171 / 220
Chapter XX
General Observations
Down through the centuries,since manlearned to concoct
intoxicating beverages, the solemn warning has come to be
ware of alcohol. The Christian Bible,the Jewish Talmud,the
Mohammedan Koran, the ancient writings of Confucius,
Buddha,Brahma and a host of others into the remotest days
of antiquity have preached to men of the perils lurking in the
convivial glass.
Against their teachings the virtues of wine have been sung
by the bards of Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, Greece, Rome,
Carthage and virtually all the civihzations of the past.
Medieval praise of the grape followed,even in the missals
of the priesthood, although they also warned against intem
perate use of the "cup that cheers." Modern praise of the
nectars that go with ambrosia has not been lacking.
Indeed, the battle between temperance and inordinate
drinking hasgone on unabated since the first jollyfellow came
staggering home to his cave dwelling until today, when his
jolly descendant, with sUk topper tilted, tries vainly to find
the keyhole,or,finding it, tries to open the lock with a tooth
pick.
Bigoted reformists have,from time to time,down through
the centuries,enacted compulsory prohibitive laws,onlyto be
defeated by liberalists when stern inhibitions evoked merely
the evils of defiance againstlaw and authority,and compelled
more enforceable rules and statutes. I am for temperate
drinking.
Temperate drinking makes alcohol a slave to man;intem
perate drinking makes man a slave to alcohol. Only the fool
permits alcohol, tobacco, tea, coffee, drugs or other poten
tially harmful productsto enslave him. Drinking to the point
that produces headaches the morning after is mhrely inviting
slavery to the glass.
But down through the ages has come the irrefutable
and omnipresent evidence that from the ranks of those who
171