Page:Henry Stephens Salt - A Plea for Vegetarianism and Other Essays.pdf/43

Rh diet-system would strike at the root of intemperance among well-to~do people, by the reduction of over-stimulating foods and the promotion of general frugality of living.

Again, on the other hand, if Vegetarian principles were more widely understood and practised, there would be a much larger supply of cheap and wholesome food within the reach of our lower orders; and the chief cause of drunkenness among the poor—their destitution and hunger—might be gradually and surely eradicated. Thus the intemperate habits of the over-fed rich and of the under-fed poor would be checked by one and the same principle of Food Reform. Vegetarianism would teach the rich the great lesson that “Enough is as good as a feast,” and also that water is as good a drink as wine; while it would provide the poor with plenty of cheap and nourishing food, and leave them no excuse for having recourse to the pot-house and gin-shop. If the poor could be taught the value of whole-meal bread, oat-meal, and lentils, a greater blow would be dealt at intemperance than by a thousand lectures and addresses.

On these grounds all those who are interested