87 



1. A father and a mother. 



2. The three children: a son married (with one son living and one 

 son dead) ; a daughter, unmarried : a daughter married but childless. 



3. The young generation. 



A number of charts were shown, some of five or six generations and 

 representing several hundred individuals. As a rule those living under 

 simple life conditions, as in the Northwest, still have old time fertility, 

 while those living in towns and cities show a gradual decline and even 

 total extinction. 



Among charts shown may be mentioned that of a family where for 

 several generations, after coming to America, the sibs of each generation 

 numbered about twelve. The parents being two. a family of twelve chil- 

 dren of course means a six-fold increase. The moment the more recent 

 descendants began to live under town and city conditions, the death rate 

 increased, many did not reach maturity at all, and some of the living 

 have no offspring, race suicide appeared with a vengeance ; also nar- 

 comania, i. e., the desire for strong drink and narcotics. 



Why do men drink? There are all sorts of reasons. The three chief 

 classes of drinkers are: 



Social drinkers, keeping up old-time customs. 



Habit drinkers, some tbink they require an appetizer ; others, some- 

 thing to settle their dinner, to aid digestion, etc. 



Relief drinking, as where a man feels bad but feels better, or thinks 

 he does, after a drink or after several in succession. It is with this class 

 that this paper is mostly concerned. Such men as a rule "pour it down.'* 

 they are not particular about flavor or taste, they drink for the effect ; they 

 do not take strong drink as a "stimulant,"' just the opposite, as a sedative. 

 Writers usually speak of this sort of drinking as "Misery drinking."' Re- 

 lief drinking is a better name in most instances. 



We must constantly ask of the man who drinks or who drinks to 

 excess, Where, when, why? 



The man living in isolation, the moonshiner, or the farmer, who can 

 drink alcohol with impunity, may find it a powerful poison when he removes 

 to the city. Alcohol and infective matter in the air (and of course also 

 in water and food) make a bad combination. The body may be unable to 

 overcome their combined influences. 



Reliable data concerning people who use narcotics are difficult to ob- 



