural community is now 
 divided into urban, suburban and farming districts, 
 railway and mining centres, mill towns, etc., with 
 different problems to meet and different ways of 
 looking at daily life. Each interest has grown in 
 importance, and this has been reflected in legislation. 
 Our industrial life has also been split up into its 
 classes, — capital and labor, the employer and the 
 employed, the producer and the consumer. Too 
 often these classes have clashed, and they have lost 
 sight of the fact that the welfare of the country as a 
 whole depends upon the cooperation of all sections 
 and groups. 
 
 No interest has grown in recent years as has 
 the labor union, which is largely a development of a 
 democratic form of government. The professional 
 politician has turned from the organization of politi- 
 cal bodies to the more profitable occupation of organ- 
 izing labor. Some undesirable features have fol- 
 
 159 
 
160 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 lowed, and the legitimate purposes of cooperative 
 effort have not always been adhered to. Labor 
 unionism, so far as it really helps the worker, is of 
 course a good thing. If it interferes with the rights 
 of others, as so often happens, it must be condemned. 
 Where it runs counter to clear economic laws it 
 becomes impossible, and the sooner this phase of the 
 situation is cleared up the better for all concerned. 
 
 A brief review of certain aspects of trade unionism 
 will bring out their bearing on the prohibition ques- 
 tion. 
 
 The introduction of machinery, with its many 
 labor-saving devices, has brought new problems into 
 our industrial life. The greater output which can 
 now be obtained has increased the value, or let us 
 say the power, of capital. This in turn has put a 
 premium on thrift and has added to the hardships 
 of the lazy and improvident. For capital is nothing 
 more than wages or some other form of income 
 which the receiver has been able to save and then 
 apply to lighten the task of the worker. The pres- 
 ent vast accumulations of capital are both the result 
 and the cause of efficiency. 
 
 We have only to look back to the early days of the 
 American Colonies to realize the striking changes 
 which have occurred through the development of our 
 national industries. At the time when the Virginia 
 and Plymouth Colonies had become firmly estab- 
 
THE LABOR UNION 161 
 
 lished, a majority of the colonists were landowners 
 and were able to support themselves, if need were, 
 upon the products of their own land. The early 
 settler was able to build his own house, raise his own 
 food, and supply his own fuel and part of his cloth- 
 ing. His children, when old enough, furnished him 
 with additional labor. He asked little from his 
 neighbor except companionship and mutual protec- 
 tion against their common enemies. 
 
 With the growth of the colonies, trades and pro- 
 fessions sprang up. The man who devotes himself 
 to any one occupation, as the cobbler or carpenter, 
 can do a better job and in a shorter time than the 
 man who occasionally turns his hand to that par- 
 ticular trade. The specialists invested their earnings 
 in better tools (their capital) or in labor-saving 
 devices, as in the case of the miller who built his own 
 mill. Thus it became advantageous for the land- 
 owner to employ these expert workmen, who could 
 do better and yet cheaper work than he could do for 
 himself. (What would the colonists have thought if 
 a Plumb had arisen among them with a plan to turn 
 the mill which the miller had built with his own hands 
 over to his employees?) But it was not always 
 profitable for the employer to have work done for 
 him, because there were idle moments in his own day 
 which would have been lost if he could not employ 
 them in doing some of the things usually assigned to 
 
1 62 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 others. No workman, however expert, can compete 
 against the idle time of his employer. It may sur- 
 prise some of the dwellers in our cities to hear that 
 many farmers to-day, in addition to raising and 
 marketing their money crop, produce most of their 
 own food, even raising and grinding their own flour 
 and meal and curing their own meats, and also doing 
 their own mason and carpenter work and various 
 other things to fill in the spare time. 
 
 The development of labor-saving devices is every 
 day making it more difficult for the individual to 
 compete with the machine, because his own time is 
 becoming more valuable. Take as an example the 
 service which is rendered by the railroads. Compute 
 the expense of a trip from New York to Boston on 
 foot or on horseback — the time lost, the hotel bills 
 incurred — and compare this with the cost of the 
 railroad ticket. Such time-saving devices have added 
 to the importance and power of the labor operating 
 them. But no industrial union has ever attempted 
 to prevent the individual doing his own work himself. 
 He may be denied the assistance of organized labor, 
 but that is as far as they have ventured to go. If a 
 man wishes to walk to Boston he is still at liberty to 
 do so. It is vastly important to the development 
 of our national life that the individual should be free 
 to act for himself, not merely for the encouragement 
 of initiative and invention, and so on, but because 
 
THE LABOR UNION 163 
 
 the standard of organized effort is thus raised or at 
 least maintained. Without the bracing effect of in- 
 dividualism, combinations would often deteriorate as 
 the result of the very advantages they can command. 
 
 It has remained for the medical union to violate 
 this principle. They have not only endeavored to 
 control the practice of medicine, but have also tried 
 through legislation to force their services upon the 
 individual by placing curative agents beyond his 
 reach, as has been done in the case of alcohol. As 
 some perhaps may question the propriety of putting 
 associations which have always posed as scientific in 
 the same category as the organizations of ordinary 
 labor, it should be remembered that they themselves 
 have sought this classification. In the Bremer 
 County case, which was carried up to the Supreme 
 Court of Iowa, the medical organization successfully 
 defended itself by pleading the right of "labor" to 
 organize. And further, their strikes, boycotts and 
 other labor union methods have been fully exposed 
 in courts of this country and Great Britain. 
 
 The industrial unions have followed blindly the 
 lure of higher wages held out to them by their 
 leaders. They did not see that by standardizing 
 labor and thus putting a premium on poor workman- 
 ship and a lowered output, they were increasing the 
 cost of necessities to themselves as well as to the rest 
 of the country. They have only recently begun to 
 
1 64 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 realize that wages can be forced so high that they 
 cannot afford to accept them. The laboring man 
 is not an economist; he cannot be blamed for his 
 short-sightedness. But it is one thing (and quite 
 serious enough) for the labor unions to attempt to 
 interfere with the law of supply and demand, and 
 regulate the market for labor. It is another thing, 
 and altogether too serious, for a medical union, in 
 its frenzied efforts to control the profession, to bar 
 the advance of science in the effective treatment of 
 disease. Even the most thoughtless or ignorant can 
 understand the harm resulting from this phase of 
 labor unionism. And the laboring man has been the 
 greatest sufferer. 
 
 Let me ask you, Master Carpenter: Do yon 
 think of the bonnie golden-haired daughter who used 
 to meet you at the gate of an evening to take your 
 dinner pail when you returned from your work? Of 
 course you do. She has seldom been out of your 
 thoughts since the day when you took her little body 
 to the cemetery. It was a labor union that deprived 
 you, deprived your physician, of what might have 
 saved her life. — And you, Mr. Coal Miner. You 
 have given the country a good deal of trouble in 
 recent years. Do you think of that young wife so 
 soon to become a mother who was carried off in the 
 great influenza pandemic ? Do you know that it was 
 medical ignorance that was responsible for the high 
 
THE LABOR UNION 165 
 
 death rate among pregnant women, and that a labor 
 union kept the knowledge of proper treatment from 
 the physicians of the country? — And you, wives of 
 the trainmen whose leaders held a pistol to the head 
 of Congress to force the Adamson Law upon the 
 country. You were rather proud of that achieve- 
 ment, were you not? Many of your sons died in 
 the epidemics of the army camps. Your loss would 
 have been easier to bear if your boys had had the 
 glory of a soldier's death upon the field of battle. 
 But to be stricken down like rats in a camp epidemic 
 was hard, very hard. Do you know that it was a 
 labor union in control of the medical departments of 
 the government that stood in the path of science, and 
 so was able to continue improper treatments that 
 have been failing in these diseases for two thousand 
 years or more? When you talk with your Plumbs 
 about unionizing our transportation system, look 
 first and see what the union has done for our medical 
 departments. 
 
 When the opponents of national prohibition under- 
 took a careful inquiry into the various forces behind 
 the movement, the medical departments at Washing- 
 ton were one of the first subjects of investigation. 
 What followed was almost beyond belief. They 
 found men, American citizens, wearing the uniform 
 of the United States Army in war time, obeying the 
 rules of their union but defying the laws and the Con- 
 
1 66 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 stitution of the United States. These men were 
 permitting disease to go unchecked rather than inter- 
 fere with the interests of a private organization of 
 which they were members. Is it any wonder that 
 the country has been flooded with false information 
 on alcohol when the people must rely for their med- 
 ical knowledge on public servants such as these ? 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 ENFORCEMENT 
 
 Can national prohibition be really enforced? 
 
 A fundamental error in dealing with the liquor 
 problem is the conception of alcohol as a habit-form- 
 ing drug. The prohibitionist has all along held to 
 the theory that once alcohol was abolished, the re- 
 generation of the drunkard would follow automat- 
 ically. If this were true, the enforcement of the 
 Eighteenth Amendment would be a simple matter 
 compared with the problem with which the country 
 is now faced. But if we accept the more enlightened 
 view that alcohol is a necessary food, enforcement 
 becomes all but impossible. No one will stand for 
 compulsory starvation. The hunger striker piay 
 accept self-imposed starvation for the sake of a 
 principle, but no one, if he can help himself, will 
 permit starvation to be forced upon him by others. 
 Therefore, to enforce prohibition the necessity for 
 alcohol must be done away with. 
 
 We shall have a better understanding of the en- 
 forcement problem if we go straight to the question 
 of the reformation of the drunkard. Most people 
 
 are more or less familiar with the methods employed 
 
 167 
 
1 68 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 in the institutions for the reform of inebriates. When 
 the chronic drunkard takes refuge in one of these 
 asylums, he is first weaned from the alcoholic drink. 
 Sugars are substituted, and his system is accustomed 
 to making its own alcohol. His body is built up by 
 wholesome food, rational recreation, fresh air and 
 exercise. Then the attempt is made to create within 
 the patient an aversion to alcohol. In some of these 
 cases the cure is permanent, in others the drunkard 
 returns to his old habits. Where the institutions 
 have failed is in losing sight of the fact that to cure 
 alcoholism permanently, the need for alcohol must 
 be eliminated. 
 
 In many instances, alcoholism is brought about 
 through other habits of the individual. The old 
 drink habit is compelling, but where we have a com- 
 bination of this with a crying need of the body, we 
 have a force which it is almost impossible to control. 
 Take, for example, the son of wealthy parents with 
 no special interest in life except his own amusement. 
 His existence becomes monotonous, and it has al- 
 ready been shown that monotony, by its effect on the 
 nervous system, contributes to the need for alcohol. 
 When such a man has fallen into the drink habit and 
 has then "taken the cure," the chances are that, 
 unless he finds some new interest in life, he will 
 return to his old indulgences. If not, the nerves 
 may become affected and the system laid open to 
 
ENFORCEMENT 169 
 
 attack by disease. Dr. Fisk tells us, u In the expe- 
 rience of the forty-three (life insurance) companies, 
 among those who had taken a cure, but remained 
 total abstainers up to the time of acceptance, the 
 mortality was 35 per cent, above the normal."* 
 When we have a better understanding of the liquor 
 question, the reformation of the drunkard will be 
 easier. But the present problem of reforming the 
 whole United States along the lines laid down by the 
 prohibitionist is one which staggers the imagination. 
 We must either choose between alcohol or disease, 
 or readjust the lives of all our people. The brass 
 worker must leave the foundry for some less nerve- 
 racking employment. The sailor must give up his 
 voyages. Disease, worry, fear, must all be elimin- 
 ated, and then, perhaps, prohibition can be enforced. 
 Instead of prohibition bringing on the millennium, we 
 must first have the millennium before we can expect 
 prohibition. 
 
 The situation as it stands to-day is that a necessary 
 commodity, a food which the people must have, has 
 been taken away from them and put in the hands of 
 agents of the government to be doled out as they see 
 fit. The natural result has been that the price of 
 alcohol has risen to an abnormal figure. When a 
 condition like this arises we shall always find people 
 
 * "Alcohol — Its Relation to Human Efficiency and Lon- 
 gevity" ; p. 25. 
 
170 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 who are willing to risk the penalties of the law in 
 order to reap a golden harvest only too easily 
 obtained. But in the present case there is the fur- 
 ther element that as so many of our citizens look 
 upon prohibition as an encroachment upon their per- 
 sonal liberties, the lawbreaker is finding encourage- 
 ment from all classes of society. Men of the highest 
 character and attainment, statesmen, bankers, law- 
 yers, authors, artists, business men and day laborers, 
 all alike, are not only countenancing these law- 
 breakers, but they are violating the law themselves. 
 They deny the right and the power of the govern- 
 ment to supervise their personal habits and manner 
 of life. There were many who thought, because 
 they had given up alcohol at one time or another and 
 had felt the better for it, that they would welcome 
 prohibition. They did not realize the difference be- 
 tween abstinence by mental resolve and an absti- 
 nence forced upon them. Nor did they know that in 
 many instances their fall from the water wagon was 
 due to a need of the body which they did not know 
 how to control. And so there are many good people 
 who, while believing in prohibition theoretically, 
 are now drinking more than is good for them out 
 of protest. As Mr. Irvin S. Cobb has said so 
 characteristically and exactly, prohibition simply 
 prohibits sobriety among people who would other- 
 wise be sober. 
 
ENFORCEMENT 171 
 
 The enforcement law has brought with it a law- 
 lessness on the part of the people never before known 
 in the annals of the nation.* Violations of the 
 Volstead Act have been followed by a wave of crime 
 which can be traced directly to prohibition. The 
 crimes committed vary in seriousness from infrac- 
 tions of the rules of the road by speeding auto- 
 mobiles of the rum runners, to the most callous 
 murder. Between these two extremes are all sorts 
 and kinds of criminal offences, — forgery, counter- 
 feiting, smuggling, blackmail, extortion, illicit dis- 
 tillation, burglary and highway robbery, the sale of 
 deadly concoctions, and the debauching of public 
 officials. The details have appeared repeatedly in 
 the newspapers and magazines. The reader may 
 therefore be spared any repetition. The corruption 
 of government agents is indeed a serious phase of the 
 situation, for it has added to the power of the corrupt 
 politician. The practical politician is familiar with 
 the numerous opportunities for illicit profits which 
 are always connected with measures for the regula- 
 tion of public conduct. The health boards and the 
 building departments of many of our cities have 
 
 * William H. Moran, Chief of the Secret Service Bureau 
 at Washington, testifying before the Appropriations Com- 
 mittee of the House of Representatives, stated that the year 
 1920 (the first year of constitutional prohibition) was the 
 greatest criminal year in the history of the secret service. 
 
172 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 been hotbeds of graft, but as a breeder of nation- 
 wide corruption no previous legislation has ever 
 equalled the Volstead Act. It would be interesting to 
 know how many votes were gained for the Eight- 
 eenth Amendment by the prospects of the rich 
 graft to be obtained in its enforcement. If there is 
 anyone who doubts this, let him look at some of the 
 characters appointed to carry out the provisions of 
 the law — men so low that it has been an easy matter 
 for the crook and impostor to impersonate them. 
 Take the case of the enforcement agent who killed 
 a chauffeur during a "wet" raid in New York City. 
 His record is one of a long series of crimes. His 
 early offences include petty larceny and the passing 
 of worthless checks. He served four years and 
 •seven months of an eight-year sentence in the In- 
 diana State Penitentiary. He then broke his parole 
 and came East. He was convicted of robbery and 
 sent to Sing Sing prison, where he served a six- 
 year term. His last offence was killing the chauffeur, 
 for which he was tried for murder in the first de- 
 gree, and acquitted, through the able defence of a 
 United States District Attorney. Even after his 
 record was known, he was carried on the payroll of 
 the United States. While this may be an extreme 
 case, it shows the type of men to whom the govern- 
 ment intrusted the mission of improving our morals, 
 
ENFORCEMENT 173 
 
 for prohibition is still being bolstered up by this plea. 
 We are now beginning to understand the reason 
 why so many of the states that have gone dry, stay 
 dry. The Eighteenth Amendment has created a new 
 brand of prohibitionist, the ex-saloon keeper and the 
 cheap politician, with their long retinue of heelers 
 who are realizing enormous profits through the 
 illegal sale of alcoholic liquors at fancy prices. If 
 an attempt were made to repeal the amendment, 
 these men would be found lined up in its defence 
 with the forces of the Anti-Saloon League. All this 
 has added to the public resentment, which has been 
 growing steadily since the passage of the enforce- 
 ment legislation. The people of the states where 
 the largest part of our population is located have not 
 favored prohibition. This is true of nearly all the 
 original thirteen states. Back in the 'fifties, thirteen 
 northern states adopted prohibition, but they soon 
 abandoned it, with the exception of Maine, where 
 with the aid of the bootleggers the prohibitionists 
 were able to retain the statute. An analysis of the 
 vote on national prohibition shows that in states 
 with a total population of over 63,000,000 people 
 there either has been no recent expression of popular 
 opinion, or the people have voted against it. In 
 some instances, legislators chosen at the same election 
 in which the people of the state voted against prohi- 
 bition, reversed the popular decision and voted for 
 
174 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 the Eighteenth Amendment. There is much the 
 same feeling against prohibition in these states as 
 there was in our forefathers' time against the Stamp 
 Act, — with this difference, that the Stamp Act was 
 imposed by a government in which our people had no 
 voice, while prohibition was adopted by the very men 
 whom the people elected, and they feel that these 
 men have betrayed them. 
 
 To the resentment of the wets has been added a 
 growing resentment on the part of the drys. Many 
 a prohibitionist believed that prohibition would 
 stamp out drunkenness. He is now beginning to 
 realize that in its practical application, at any rate, 
 prohibition is a failure. Light wines and beers have 
 been almost done away with. Whisky, gin and other 
 beverages of high alcoholic content have taken their 
 place. Whereas before prohibition these high proof 
 liquors were bought largely by the drink, they are 
 now purchased by the quart, the gallon or the case. 
 Quite often, when once a bottle is opened, it is not 
 put away until it has been emptied. 
 
 The records of our police courts and hospitals are 
 the best evidence of the futility of the Eighteenth 
 Amendment as a temperance measure. When na- 
 tional prohibition first went into effect, there was a 
 temporary falling off in the number of recorded 
 cases of drunkenness, because the regular channels 
 by which alcoholic liquors had been obtained ran dry. 
 
ENFORCEMENT 175 
 
 It was not long, however, before new sources of 
 supply were found. As the people began to adjust 
 themselves to the change, the fact was recorded 
 in an increasing number of cases of alcoholism. The 
 conditions in New York City, the largest city in the 
 Union, are typical of those in all parts of the country 
 where prohibition has found no popular support. 
 
 The following is the record of the arraignments 
 in the city magistrates' courts for the first seven 
 months of constitutional prohibition : 
 
 Month Borough of Manhattan New York City 
 
 January 39 67 
 
 February 65 152 
 
 March 181 342 
 
 April 
 
 214 
 
 423 
 
 May 
 
 249 
 
 501 
 
 June 
 
 244 
 
 471 
 
 July 
 
 227 
 
 495 
 
 For the quarter ending December 31, 19 19, the 
 total number of arraignments was 936. During the 
 quarter ending June 30, 1920, 1395 cases were 
 arraigned. 
 
 The hospital figures tell the same story. Here is 
 the record of the cases of alcoholism admitted to the 
 wards of Bellevue Hospital, Manhattan, and Kings 
 County Hospital, Brooklyn, for the first nine months 
 of the years 1919 and 1920 :* 
 
 * War-time prohibition went into effect on July 1, 191 9; 
 constitutional prohibition on January 16, 1920. 
 
176 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 Bellevue Hospital 
 
 Month 
 
 
 
 1919 
 
 1920 
 
 January 
 
 
 
 244 
 
 103 
 
 February 
 
 
 
 209 
 
 49 
 
 March 
 
 
 
 226 
 
 94 
 
 April 
 
 
 
 228 
 
 99 
 
 May 
 
 
 
 272 
 
 no 
 
 June 
 
 
 
 209 
 
 113 
 
 July 
 
 
 
 182 
 
 125 
 
 August 
 
 
 
 124 
 
 166 
 
 September 
 
 
 
 116 
 
 155 
 
 
 Kings County Hospital 
 
 
 Month 
 
 
 
 1919 
 
 1920 
 
 January 
 
 
 
 114 
 
 27 
 
 February 
 
 
 
 88 
 
 n 
 
 March 
 
 
 
 76 
 
 25 
 
 £f ril 
 
 
 
 82 
 
 47 
 
 May 
 
 
 
 77 
 
 53 
 
 June 
 
 
 
 63 
 
 53 
 
 July 
 
 
 
 50 
 
 59 
 
 August i to Aug. 
 
 19 
 
 33 
 
 32 
 
 August 19 
 
 to Sep. 
 
 21 
 
 40 
 
 93 
 
 Here is a summary of a report by a special inves- 
 tigator for Leslie's Weekly, after a careful survey of 
 conditions throughout the country: 
 
 "It is estimated that two in every five homes of 
 the land have their own private stills or beer- 
 brewing apparatus. 
 
 "In New York anyone with a friend and the 
 price can obtain booze by the glass or in quantity. 
 
ENFORCEMENT 177 
 
 The same is true of Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, 
 San Francisco — all of the larger cities. 
 
 "Despite the Eighteenth Amendment there is 
 more drunkenness in the United States to-day 
 than ever before. Drinking is done in secret and 
 surreptitiously, and yet the police blotters in nearly 
 every city reveal an increase in the number of 
 arrests for drunkenness. 
 
 "In Philadelphia the police records show 300 
 per cent, more arrests for intoxication from July 
 1 to November 1 than for the same period last 
 year and prior to the prohibition enactment. 
 
 "Twenty million quarts of whisky entered the 
 United States from Canada through Detroit alone, 
 from January 1 to September 1 of this year." 
 
 It is not to be wondered at that there are grave 
 doubts as to the wisdom of the law. The stronger 
 this feeling grows, the more difficult the enforcement 
 problem becomes. 
 
 What have the men whose duty it is to enforce 
 prohibition to say on the subject? Mr. James F. 
 Shevlin, supervising prohibition agent for the New 
 York district, in a published statement was quoted as 
 saying: "I say that prohibition is being enforced. 
 If a man, in order to get a drink, is compelled to go 
 after it by stealth and to pay enormous prices for 
 the Vlrinks, isn't that prohibition?" That, Mr. 
 
178 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 Shevlin, is the prohibition of the bootlegger and his 
 confederate, the corrupt politician, but it is not con- 
 stitutional prohibition. Mr. Shevlin was transferred 
 shortly after this statement was made. Mr. Frank 
 L. Boyd, who succeeded him and who has since re- 
 signed, described enforcement of the Volstead Act 
 as "a thankless and a hopeless task." He has given 
 some idea of the difficulties of enforcement in a 
 statement which has appeared in the press : 
 
 "We have two hundred enforcement officers in 
 this state. The federal government's appropria- 
 tion for enforcement of the Volstead Act is 
 $5,000,000. We have twenty men to cover the 
 St. Lawrence River front and another twenty to 
 guard all of Lake Erie. It would take the entire 
 First Division to begin to patrol this state's water 
 front and end smuggling. We have one hundred 
 and ten enforcement agents in New York City. 
 There are something like 12,000 policemen in 
 New York City, and yet they are not able to stop 
 burglaries and robberies with the undivided sup- 
 port of the city. Yet a hundred and ten men are 
 trying to enforce the liquor law, which it appears 
 most of the town does not care much for." 
 
 Our own experience is similar to that of all coun- 
 tries in which prohibition has been attempted. In 
 China, it produced a nation of opium users. In 
 
ENFORCEMENT 179 
 
 Sweden, nation-wide prohibition was abandoned, be- 
 cause it was found that it resulted in home-distillation 
 to such an extent that individual inebriety gave place 
 to family drunkenness. Twenty-three years after 
 Kansas went dry, Carrie Nation began her crusade 
 against the saloons of that state. During the next 
 four years she made a world-wide reputation as a 
 reformer by wielding her hatchet in wrecking the 
 barrooms of Kansas. 
 
 Prohibition, under the Volstead Act, has followed 
 a course which must have been foreseen by anyone 
 familiar with the body's need for alcohol. We can- 
 not doubt that present conditions were foreseen by 
 the astute politicians of the medical ring. The more 
 the scandal grows and the worse conditions become, 
 the more disposed the people will be to insist on a 
 modification of the law which will offer them some 
 relief. As for the prohibitionist, if he cannot have 
 a bone-dry country, he must accept modified prohi- 
 bition as the next best thing. Such a plan has al- 
 ready been suggested. It has been proposed that 
 the government purchase all the remaining whisky 
 stocks in the country at a cost variously estimated at 
 from $100,000,000 to $500,000,000 of the people's 
 money, and turn them over to the physicians to dis- 
 pense. This might not end bootlegging or home- 
 distillation. With the people in their present mood, 
 and with the experience they have acquired, these 
 
180 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 could only be stopped ,at a cost which no nation 
 could afford to pay in defiance of the wishes and 
 resolute opposition of so many of its citizens. But 
 the transaction would lower the price of whisky and 
 increase the popularity, power and emoluments of 
 the physician. 
 
 Here is the plan as outlined in the press : 
 
 a. That the Internal Revenue Department be 
 given authority to establish, in all thickly pop- 
 ulated districts, as many government stations as 
 may be deemed necessary for the sale of spirits. 
 
 b. That the spirits sold by such stations be pur- 
 chased by the government, tested by the govern- 
 ment, and be of a uniform quality. 
 
 c. That such spirits be sold at a uniform price, 
 sufficient to cover their cost and the cost of main- 
 taining the stations, without profit to the govern- 
 ment. 
 
 d. That the Internal Revenue Department 
 employ at such stations, at such salary as may be 
 required to obtain them, one or more reputable 
 physicians who shall have the authority and be 
 under the duty to issue without charge prescrip- 
 tions to anyone who may call at the stations and 
 whom the physicians find to be in need of spirits 
 or intoxicants for medicinal purposes. 
 
ENFORCEMENT 181 
 
 e. That such stations shall also fill all pre- 
 scriptions issued by physicians duly licensed. 
 
 /. That any physician issuing a prescription 
 for spirits shall immediately file a copy of it with 
 the government station, so that the latter may at 
 all times have a complete record of prescriptions 
 and sales. 
 
 g. That the physicians in attendance at the 
 government stations shall have authority, after 
 consultation and examination of the patient, to 
 prescribe a quantity of spirits in excess of that now 
 provided by law, if in their opinion such action is 
 necessary. 
 
 h. That in widely scattered rural districts 
 where it would not be practicable for patients to 
 travel long distances to a central station, prac- 
 titioners be authorized to purchase from the gov- 
 ernment at the nearest distributing station such 
 spirits as they shall deem necessary for the needs 
 of their patients, and shall be authorized to sell 
 such spirits at the government fixed price, and 
 shall be strictly accountable to the government 
 station for all spirits received by them. 
 
 This plan is hardly in accordance with the state- 
 ment of the medical association that the use of 
 alcohol in therapeutics has no scientific value. But, 
 once the Volstead Act has been amended and the 
 
1 82 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 people have become accustomed to obtaining their 
 whisky through the medical practitioner, there is no 
 reason why the association should not bring their 
 position on alcohol up to date. A little thing like 
 consistency need not trouble them. 
 
 Whether any such plan will be put into effect is 
 more than doubtful. But there is no doubt whatever 
 about the effect upon the public of certain features of 
 the enforcement measures. Police officers have been 
 ordered by their superiors to defy the law in order 
 to enforce it — a curious paradox in the world's 
 greatest democracy. The constitutional rights of 
 citizens have been wilfully and flagrantly violated. 
 Their homes have been invaded without warrants; 
 their baggage has been seized and examined; they 
 have been compelled to submit to offensive and de- 
 grading personal search. And all this without a 
 shadow of legal justification. But public opinion 
 is beginning to make itself felt, and both federal and 
 local authorities are responding. District attorneys, 
 mayors and magistrates have in many instances done 
 their clear duty and insisted that the law shall be 
 decently observed by its paid defenders. Yet the 
 real evil lies not in details, but at the very root of the 
 whole matter. It is inherent in the Eighteenth 
 Amendment itself, — a deliberate attempt under a 
 constitutional mask to deprive the people of a nat- 
 ural and therefore undoubtedly constitutional right. 
 
ENFORCEMENT 183 
 
 After such a fundamental act of violence, political 
 and legal rights must inevitably fall by the way. As 
 United States Senator Borah said in August, 192 1 : 
 "It has become almost impossible in certain cases to 
 enforce the law without disregarding the Constitu- 
 tion." The "certain cases" may be extended to all 
 cases, for the spirit of the Constitution, if not the 
 letter, has been violated by the amendment so un- 
 scrupulously foisted upon it. Senator Brandegee 
 said on the same occasion: "If this law cannot be 
 enforced except by Russian and inquisitorial prac- 
 tices, it is not a law for the Anglo-Saxon peoples." 
 
 The American people will cordially endorse this 
 statement of a self-evident truth. 
 
 In the proceedings in the Senate with regard to the 
 Willis-Campbell Bill (the Anti-Beer-Prescription 
 Bill), during which the statements just quoted were 
 made, an amendment was introduced (the Stanley 
 Amendment) making it a felony for any govern- 
 ment officer or agent, state or federal, or any other 
 person, to search the persons or houses of the people 
 without a warrant. Heavy penalties were provided 
 for a violation of the clause. The Senate accepted 
 the amendment. That may be regarded either as a 
 simple or an extraordinary thing. In reality it is 
 both. It is certainly a thing of the utmost and most 
 obvious simplicity for a branch of the federal legisla- 
 ture to safeguard the guaranteed constitutional 
 
1 84 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 rights of citizens. But it is an extraordinary thing 
 that the wanton and contemptuous violation of the 
 Fourth Amendment to the Constitution by the zeal- 
 ous partisans of the Eighteenth Amendment should 
 require a new clause in a new statute if it is to be 
 coped with effectually. Affairs have come to a 
 strange pass indeed when the machinery of govern- 
 ment has to be restrained in this way from selecting 
 which part of the Constitution it will enforce at any 
 cost and by any means, and which part it will ignore. 
 Press comment throughout the country showed a 
 full appreciation of the gravity and yet grotesqueness 
 of the issue. The New York World for August 1 1, 
 1921, said in its leader: 
 
 "What the Senate did was merely to revive in 
 this connection the Fourth Federal Amendment, 
 binding upon Congress and all officials of the 
 national government, which reads : 
 
 "The right of the people to be secure in their 
 persons, houses, papers and effects, against un- 
 reasonable searches and seizures, shall not be 
 violated, and no warrants shall issue but upon 
 probable cause, supported by oath or affirma- 
 tion, and particularly describing the place to be 
 searched, and the persons and things to be 
 seized. 
 
 "This article of the American Bill of Rights has 
 been a part of the Constitution since 1791. It 
 
ENFORCEMENT 185 
 
 was English law going back to a time before the 
 American Revolution. It was not superseded or 
 nullified by the Eighteenth Amendment, which 
 seems to be the only part of the Constitution com- 
 manding Mr. Volstead's recognition and respect." 
 
 Mr. Volstead, characteristically, had expressed 
 himself as being grieved at the new clause, which, 
 if kept in the bill, would be "a big blow to prohi- 
 bition enforcement." He was not grieved at all by 
 any blows, however shattering, at the enforcement of 
 the Constitution, which naturally seems to him a little 
 thing in comparison with his own peculiar affairs. 
 Perhaps, remembering that George Washington was 
 called the Father of his Country, Mr. Volstead may 
 desire to win the title of stepfather of a changeling. 
 
 The New York Tribune said editorially on the 
 same subject: 
 
 "We are too close, perhaps, to what has been 
 going on among us for the last eight years or so 
 for the masses of the people to assess the enormity 
 of the violations by public servants of the guaranty 
 contained in the Fourth Amendment. 
 
 "When historians of this age of 'The New Free- 
 dom' come to cast up the record they will have 
 occasion to marvel that a people for whom free- 
 dom was purchased at such a cost should have 
 drifted so far from their moorings as to be com- 
 
.186 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 pelled in the month of August, 192 1, to reassert 
 by statute the right of personal liberty as guar- 
 anteed in their Constitution." 
 
 All this is merely one of the first fruits of prohi- 
 bition, which is a deliberate attack not only upon our 
 liberties, but, as I have endeavored to show in these 
 pages, on the very foundations of our lives. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 GOVERNMENT BY PROPAGANDA? 
 
 There was a time, within the memory of many of 
 us, when the American citizen was free to live his 
 own life and seek his livelihood, unfettered by con- 
 tinual government supervision. The administration 
 of public affairs, so far as it affected the individual 
 directly, was limited to certain necessary undertak- 
 ings clearly defined by the Constitution, such as rais- 
 ing the national revenues, coining money, administer- 
 ing justice, maintaining a postal system and extending 
 encouragement to the useful arts and sciences. 
 
 The extension of government regulation had its 
 beginning in the supervision of the business of our 
 corporations. With the multiplication of govern- 
 ment bureaus which an unwieldy system of taxation 
 and other vicious measures have encouraged, a great 
 network of surveillance has gradually been woven 
 round our people, until it has now touched even the 
 home life of the nation. The government bureau, 
 instead of functioning for the common good, has 
 fallen into the hands of special interests, which have 
 used it to further their own ends. So far, these 
 interests have been able to hold themselves beyond 
 
 187 
 
1 88 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 the reach of the law. But prohibition has only been 
 made possible through a gradual breaking down of 
 our system of government. The adoption of the 
 Eighteenth Amendment has now brought to the 
 people a clear realization that their liberties are 
 threatened. Whatever the outcome of the liquor 
 controversy, they will not lose sight of the fact that 
 the evils which have prepared the way for prohibition 
 must be rooted out. 
 
 Our system of government is supposed to be 
 founded upon popular representation by geograph- 
 ical division. When the Constitution was adopted it 
 was contemplated that the people of the several 
 states should be free to choose their own representa- 
 tives. Upon questions of great national importance 
 states might become grouped on one side or the other 
 through the mutual sympathies of their peoples, and 
 thus the feelings and opinions of the inhabitants of 
 one state might influence the inhabitants of another. 
 But that is not the case to-day. There are great 
 organizations, sometimes nation-wide in their activi- 
 ties and at other times operating in more or less 
 important sections of the country, throwing their 
 influence to suit their interest, first in one state, then 
 in another, and defying the sovereignty of the people 
 of those states. It may be a union of the employees 
 of a transcontinental railroad, whose influence may 
 be felt in any one of a chain of states extending from 
 
GOVERNMENT BY PROPAGANDA? 189 
 
 the Atlantic to the Pacific ; or a miners' union, organ- 
 ized throughout the coalfields of Ohio, Pennsylvania 
 and West Virginia; or the Anti-Saloon League, an 
 organization drawing its members from all parts of 
 the country and leagued with many subsidiary organ- 
 izations. These unions or societies are organiza- 
 tions of private citizens, with no lawful political 
 standing but with great political influence. The 
 smaller the state in which they are operating the 
 more this influence is felt. The states of the Union 
 vary in population from Nevada, with about 120,- 
 000 people, to New York, with over 10,000,000. 
 Yet all states are on an equal footing when acting 
 upon an amendment to the Constitution. That is a 
 fact with which everybody is quite familiar, but 
 everybody may not appreciate its significance. 
 
 In putting through the Eighteenth Amendment, 
 the Anti-Saloon League had the support and co- 
 operation of the National Health bureaus, and 
 these in turn were controlled by the medical union, 
 an international organization. Thus, through secret 
 combinations, even foreign influences were brought 
 to bear in the making of our laws. This was ac- 
 complished by the dissemination of propaganda, in 
 the preparation of which the government bureaus 
 participated. The Congress was intended to be a 
 deliberating body. Are we to substitute govern- 
 ment by propaganda for our original system? 
 
190 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 The success of the prohibition movement has em- 
 boldened the propagandists. Other attacks upon 
 our liberties have begun. It is not a case simply of 
 an anti-tobacco crusade or some similar movement. 
 There will be plenty of those. But our religious 
 liberties themselves are to be assailed. The same 
 methods are to be employed, according to a state- 
 ment by one of the agitators : 
 
 "We shall work in every congressional district 
 in every state. We shall agitate and spread prop- 
 aganda, and cause voters to write unceasingly to 
 their Representative in Congress, until no Con- 
 gressman who cares to stay in Congress will refuse 
 to vote for our measures. These were the 
 methods used by the Anti-Saloon League, and they 
 were effective." 
 
 It is high time these irresponsible organizations 
 were brought within the control of the law. The 
 proverb of the wolf in sheep's clothing is as full of 
 meaning for us to-day at it was in the time of iEsop. 
 We must recognize the fact that an undertaking 
 which is begun in all sincerity may fall into the hands 
 of the unscrupulous, and that high pretensions may 
 be only a camouflage for sordid motives. If a move- 
 ment is for the good of the people it will do no harm 
 to know all about it in the beginning. If these 
 organizations were required to incorporate and to 
 
GOVERNMENT BY PROPAGANDA? 191 
 
 keep an accurate list of their members and contrib- 
 utors, and the amounts contributed, the press of the 
 country could be relied upon to do the rest. If it 
 failed and harm should come, we should at least 
 know whom to hold accountable. We should not be 
 obliged to add to the burdens of the taxpayers in 
 seeking out the names of the supporters of an illegal 
 undertaking, as in the case of the parlor bolshevists. 
 Prohibition has already done more harm in this 
 country than bolshevism ever could do. There may 
 come a time when we shall be seeking the names of 
 our parlor prohibitionists. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 THE WAY OUT 
 
 Prohibition has been adopted as a part of the 
 fundamental law of the land. Every safeguard 
 which the ingenuity of legal minds could devise has 
 been placed around it. When we consider that it 
 will be necessary to obtain the consent of the legisla- 
 tures (or conventions) of three-fourths of the 
 several states to undo what has been done, and that 
 these bodies will be watched and influenced by the 
 Anti-Saloon League, backed by a vast army of old 
 and new profiteers and their political allies, the repeal 
 of the Eighteenth Amendment seems all but impos- 
 sible. Yet in spite of the strength of its legal posi- 
 tion, there is a weakness in the very foundation of 
 prohibition which it has been impossible to rectify. 
 Once this is understood, it will require only a well- 
 placed blow to bring the fabric so carefully erected 
 crumbling down about the heads of its promoters. 
 As is often the case, when the little minds of men are 
 pitted against the purposes of nature, a temporary 
 success has been seized only to make the final discom- 
 fiture more complete. 
 
 192 
 
THE WAY OUT 193 
 
 The whole structure of prohibition rests upon the 
 premise that alcohol is harmful — a habit-forming 
 drug, a poison — and this conception is maintained by 
 the government medical bureaus. When we remove 
 the misguided, inefficient men from our national 
 health departments and establish an honest and com- 
 petent service, that service will tell us that alcohol is 
 necessary, both as food and medicine, to sustain 
 human life. The Eighteenth Amendment will then 
 automatically become unconstitutional. No nation, 
 especially one as large as the United States, can lay 
 down hard and fast rules for the nourishment of its 
 people, and survive. To extend governmental reg- 
 ulation to the foods we eat (except in emergencies 
 or to ensure pure products) would be contrary to all 
 American principles and traditions. And not only 
 would prohibition come to its unregretted end with 
 the establishment of a sound national health service, 
 but the way would be cleared for the eradication of 
 disease, here and throughout the world — tuber- 
 culosis, influenza, pneumonia and other infections. 
 That these diseases still prevail is due to the power 
 of an organization which so far has been able to' 
 block all improvements in medical treatment, except 
 those which it could control and so turn to profes- 
 sional profit. Yet this organization has not been 
 content with the disastrous influence it already exer- 
 cises. As Dr. John P. Davin, of New York, says 
 
194 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 in a letter to the New York World of August n, 
 192 1 : "For a long time the medical politicians who 
 control the American Medical Association have 
 aimed at a Cabinet position for one of their number 
 in a Federal Department of Health." But it is 
 natural that these "medical politicians" should aim 
 at a Cabinet position to give them more leverage for 
 their destructive efforts. Not long ago they were 
 trying to place one of their organization in the 
 White House itself. Fortunately, the White House 
 can still stand for progressiveness, not reaction. 
 
 Compare the position of medicine to-day with that 
 of other sciences. Note some of the great achieve- 
 ments of mankind in other fields of human endeavor. 
 Consider only the most recent successes. Man is 
 able to talk over a wire from New York to San 
 Francisco and recognize his friend's voice. He has 
 crossed the broad Atlantic through the air in little 
 more than a single night. He has harnessed the air 
 waves to carry the messages of his telegraph and 
 telephone. He has preserved sound indestructibly 
 on little discs, so that the great masters of music shall 
 be indeed immortal and future ages shall still hear 
 our Carusos and Paderewskis. Curative medicine, 
 on the other hand, in spite of all we have learned 
 about disease, stands almost exactly where it did at 
 the beginning of the Christian era. Have you been 
 led to believe otherwise, as the result of successful 
 
THE WAY OUT 195 
 
 medical propaganda ? Then hear the truth from the 
 medical text-books: 
 
 "We have learned to prevent many diseases by 
 the elimination of the corresponding infecting 
 agents from our midst; cholera, plague, typhus 
 fever, typhoid fever, yellow fever, smallpox, ma- 
 laria and diphtheria are diseases which, if they still 
 exist among civilized people, do so with the con- 
 sent of the people in the face of a full knowledge 
 of the manner of their prevention. 
 
 "Wonderful progress has also been made in sur- 
 gery. By its means countless lives have been 
 saved which otherwise would have been doomed. 
 But, after all, surgical treatment cannot be re- 
 garded as curative treatment in the proper sense 
 of the word; the surgeon may amputate a badly 
 crushed limb or he may remove a diseased ap- 
 pendix, or a cancerous breast, but he does not cure 
 the limb, nor the appendix, nor does he restore the 
 breast to its original condition. The final repair, 
 the healing of the wound, is accomplished by the 
 animal body itself. The surgeon, however, is 
 frequently placed in a position where he can assist 
 nature materially to accomplish a cure, and in 
 this respect he is certainly more favorably placed 
 than the internist. 
 
 "The latter may be a most skilful diagnostician, 
 
196 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 an excellent pathologist perhaps, but he does not 
 cure the diseases with which he is brought into 
 contact. He may in a measure influence some 
 diseases by his directions for the general care of 
 the patient, but as a rule the patient dies or re- 
 covers irrespective of his therapeutic efforts, in so 
 far at least as these efforts are based upon ancient 
 empiricism. Typhoid fever patients still pursue 
 the same course which was so well described by 
 the physicians of the mediaeval ages; our pneu- 
 monia death rate is still what it was when the 
 earliest records on the subject were kept, and is 
 virtually the same for the millionaire in his marble 
 palace, surrounded by doctors and nurses, as for 
 the tramp who is cared for by the roadside by his 
 brother tramps. The 'virulence' of an epidemic 
 of scarlatina or measles may vary, but our death 
 rate in the long run is virtually the same. Where 
 actual progress has been made in the treatment of 
 disease, such progress has been due not to our 
 therapeutic interference by means of drugs, but to 
 a recognition, be it ever so slight, of those factors 
 by which nature herself, unaided and at the same 
 time unhampered by empirical drug treatment, 
 seeks to accomplish that end. For after all, the 
 very thing which physicians have sought to ac- 
 complish in all the centuries that have passed, viz., 
 the cure of disease, that very thing nature has 
 
THE WAY OUT 197 
 
 accomplished by herself, before our very eyes, 
 countless millions of times. 
 
 "Nature herself cures 75 per cent, of the pneu- 
 monia cases, while the physician fails to cure any, 
 for surely he cannot claim as his own what nature 
 does, and he evidently loses the 25 per cent, that 
 nature also loses."* 
 
 Organized Medicine obtained its power as the 
 result of the high pretensions of medical ethics — u the 
 services it can render to humanity." Through this 
 plea it has been able to consolidate the most powerful 
 organization of modern times; an organization 
 which would not be permitted to exist except for its 
 avowed purpose, the advancement of science and the 
 welfare of the human race. A British courtf has 
 recently swept away the gloss and pretence surround- 
 ing medical ethics, and they stand revealed as the 
 private rules of an international association of in- 
 dividuals who are letting themselves for hire — rules 
 which have no foundation, in this country at least, 
 in national laws and which are contrary to the spirit 
 of the Constitution of the United States. 
 
 The American branch of this association is organ- 
 
 * "Infection and Immunity : A Text-Book of Immunology 
 and Serology"; Simon, pp. 18, 19. 
 
 t High Court of Justice, King's Bench Division. Pratt 
 and Others vs. The British Medical Association and Others. 
 (1919.) 1 K. B. 244. 
 
198 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 ized along the same lines as the Workmen's and 
 Soldiers' Councils of Russia. Their governing body 
 consists of delegates from constituent associations, 
 scientific sections, and medical departments of the 
 United States Government. While it is not per- 
 mitted to the employees of the postal service to 
 organize and send their delegates to the meetings of 
 the American Federation of Labor, the Public 
 Health Service and other medical departments of 
 the government are privileged to send their repre- 
 sentatives to the House of Delegates of the medical 
 union because it poses as a scientific body. 
 
 The association has also established connections 
 with many of our great universities through their 
 medical colleges. The medical college is, in a 
 measure, independent of the control of the university 
 trustees and subject to the rules of the medical as- 
 sociation. It is, nevertheless, an integral part of the 
 university and as such is entitled to all the prestige 
 which the name can command. 
 
 The endorsement and assistance which the associa- 
 tion has thus, indirectly, been able to obtain from the 
 government and the universities has been a great 
 help to the organization in spreading its propaganda 
 among the people, and in its conflict with the newer 
 schools of medicine. But the most important and 
 sinister exercise of its power has been in the use 
 which the association 'has made of the university and 
 
THE WAY OUT 199 
 
 other institutions to control the course of medical 
 progress. 
 
 Medicine is not a simple science where progress 
 can be made along a given line. It embraces many 
 subservient sciences — anatomy, physiology, pa- 
 thology, bacteriology, chemistry, serology, etc. — one 
 often specially dependent upon another. The very 
 complexity of the science has laid it open to bureau- 
 cratic exploitation. If something new in any of the 
 subservient sciences was discovered which appeared 
 to be against the interests of the association or which 
 they were unable to control, it was a simple matter 
 to refer it to one of the government bureaus, which 
 promptly passed it on to a college or some other insti- 
 tution, where it was pigeonholed. If the matter was 
 ever called to public attention, the mere fact that the 
 government and a great university had had the op- 
 portunity to pass upon it and had dropped it was 
 sufficient to condemn it in the public eye. Perhaps 
 the reader will have a better understanding of the 
 workings of the system if it is shown in operation. 
 
 When the great influenza pandemic was taking its 
 heavy toll from our population, there was a general 
 discussion of the bacteriology of the disease. In- 
 spired articles on the value of an influenza serum 
 appeared in the newspapers, and bills were intro- 
 duced into Congress to appropriate a large sum for 
 the purpose of isolating the germ which was causing 
 
200 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 the havoc. Long before the infection reached 
 America an accurate knowledge of the disease had 
 been obtained through private experiments and an 
 effective treatment perfected. These experiments 
 had shown that serum was of little or no value in the 
 treatment of this type of infection. Full information 
 was laid before the government bureaus. In spite of 
 this, the authorities went ahead with their plans for 
 the production of a serum. Although it was entirely 
 experimental, the serum was sold in large quantities 
 throughout the country. After a year's trial it was 
 pronounced worthless. If the serum had been a 
 patent medicine, put out by a pharmaceutical house, 
 its promoters would have been called to account. 
 But it was a "scientific" effort and the unfortunates 
 who died as a result of using a worthless remedial 
 agent became victims to the advancement of 
 "science." As for the other treatment, it was passed 
 from one government bureau to another. It finally 
 brought up in the Influenza Committee of the Public 
 Health Service and was by them referred to the 
 Harvard Medical School. That was the last heard 
 of it. 
 
 An American chemist discovered a process for the 
 improvement of a well-known drug. This chemical 
 was recognized by physicians throughout the world 
 as a valuable treatment for pneumonia. Many of 
 the drugs of the pharmacopoeia have been improved 
 
THE WAY OUT 201 
 
 and refined from time to time. In this particular 
 case, the form of the drug most used in America was 
 manufactured under a process which had been dis- 
 covered in a ,German laboratory. The American 
 chemist's process was so far an improvement on the 
 German that injurious constituents, amounting to 20 
 per cent, which were present in the German product, 
 were removed without detracting from the thera- 
 peutic value of the finished product. The drug in 
 its refined form was much more effective in its com- 
 binations with other chemicals with which it was 
 usually prescribed. 
 
 The chemist took his product to the American 
 Medical Association. He gave his formula. The 
 parent drug was listed in the United States Pharma- 
 copoeia and also known by its chemical symbols. To 
 illustrate we will call it — 
 
 A 6 B 2 (CD 4 )(NO)X 3 (YZ) 
 
 The process removed certain poisons represented 
 by, let us say, NO. The chemist's formula there- 
 fore was — 
 
 A 6 B 2 (CDJ (NO) X 3 (YZ) — (NO) 
 
 or 
 
 A 6 B 2 (CD 4 )X S (YZ) 
 
 This did not satisfy the medical association. They 
 demanded to know how the poisons, NO, were 
 extracted. The chemist was in a quandary. If he 
 
202 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 made his process public, he would first have to patent 
 it or surrender his only asset, which had cost him a 
 small fortune and years of labor. His product 
 would then become a patent medicine and subject to 
 the virulent attack of all the medical journals con- 
 trolled by the association. If he refused, although 
 every chemical molecule in the refined drug was 
 known, it became a secret medicine condemned by the 
 ethics of the profession. After a protracted corre- 
 spondence the process was refused. The association 
 then published in its Journal 2l report condemning the 
 product, and this was mailed to every one of its 
 members. 
 
 The Constitution of the United States provides 
 (Article I, Section 8) — 
 
 "The Congress shall have power — 
 "To promote the progress of science and useful 
 arts, by securing for limited times to authors and 
 inventors the exclusive right to their respective 
 writings and discoveries." 
 
 So far as this concerns medicine, it has been made 
 a mockery of by the medical union, as have also the 
 pure food laws. 
 
 But the chemist was not to be baffled. He had 
 influential friends and he proceeded to introduce his 
 product. The value of his discovery was confirmed 
 by the splendid results obtained by independent physi- 
 
THE WAY OUT 203 
 
 cians in their daily practice. When the United 
 States entered the war, the new drug was offered to 
 the government, not as so many profiteers were 
 offering their wares, but at cost. But the govern- 
 ment bureaucrats had been warned, and they refused 
 the offer. The chemist persisted. It was politely 
 suggested that he take the matter up with the Rocke- 
 feller Institute. This he did, but it availed nothing. 
 His experience at the institute would fill a chapter in 
 itself. As a last resort, he determined to try what 
 political influence would do. Two men, high in 
 government circles, were approached, and they con- 
 sented to help. Then, and only then, did the govern- 
 ment bureaus become interested. They saw that 
 they had a determined man to deal with, and they 
 finally agreed to take the matter under advisement. 
 The chemist was directed to send his product to the 
 College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia Uni- 
 versity, to be tested. There a worthless test and a 
 worthless report were made, and that ended the mat- 
 ter. It was a coincidence that the chemist had grad- 
 uated years before from the same university's Col- 
 lege of Pharmacy. 
 
 Is it plain now how this system works? Any 
 matter which might cause the association concern or 
 make trouble for its agents in the government bu- 
 reaus can always be disposed of by referring it to a 
 reputable institution. And if someone in that insti- 
 
204 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 tution is "careless" or "inattentive to his duties" and 
 makes a blunder, it in no way reflects on the officer 
 of the government or his association. 
 
 Do you think the mother in far off Kansas, when 
 she received the War Department's telegram that 
 her boy was down with pneumonia in a Texas camp, 
 cared whether the medicine they were giving him 
 was manufactured under a German patent or an 
 American patent, whether it was ethical or unethical, 
 as long as it was the best that science could produce? 
 It was her boy's life she wanted; nothing else mat- 
 tered to her. And the colonels of the medical corps, 
 who have held their positions because they were will- 
 ing to do their union's bidding, did they tell that 
 mother that everything possible was being done for 
 her boy, or did they tell her the truth, that no matter 
 how her son fared, union rules must be observed? 
 The Patent Office was established as much for the 
 benefit of our people as for the protection of our 
 authors and inventors. America is entitled to the 
 best efforts of all her citizens, no matter who they are 
 or what their calling. 
 
 We have often cause to wonder at the wisdom of 
 the farseeing statesmen who laid the foundations of 
 our government. It is our good fortune that we 
 have, in addition to our great state papers, a volu- 
 minous record of the thoughts of these illustrious 
 men. It seems as if almost every contingency which 
 
THE WAY OUT 205 
 
 we have had to meet in recent years has been covered 
 in their writings. It was the concentration of power 
 in the federal bureaus which made prohibition pos- 
 sible. Thomas Jefferson, in his first annual message 
 to Congress, warned the people against these federal 
 offices. 
 
 u When we consider that this government is 
 charged with the external and mutual relations 
 only of these states; that the states themselves 
 have principal care of our persons, our property, 
 and our reputation, constituting the great field of 
 human concerns ; we may well doubt whether our 
 organization is not too complicated, too expensive ; 
 whether offices and officers have not been multi- 
 plied unnecessarily and sometimes injuriously to 
 the service they were meant to promote."* 
 
 At any rate, if we must have officials and bureaus, 
 let us take good care that they are as efficient as 
 possible. As soon as we have a national health 
 service that is concerned wholly with the interests of 
 the public, and not with those of any domineering 
 professional association, the first great step in the 
 cause of constitutional liberty will have been taken. 
 For prohibition will end. 
 
 * Thomas Jefferson. First Annual Message, December 8, 
 1 801. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 There is much to be learned, and not about 
 alcohol alone, from the prohibition controversy. 
 Nothing in recent years has brought us more squarely 
 face to face with our shortcomings. We have held 
 our form of government high among the democratic 
 nations of the earth ; yet representative government 
 is a failure when controlled by fanatical ignorance. 
 There is no despotism worse than that of an ignorant 
 democracy. 
 
 The prohibition movement found us destitute of 
 any real knowledge of alcohol. It found us ignorant 
 or careless, in far too many instances, on the subject 
 of natural laws, economics, and other fundamentals. 
 It has shown us so ignorant of history, even that of 
 our own country, that we have been unable to profit 
 by the past experience of former generations of 
 Americans. It is only human to err, but the success- 
 ful man is the one who profits by experience and does 
 not fall into the same mistake a second time. This 
 
 is as true of a nation as of an individual. 
 
 206 
 
CONCLUSION 207 
 
 The history of prohibition goes back three thou- 
 sand years. In our own country it goes back almost 
 three hundred. Early American records show that 
 in 1663 the Governor of Delaware prohibited distill- 
 ing and brewing in that colony. From then until 
 now prohibition has been agitated periodically in the 
 United States. As with the perpetual motion 
 machine and other interesting or irritating obses- 
 sions, there has always been someone ready to ex- 
 ploit the prohibition fallacy as soon as the public 
 recovered from their last experience. Some- 
 times it has been the professional reformer, looking 
 for a little easy money; at others the visionary 
 fanatic, too much impressed by the importance of his 
 own idea, and too little interested in America to 
 study her history. The usual crowd-elements have 
 joined the movement, attracted by its presumed 
 idealism, or the opportunities for profit, or the mere 
 desire to be associated with agitation and action. 
 
 Many of our most distinguished statesmen have 
 gone on record against this class of legislation. 
 Abraham Lincoln's statement, made in the contro- 
 versy of 1840, is one of the notable examples. He 
 said: 
 
 "Prohibition will work great injury to the cause 
 of temperance. It is a species of intemperance 
 within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of 
 
208 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 reason, in that it attempts to control a man's ap- 
 petite by legislation and makes a crime out of 
 things that are not crimes. A prohibition law 
 strikes a blow at the very principles on which our 
 government was founded."* 
 
 There is a whole volume of scientific facts con- 
 densed into these few words. 
 
 Between 1851 and 1855 a substantial part of the 
 United States adopted prohibition — the New Eng- 
 land States, New York and Delaware or the Middle 
 States, and Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Mich- 
 igan of the Middle West, with the territory of 
 Nebraska. These states contained about forty-eight 
 per cent, of the population of the entire country. We 
 need no stronger proof of the failure of prohibition 
 as a temperance measure than the history of that 
 period. 
 
 Before this time, from 18 17 to 1850, there had 
 
 been no tax on alcoholic liquors. Good whisky sold 
 
 at wholesale at twenty-five cents a gallon. It was on 
 
 sale in the groceries and other stores throughout the 
 
 country. The whisky barrel on tap with the tin cup 
 
 hanging beside it was a familiar sight in the country 
 
 store. Under such conditions temperance is a virtue. 
 
 And the American people made it so, for during the 
 
 * Congressional Record, Sixty-third Congress, Third Ses- 
 sion, p. 629. 
 
CONCLUSION 209 
 
 system of free whisky the per capita consumption was 
 gradually decreased. 
 
 A great change came with prohibition. In 1850 
 our population numbered 23,191,876 and the total 
 consumption of spirits was 51*833,473 gallons. In 
 i860 the population had increased 36 per cent, to 
 31,443,321, while the total consumption of spirits, 
 in spite of the prohibition enactments, increased 73 
 per cent, to 89,968,651 gallons. During this period 
 the consumption of wines also increased, while that 
 of malt liquors was more than doubled. 
 
 The failure of prohibition in the 'fifties has been 
 attributed by the prohibitionists to lack of legal 
 means of enforcement, and they have used it as an 
 argument for constitutional prohibition. To prove 
 the possibility of total abstinence they point to the 
 Mohammedans, also to the North American Indians 
 who had never used alcohol until the white man 
 brought his firewater to this continent. They cite 
 these cases as examples of peoples that have existed 
 for generations without alcohol. The fact that a 
 people have never used alcoholic liquor or have been 
 able to give it up is not an argument for prohibi- 
 tion. Let us look below the surface. Compare 
 the industries of these people with our own great 
 industrial development. Where were the brass fac- 
 tories in Connecticut before the coming of the Eng- 
 lish? How do the manufactures of Mohammedan 
 
210 THE EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT 
 
 countries compare with those of Europe and Amer- 
 ica? How does the business life of some of the 
 Asiatic nations contrast with ours? The telegraph, 
 the telephone, the typewriter, the adding machine 
 and all the other labor-saving devices have been 
 invented to simplify our business methods, but they 
 have not lessened the burdens of our industrial work- 
 ers. We have simply taken advantage of every 
 time-saving invention to multiply our activities. Our 
 corporations are larger, our enterprises greater and 
 our fortunes more colossal. It is the life we are 
 leading that has made prohibition impossible in 
 America. If the nation really wants prohibition 
 there is no reason why it should not have it, if it is 
 ready to pay the price and suffer the penalties * — 
 and providing we are willing to adopt the standard 
 
 * Many of the plagues that have swept over the earth had 
 their origin and acquired their virulence among the prohi- 
 bition peoples of Asia, who have suffered far more from 
 disease than the Western nations. Of course, other condi- 
 tions must be considered, besides prohibition; but the facts 
 are instructive. In spite of their leisurely, easy-going exist- 
 ence, the average span of life among the inhabitants of India 
 and China is only about half our own. Compared with the 
 Western nation's average of from thirty-six to fifty-six years, 
 we find an average lifetime in India of from nineteen to 
 twenty-one years, and from twenty-two to twenty-five years 
 in China. To illustrate their weakness when attacked by 
 disease: in some prohibition countries the mortality from 
 influenza during the great pandemic was over five times the 
 American death rate. 
 
CONCLUSION 211 
 
 of living of a prohibition people. But let us look 
 squarely at our problem, with a full realization of 
 what real prohibition will mean; for it is impossible 
 to change a nation's whole mode of existence by 
 the passage of one prohibitory law. 
 
 There is no virtue in any controversy unless we 
 seek the truth. And to this end, if we wish to have 
 a better understanding of the whole subject of pro- 
 hibition, we must first have a better understanding 
 of alcohol itself — its uses and abuses. We must 
 discard any false impressions acquired from passing 
 observation of the drunkard of the saloon and set 
 ourselves to learning the body's natural needs, not 
 in the seclusion of the laboratory but in the every- 
 day life of the American people. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Adamson Law, 165 
 Alcohol and auto-intoxication, 
 78 sqq. 
 
 — and efficiency, 67, 68 
 
 — and fatigue, 113 sqq., 127 
 
 — and golf, 119 sqq. 
 
 — and grain conservation, 136 
 sqq. 
 
 — and immigration, 52 
 
 — and insanity, 63, 64, 65 
 
 — and longevity, 50, 51, 69 
 sqq. 
 
 — and religion, 13 sqq. 
 
 — and suicide, 65, 66 
 
 — as a medicine, 104 sqq. 
 
 — as a restorative, compared 
 with nature, 72, 73 
 
 — as a stimulant, 105, 113, 
 117, 118 
 
 — food value of, 15, 46, 47, 97 
 sqq., 133 
 
 — traffic, mortality statistics, 
 75, 76 
 
 Alcoholic beverages, importation 
 statistics, 143, 144, 145 
 
 Alcoholism in New York and 
 Brooklyn, 175, 176 
 
 "Alcohol — Its Relation to Hu- 
 man Efficiency and Lon- 
 gevity," vii, 57, 58, 59, 60, 62, 
 
 75, 137, 169 
 American Federation of Labor, 
 
 53, 134, 198 
 
 American Medical Association, 
 viii, 17, 18, 20, 22 sqq., 37, 
 38, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48, 49, 
 
 54, 55, 59, "2, 124, 194, 
 201, 202 
 
 A. M. A., Committee on Legis- 
 lation, 47 
 
 A. M. A., House of Delegates, 
 
 39, 198 
 
 — Journal, 202 
 
 — Resolution condemning al- 
 cohol, 39, 46, 47, 58 
 
 Anderson, W. H., 57 
 Antibodies, 35, 42, 43, 60, 109, 
 
 no, III 
 Anti-Saloon League, 56, 57, 154, 
 
 173, 189, 192 
 Appleton's Medical Dictionary, 
 
 32 
 Arnold, Dr. Alma C, 31, 95 
 Aronovitch, Dr., 114 
 Arrests for alcoholism in New 
 
 York, 175 
 Aschaffenberg, Dr., 67 
 Auto-intoxication, 78 sqq. 
 
 Behring, Dr., 23, 25 
 
 Bell, Sir Robert, 33 
 
 Bellevue Hospital, 176 
 
 Bennett, Arnold, 123 
 
 Borah, Senator, 183 
 
 Bordet, Dr., 23 
 
 Boston Medical and Surgical 
 
 Journal, 83 
 Boyd, Frank L., 177 
 Brandegee, Senator, 183 
 Bremer County case, 163 
 Brewers' Board of Trade, 136 
 British Medical Association, 197 
 British Munition Workers' 
 
 Health Committee, 127 
 Bryan, Wm. J., 57 
 Bureau of Animal Industry, 32 
 
 Camp Whitman, 32 
 
 Cana, 14 
 
 Canadian Government, 34 
 
 213 
 
214 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Carrel, Dr. A., 88 
 Champagne, effect of, 60, 61 
 Chemotherapy, 36 sqq. 
 Cicero, 73 
 
 Cider making, 90, 91 
 Cincinnati City Hospital, 33 
 Cincinnati Enquirer, 33 
 Cleveland, house shortage in, 
 
 133. 134 
 Cobb, Irvin S., 170 
 Columbia University, 146 
 
 College of Physicians 
 
 and Surgeons, 203 
 Department of Physiol- 
 ogy, 114 
 Concentration camps, in, 128, 
 
 129 
 Congressional Record, 208 
 Council of National Defence, 
 
 Medical Section, in 
 Currency inflation, 141 
 
 "Darwinism and Race Prog- 
 ress," 64 
 Davin, Dr. John P., 65, 193 
 Declaration of Independence, 46 
 "De Senectute," 73 
 Devonport, Lord, 127 
 Diphtheria antitoxin, 25 
 Douglas, Dr., 23 
 
 East and West, contrasted, 209, 
 
 210 
 Ehrlich, Prof. Paul, 23, 35 sqq. 
 Ehrlich's side-chain theory, $5 
 
 sqq., 108 
 Ethics, medical code of, 23, 
 
 24 
 Exchange depreciation, 141, 142 
 
 Farmers' Bulletin, 32 
 Fatigue and alcohol, 113 sqq. 
 
 — and disease, 123 sqq. 
 
 — toxins, 114 
 
 Federal prohibition director, 
 
 Illinois, 48 
 Fees, medical, 40 
 Fillinger, Dr., 60 
 Fisher, Prof. Irving, 57 
 
 Fisk, Dr. Eugene L., vii, viii, 13, 
 58, 59, 60, 62, 65, 67, 73, 
 75, 76, 78, 80, 136, 138, 169 
 
 Foot and mouth disease, 32, 34 
 
 Fourteenth Regiment, N. Y. N. 
 G, 32 
 
 Fourth Amendment, 184, 185 
 
 Gallipoli, 33 
 
 Georgia and the Anti-Saloon 
 
 League, 56, 57 
 Germicide, practical, 36 sqq., 
 
 108, 109 
 Golf and alcohol, 119 sqq. 
 Gompers, Samuel, 134 
 Grain conservation and alcohol, 
 
 136 sqq. 
 "Greenback" party, 140 
 
 Hall, Prof., W. S., 85 
 
 Hare, Dr., 106 
 
 Harvard Medical School, 200 
 
 Hippocrates, 26 
 
 Hobson, R. P., 57, 147 
 
 House of Commons, 33 
 
 House of Representatives, Ap- 
 propriations Committee, 17 
 
 "Human Machine and Industrial 
 Efficiency, The," 124 
 
 Hunter, Arthur, 50 
 
 Illinois, federal prohibition di- 
 rector in, 48 
 
 "Immortality of the Cells and 
 Tissues," 89 
 
 Imports of alcoholic beverages, 
 
 143, 144, 145 
 Indiana State Penitentiary, 172 
 Infantile paralysis, 32 
 Infection, explanation of, 42, 43 
 "Infection and Immunity," 197 
 Influenza Committee, Public 
 
 Health Service, 200 
 Influenza epidemic, in, 112, 
 
 126, 157, 158 
 Insanity and alcohol, 63, 64, 65 
 Internal Revenue Department, 
 
 180 
 Iowa Supreme Court, 163 
 Israelites, 14, 15 
 
INDEX 
 
 215 
 
 Jacobi, Dr. Abram, 80 
 Jefferson, Thomas, 205 
 Johnson, "Pussyfoot," 57 
 Journal of A. M. A., 202 
 Journal of Experimental Med- 
 icine, 88 
 
 Kings County Hospital, 176 
 
 Labor unionism, 159 sqq. 
 Law of Moses, 13, 14, 15 
 Lee, Dr., 114, 124 
 Leslie's Weekly, 176 
 Life average in China, 210 
 
 — in India, 210 
 Life Extension Institute, 59 
 
 Hygiene Reference Board, 
 
 59, 62 
 Life insurance companies, 17, 18, 
 
 49, 50, 62, 68, 75, 169 
 Lincoln, Abraham, 207 
 Liquor trade mortality statis- 
 tics, 75, 76 
 Loyster, James A., 31 
 
 Manchester weavers, 44 
 
 Mayo, Dr. Charles H., 39 
 
 "Medical Ethnology," 81 
 
 Medical ethics, 23, 24 
 
 Medical fees, 40 
 
 Medical Record, N. Y., 81, 89 
 
 Medical Section, Council of Na- 
 tional Defence, in 
 
 "Medical Student's Manual of 
 Chemistry," 61 
 
 Metchnikoff, Prof., 23, 78 
 
 Moran, Wm. H., 171 
 
 Mullan-Gage Act, 147 
 
 Munition Workers' Health Com- 
 mittee, British, 127 
 
 Nain, 14 
 
 Nation, Carrie, 179 
 
 National Health Service, 189, 
 198 
 
 Nature's process of fertility re- 
 newal, 72, 73 
 
 Neo-Salvarsan, 37 
 
 N. Y. Health Department, 32, 33 
 
 N. Y. Herald, 31 
 
 N. Y. Life Insurance Co., 50 
 
 N. Y. Medical Record, 81, 89 
 
 N. Y. Tribune, 185 
 
 N. Y. World, 33, 65, 184, 194 
 
 Nutrition Laboratory, Boston, 67 
 
 Occupational hazards (alco- 
 hol), 75 
 
 Paget, Sir James, 124 
 Paratyphoid fever, 32 
 Pasteur, Dr., 22, 23 
 Patent medicines, 26, 27, 28, 37, 
 
 38 
 Pfeiffer, Dr., 23 
 Philippines, alcohol and U. S. 
 
 troops, 81, 82 
 Plumb plan, 161, 165 
 Police court statistics, N. Y. 
 
 City, 175 
 "Practical Therapeutics," 106 
 Pratt case, 197 
 Prohibition and labor, 51, 52, 53, 
 
 133, 134 
 
 — cost of, 147, 154 
 
 — history of, in U. S. A., 173 
 sqq., 207, 208 
 
 — in the South, 17, 56, 57 
 
 — loss of revenue through, 
 146 
 
 Proverbs (quoted), 104 
 Public Health Service, 189, 198 
 Influenza Committee, 200 
 
 Reid, G. Archdall, 64 
 Religion and alcohol, 13 sqq. 
 Rockefeller family, 18, 54 
 
 — Institute, 54, 203 
 
 — John D., 55 
 Roosevelt, Theodore, 158 
 
 St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Wash- 
 ington, D. C, 63 
 Saleeby, Dr. C. W, 139, 140 
 Salvarsan, 37 
 Save-a-Life League, 66 
 Secret Service Bureau, 171 
 Seligman, Prof. E. R. A., 146 
 
2l6 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Senate Finance Committee, 146 
 
 Serum therapy, 23, 30 sqq. 
 
 Shevlin, Jas. F., 177 
 
 Simon, Dr., 197 
 
 Sing Sing prison, 172 
 
 Society for the Study of In- 
 ebriety, 63 
 
 Sorensen, Dr., 138 
 
 Stamp Act, 174 
 
 Standard Oil Co., 17, 54, 55 
 
 Stanley Amendment, 183 
 
 Stedman's Medical Dictionary, 
 97 
 
 Suicide and alcohol, 65, 66 
 
 Supreme Court, Iowa, 163 
 — U. S. A., 11, 46, 47, 112, 
 149 
 
 Training camps, 111, 128, 129 
 "Triangle of Health, The," 31, 
 
 95 . 
 Typhoid fever, 32 
 
 U. S. Army Reports, 32 
 
 Vaccination, 31, 32, 33 
 Volstead Act, 147, 171, 172, 178, 
 179, 181 
 
 — Committee, 57 
 
 — Representative, 185 
 
 Washington, George, 185 
 Weichardt, Dr., 114 
 Weigert's law of regeneration, 
 
 no 
 Weinberg, Dr., 60 
 Wheeler, Wayne B., 57 
 Whisky treatment in influenza 
 
 cases, in, 112 
 White, Dr. Wm. A., 63 
 Willis-Campbell Bill, 183 
 Wilson, Woodrow, 124, 125 
 Witthaus, Dr., 61 
 Women's Christian Temperance 
 
 Union, 27 
 Woodruff, Dr. Chas. E., 80, 81 
 Wright, Dr., 23 
 
\9»* 
 
 p.?* 
 
.LJBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 lllllllllBI 
 027 279 743 2