That report was no sooner made public than the French liquor
dealers were up in arms against it. Indignation meetings were
held. The mails were flooded with all sorts of protests against
the truth of Mesureur's claim that alcoholism was slowly but
surely destroying the French people.
The discussion at last became so heated that the government took
it upon itself to subject the offensive report to a careful
scrutiny, with the result that it was CONFIRMED in every
particular.
We quote from a poster, issued by the "Investigation Council for
Promoting the Public Welfare," and now displayed all over France:
"Alcoholism is the chronic poisoning resulting from the constant
use of alcohol, even if it does not produce drunkenness.
"It is an error to say that alcohol is a necessity to the man who
has to do hard work, or that it restores strength.
"The artificial stimulation which it produces soon gives way to
exhaustion and nervous depression. Alcohol is good for nobody,
but works harm to everybody.
"Alcoholism produces the most varied and fatal diseases of the
stomach and liver, paralysis, dropsy and madness. It is one of
the most frequent canses of tuberculosis.
"Lastly, it aggravates and enhances all acute diseases, typhus,
pneumonia, erysipelas.
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