In a letter to this paper a correspondent has brought up the old question of Booze. He seeks help in combating this "rampant evil" the cause of' "lost Tournaments" and "bawdy Extravs." He puts the blame for the "low morals" of this "institute of higher learning and culture" on beer and thus his letter adds just one more page to the volumes of absurd and muddled writings on this subject. "Sick-of-it" will undoubtedly receive the support he seeks for there have always been plenty of vigorous and bitter opponents of the consumption of alcoholic beverages, many of whom have been equally as ardent in their condemnation of smoking, dancing, the stage and even of music, but I have yet to see a calm, reasoned and convincing case for prohibition. What I have heard is undeniable proof of the evils of drunkenness and let me state here that nobody is so healthily contemptuous of and distressed by drunkenness as the steady and wise drinker. Temperance to me means, as it does to most people, moderation whether it be in the field of alcoholic drinks, food, religion or anything else, in all cases excesses are equally repulsive and equally dangerous. Temperance is not to be confused with prohibition.

The overwhelming majority of people in the world regard the moderate use of drink as a healthy and simple addition to the pleasures of this life. It is only when, as in most Anglo-Saxon countries, alcohol is subjected to barbarous legal restrictions that people impute to it powers it does not possess and apply to it a silly and misleading terminology. In the hope that I may shed some light and perhaps stimulate further investigation of this definitely absorbing subject I am quoting here some of the more illogical expressions and more interesting facts, for which I am deeply indebted to O. A. Mendelsohn's book "The Earnest Drinker's Digest."