Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/731

 NOTES AND ABSTRACTS 715

Industrial Alcoholism. There is a traditional belief, more or less prevalent, to the effect that the primary and most serious factor in intemperance is con- vivial excess. It is often assumed that the amount of drunkenness, or even the number of arrests for drunkenness, in a community furnishes a reliable guide to the extent to which alcoholism prevails. That this is far indeed from the truth is easily apparent from an inspection of the statistics of drunkenness, on the one hand, and of the characteristic effects of alcoholism, such as cirrhosis of the liver and attempts to commit suicide, on the other.

Arranging the English counties, with North and South Wales, in the order of their addiction to drunkenness, we find that the list is headed by the chief mining districts Durham, Northumberland, and South Wales. But if we look at the place of these districts in the list of alcoholism, the result is entirely different. Durham a long way the most drunken county in England has an alcoholic death-rate which ranks it with the sober agricultural districts ; while South Wales, third highest in the list of drunkenness, is the lowest but three in the list of alcoholism.

Drunkenness reaches its maximum in the mining districts, but in these same districts the frequency of the specially alcoholic offenses is relatively low. The reason for this is, of course, simply that in the mining districts we have to do with practically pure convivial excess ; the conditions of the coal-miner's work to a large extent exclude the possibility of his drinking during the hours of work that is, of industrial drinking ; while, on the other hand, his relative pros- perity and low standard of culture are extremely favorable to convivial indulgence. In the manufacturing towns, on the contrary, and still more in the seaports, the conditions of labor, especially among the unskilled workers, are of a kind greatly to further industrial drinking.

The conclusion, therefore, to be drawn from the statistical evidence is clearly that the connection of chronic alcoholism is with industrial drinking and not with convivial drunkenness, and that accordingly the latter phenomenon, however regrettable as a proof of a low standard of manners, is not of very great account in the causation of the worst evils of intemperance, at all events under the prevailing conditions in this country.

Allusion has already been made to the importance of occupation in determin- ing the drinking habits of workingmen. The character of the nervous and muscular effort which the work demands is unquestionably the chief influence of this sort. The cause of industrial drinking lies, of course, in the power that alcohol has of giving a sense, albeit an illusory sense, of increased strength and efficiency. While this feeling is largely subjective, it is nevertheless very real to the drinker ; and, accordingly, in proportion as his work is of a kind to cause exhaustion and depression, he will tend to seek relief in alcohol, so long at least as its agreeable action is not outweighed by obvious and immediate disadvantages.

In labor that demands only coarse muscular effort, these conditions are best realized ; the sense of fatigue is relieved by the pseudo-stimulant action of alcohol, while the real loss in keenness of perception and accuracy of muscular adjustment produced by the drug is here relatively unimportant. The more skilled occupations require a steadiness and quickness of band which is quite incom- patible with the constant use of alcohol.

Next in importance to the nature of the muscular and nervous effort required in an occupation, comes the facility of access to alcohol during working hours. It is, in fact, from the interaction of this factor with the character of the muscu- lar and nervous strain that the drinking tradition of an industry is mainly formed. Since the effect of alcohol is transitory and is followed by reaction, it is essential for its industrial use that the dose be repeated at short intervals. If the intervals are so long that the period of depression overshadows that of increased well- being, the disadvantages of the drug will be sufficiently evident to the workers to exclude its use. Breaking the continuity of the intoxication compels the worker to realize by actual experience that the sense of increased energy which he gets from alcohol is a very brief illusion.

Employers are thus in a position to do much toward mitigating the effects of alcoholism by the character of the shop rules enforced. Many altogether prohibit the introduction of alcohol into their factories, and some go farther and, by starting temperance canteens, encourage the use of hygienic substitutes. W. C. SULLIVAN, in Economic Review, April, 1905. E. B. W.