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Show The Man in the Glass Box Like a man in a glass box. That's how a recovered alcoholic once described himself. He was alive, and in the world, he could see and be seen. But he could not communicate with anybody. He was a man in a box, apart from the world, not understanding it, not understood by it. This lack of understanding is the great tragedy of alcoholism. To help this man in the glass box, President Eisenhower proclaimed November 28 through December 2 as Alcoholism Information Week. This program has been organized by the National Council on Alcoholism. This first national campaign which the American Medical Association says is a disease, not a disgrace, marks a major step forward in bringing our fourth major illness under control. It is of more than passing interest to note that industrial wage losses through absenteeism due to alcoholism are estimated at $432 million a year. The further economic loss due to personal per-sonal and professional deterioration is beyond calculation. We cannot afford to allow 5,000,000 alcoholics in our midst to go unheeded. Help for them is available through community commu-nity action, through NCA, the Utah Alcoholism Foundation, its council and affiliates, and the many other agencies with which they work. Understanding will help unlock the glass box emcompassing the alcoholic. We urge you: support this fight against an insidious insidi-ous disease. |