80 THE WONDERFUL HOUSE THAT JACK HAS 



international athletic contests held in Athens, Greece, 

 in 1906, the American contestants won by far the larg- 

 est number of prizes. It is interesting testimony that 

 in Germany, a country where much wine and beer are 

 drunk, the newspapers attributed the success of the 

 Americans to the fact that they did not use alcoholic 

 drinks during the period of training. If one is stronger 

 and more capable at such a time without alcohol, it is 

 reasonable to conclude that he will be healthier and 

 more capable at all times without it. 



For a long time insurance companies have kept 

 account of the ages of people they insure, the diseases 

 with which they die, and their age at the time of death. 

 Some have also recorded whether the persons insured 

 used liquor or were total abstainers. As such records 

 have been kept strictly for business purposes, arid not 

 to prove or disprove anything in regard to the use 

 of alcohol, they are entitled to considerable weight. 

 These records show that, other things being equal, 

 persons who do not use alcohol live, on the average, 

 from fifteen to twenty years longer than do moderate 

 drinkers. Very old men who have used liquor for 

 many years are sometimes seen, and people conclude 

 that alcohol has prolonged the lives of these persons, 

 or has, at least, not shortened them. That in such 

 cases the length of life has been in spite of, not because 

 of, using alcoholic drinks, these insurance records 

 unquestionably indicate. Few people would willingly 

 give up fifteen years of life, and yet, by continu- 



