On the Comparative Mortality among Assured Lives of Abstainers and Non-Abstainers from Alcoholic Beverages

Extract

The effect of alcohol on the human economy and on the health and prosperity of the community has occupied the close attention of statesmen, physiologists and philanthropists for many generations past, and the question of total abstinence has been probably the most widely discussed social problem for more than half a century. That excess, as compared with moderation in the use of alcohol, is prejudicial in every way is a proposition hardly to be disputed. And many authorities who have given the matter careful consideration contend that even as moderation is superior to excess, so is total abstinence from alcohol superior to moderation. It is the purpose of this paper to examine the truth of this contention in regard to Mortality; with which must be closely associated the questions of health and general well being.