ALCOHOL: AN ENEMY OF HOME AND COMMUNITY 543 



the moderate drinkers the deaths were 94 per cent of the 

 calculated probabilities. In another British insurance com- 

 pany, the figures were 53 and 80 per cent. That is, the 

 average difference in favor of the total abstainers is 25 per 

 cent. Stated in another way this would be about the same 

 as saying that the moderate drinkers live only three fourths 



Average Death Rate among all Policy Holders 



Death Rate among those using 2 Glasses of 

 Beer or 1 Glass of Whiskey Daily 



Death Rate of those with History of Past 

 Intemperance, but Apparently Cured 



100 



150 



iftfi 

 Death Rate of those using more than 2 Glasses 



of Beer or 1 Glass of Whiskey Daily 



FIG. 216. Chart showing effect of moderate use of alcohol on death rates. 

 (Based on records of 43 American life insurance companies.) 



as many years as the abstainers. This is shown graphically 

 in figure 217. 



A doctor in Switzerland made a study of the records of 

 the city of Basle and found that alcohol was one of the causes 

 of the death of every tenth man. Another study made in 

 Sweden showed that among adults 18 per cent of the deaths 

 were due directly or indirectly to alcoholism. 



Alcohol and disease. Some cases of sickness and death 

 are due directly to alcohol, and many cases are due indirectly 

 to it. The alcohol has so weakened the body that it is more 



