Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/598

 voice of  the  people  is  the  voice  of  God  proclaiming the good  of  the  community  to  be  the  highest  law, and hence  the  individual's  liberty  ends  where  the rights of  others  begin. Oh, well,  you  say,  drink  is necessary  for  me. As a  medicine  sometimes,  but  as food  and  drink  never. Alcohol is  not  a  food,  but  a part  of  all  food,  just  as  hydrogen,  though  a  part  of water,  is  a  useless  substitute  for  water. The health of total  abstainers  proves  that  alcohol  as  such  is  not necessary; those  shattered  wrecks  of  humanity, drunkards, prove  it  is  a  positive  injury,  and  chemists tell us  that  in  a  quart  of  alcohol  there  is  not  enough food to  support  a  canary  twenty-four  hours. Truly does the  Scripture  say:  "Wine  is  a  mere  luxury," etc. Alcohol,  then,  is  neither  necessary  nor  useful  as a  food,  but  a  mere  luxury  most  ruinous  in  its  effects. Now, what  are  these  effects? First, it  affects  the drunkard himself — his  purse. Our people,  God  help them, earn  their  money  harder  than  any  other  people under  heaven,  and  yet,  alas! they spend  it  more freely and  more  foolishly. The ancient  Spartans spent a  certain  amount  in  making  their  helots  .or slaves  drunk,  that  their  children  from  seeing  them might learn  to  be  thrifty  and  sober. Alas, history  repeats itself  in  our  days,  for  the  English-speaking  race have become  the  helots  of  the  world. They may  boast of having  girdled  the  world  from  pole  to  pole  with  a zone  of  Catholicity,  but  it  is  true  also  they  have girdled it  from  east  to  west  with  a  zone  of  drunkenness. And drink  costs  money. You who  spend  ten cents a  day  for  liquor,  ask  your  ill-fed,  scantily