| OCR Text |
Show THE SALOON AS A DISEASE-BREEDER. DISEASE-BREEDER. Entirely apart from the alcohol question, regarding which there may bo difference of opinion, there Is no doubt that a saloon may manace tho health of a community simply from It3 lack of sanitary precautions. This Is brought out clearly by a writer In The Medical Record (New York, Octo-1 Octo-1 ber C). Taking up first the question of injury wrought by the saloon as a distributor of alcoholic drinks, he notes that while drinking to excess is undoubtedly Injurious, physically and mentally, yet It has not as yet been absolutely proved that alcoholic beverages, bev-erages, taken with discretion and at (fl the proper time, do harm. Ho goes II' on: I "On the alcohol question the opln- (1 Ions of medical and scientific men are fi strangely divergent. Soma leaders of ' ' the medical world, as Sir Victor Hors- ley and Prof. Sims Woodhead In England, Eng-land, hold alcohol in abhorrence and state that as a drug It Is useless and 9 as a beverage it is pernicious. Other equally distinguished leaders of science, as Professor Atwater, Professor Profes-sor Chittenden, and most of the German Ger-man scientists who have made investigations inves-tigations into tho matter, state that alcohol has Its uses and forbear to stigmatize it as utterly destructive to body and mind. A large proportion of English-speaking medical men reserve their decision on tho subject until more has been determined concerning the action of alcohol than Is at present pres-ent known. This, In tho face of the results of numerous experiments which have taken place during tho past few years, Is probably tho wistest course to pursue. At the same time it is satisfactory to note that drinking drink-ing of alcoholic stimulants has never been so prevalent here as in Europe, and that tho people of America on the whole are a temperate race." Apart from all this, however, the saloon Is in many Instances the means of originating and disseminating disease, dis-ease, especially when not kept In a sanitary condition. Two special articles arti-cles dealing with this matter in Great Britain, which appeared in The Lancet Lan-cet a number of months ago, contain tho results of a very careful Investigation Investi-gation of the subject. Says the writer already quoted: "Of course, It Is not easy to compare com-pare tho public-houses- of London and the saloon of New York, viewed from a hygienic standpoint. Many, If not most, of tho London establishments in the poorer quarters of that city can not by tho widest stretch of tho imagination imag-ination bo termed sanitary. In fact, as tho writer In Tho Lancet states, 'The question of sanitation is almost wholly disregarded In tho management of public-houses.' Tho so-called prl- ?vato bars of tho British public-houso are unknown in this country. These bars are merely narrow boarded com-,, com-,, partments opening onto a common ii counter and are presumably provided vU for tho convenience of women or of those who do not wish to drink In a publlc-houso in tho full sight of their fellow men. Such compartments are naturally often overcrowded, and ono who uses them Is compelled to rub shoulders with all sorts and conditions of men, regardless of their sanitary state. "It has been proved more or less conclusively that pulmonary tuberculosis tubercu-losis Is spread by tho agency of public-houses In Great Britain, and this is probably also tho caso to a lesser extent ex-tent In regard to saloons In America. Although tho saloons- hero are far cleaner nnd better ventilated than are those of Great Britain, there aro many in which diseased and unwashed loaf- ers spend a great part of their time. Thero aro many other affections which may also bo easily spread by means of tho saloons. Among these aro dlpthcrla and other infectious dls- If cases, syphilis, and almost all forms of skin diseases. Over and above tho fact that American saloons, as a rule, 1 aro far cleaner and moro hygienic than the British public-houses, thero is one lamentable feature of drinking In Great Britain which is nbscnt here. The habit of drinking among women in public bars is referred to. Drinking Drink-ing by women Is practiced everywhere, every-where, but in no other part of tho civilized world can It bo witnessed to such an extent as In Great Britain. What aro known in England as respectable re-spectable women aro accustomed to foregather in tho public-house for tho solo purpose of drinking nnd gossiping. gossip-ing. No particular loss of self-respect attaches to the woman who does this, and consequently tho custom shows no signs of declining. "Wo may, on tho whole, congratulate congrat-ulate ourselves that, although In many matters hygienic wo aro not quite in the front, at least our saloons wll compare favorably wth thoso of tho other great Englsh-speaklng peoples." peo-ples." o |
