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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1914)
sNotFou SURPRISING FACTS About the LIQUOR BUSINESS All the Expenses of Our Prisons, Police, Courts, and Even Our Public Charities, at on boor, wines and i 11 n - Are Paid by THE much maligned "Demon Rum" assumes a far different aspect from what we have alwayB been led to expect when wo realize that a largo share of every dollar spent for alcohol goes to meet the ox penso of some of the most necessary Institutions of our civilization. Indeed, when viewed in thi3 light, the liquor traffic becomes less a demon and more an angel in dis guise, for without its financial aid the nation would, for a time at least, find it hard to get along. It will surprlso ovorybody wno has not taken tho trouble to Investigate tho subject to learn that all tho expenses of our courts, our police, our prisons and oven our public charities are met by revenues from the liquor traffic in the shape of license fees charged saloons toy States and municipalities and taxes Imposed by tho federal Government on boor, wines and liquors. And after tho liquor buslnoss has paid all tho millions of dollars required for the support of their Institutions there still flows from Its capaolous pockets a Btream of revenue sufficient to go a long way toward paying tho cost of our National Guard and other heavy Government expenses. This is not a new state of affairs, but ono which has oxistod for years, and it bocomes more favorable to tho liquor business with every increase in tho llcenso foes, such as was recently mado In New York and other States. That there should be any ground for tho assertion that tho liquor business servos any useful purposo Is all tho more surprising, be cause tho anti-saloon forces have alwavs inninrninen thnt i"YT T 1. oon ,s nn ""mixed evil which gfveK nothing in return for all that it takes from a community Only the other day, for example" wS known prohbitlonist made the statement that "tho revenuo the liquor dealer gives the State does not pay a half or a quarter or a tenth of tho costs ho imposes upon us in the maintenance of prisons, hospitals and asylums." The statistics show that this and other similar state ments are Inaccurate and without tho slightest founda tion in fact. Far from paying only a quarter or a tenth of tho qosts of prisons, hospitals and asylums the liquor "A largo sharo of every dollar tho saloonkeeper takes in goes to help pay the cost of running mir prisons, police forces, courts, hospitals, asylums and almshouses, all of which ro wipportcf by revenue from thn llminf kn.iH... i "i revenues from business pays all those costs; and, In addition, it pays the cntlro ex ponse of tho pollco and tho courts, and also contributes Uborally toward othor useful and necessary Govern ment expenditures. Of courso, tho Prohibitionists maintain that a' largo proportion of tho Inmates of our prisons, hospitals and asylums wero brought there as a result of tho liquor business. Rut until it can bo Bhown that If wn I Why We Really Ought to LIVE EV GLASS HOUSES By Dr. L. K. HIRSHBERG, A.B., M.A., M.D., Johns Hopkins. IF you want to be healthy ,and happy you should keop on tho sunny sldo of the street Just as much as you can. Tho more sun light you get the better, even In tho hottest weather. Uulosa your body has been weakened by drinking or other excesses sunlight will make your heart beat bottorj your liver do more efficient work, and overy organ and tissue In your body tako on new activity. In fact, tho human race would bo far better off if all our buildings wero made of glass or some other transparent material which would permit every nook and corner to be permeated with sunlight. Tho world is Just beginning to realize bow essential sunlight is to all Hvjng things. Not only does it help a human being to digest food .moro easily and keep In better health but, sci ence now declares, it actually enables a man to do more work and a woman to become more ibeautlful. All theso beneficial effects are due to tho almost endless variety of unseen rays con tained in every bit of light that emanates from tho sun. Although these rays are invisible to human eyes science is able to Identify many of them by the use of Ingenious screens which cut off nil the white and colored light that is visible It is those unseen rays which cause tho chemical change In .a photographic plate, produce the aurora borealls, exert a curative In fluence upon leprosy and tuberculosis, fill the atmosphere on tho sunny side of tho street with oxygen and nitrogen and do many other marvellous things. In short, the consequences to llfo from these rays aro so tremendoiiB that many birds, butter flies, moths, flies, sea urchins nnd other crea tures aro mado by nature to seek light at any cost. Naturo has taught the brute -world for ages what man is Just beginning to find out, that it is better that a few Birds bump thoir lives out against a light-house, or a moth be burned In a flame, or even a few sick men be sunstruck, than that the whole raco of birds, moths and men be deprived of tho effects of sunlight. Sunlight should be sought by all except the aged and infants. In Its sparkling radiations microbes dio, decay ceases, the iron in tho blood becomes chemically strong; ozone is manufactured from tho dirt and dust, which aro also destroyed; tho perspiration becomes active and carries off waste from the muscles and cleansos the skin; dead tissues are purified and the muscles invigorated; and all life la made to thrive. Professor Whitman has discovered that even a faint shadow causes a leech to sway from side to side and boepme restless, and Dr. Dolly, In a brilliant experiment, has proved that a butterfly will live three times longer In sunlight than in shadow. Professor Yerkos has also shown that the Jellyfish is inactive in tho dark, but becomes very strenuous in sunlight. Even earthworms, according to Professor Mast, of Johns Hopkins, aro favorably influenced by the very light they seem to avoid. Ho says: "I havo kept earthworms continuously exposed to strong diffuse daylight In excellent condition for weeks. Exposure to light Is not avoided by them on account of possible injury by the sun's rays, but In ordor for them to shun tho birdB that proy upon them. Light Itself would make tho earthworms bettor creatures If It did not reveal them to their enemies, the birds." Professor Mast thlnkB that tho happy Influ ence of sunlight upon man and other animals Is the result of evolution which began with Its marvelous effect on the green plants. Sunlight makes the green leaves form starches and other compounds for tho ubo of animals. These effects of sunlight are, he says, tho foundation stones of the sun's activities on every living thing. Probably aunllght helps man to mako foods for his muscles and tissues Just aB it does the green plant. Certainly It Improves bis health and facilitates all forms of effort. An amooba becames busy In tho sunlight, bo does your whito blood corpuscle; a deadly disoase germ la destroyed by tho sunlight, so aro the dirty cells of your skin as thoy peol off from sunburn. All thopo Important discoveries about tho sun's rays should impress us with tho advisa billty of getting all the sunlight wo can. Tho homes where wo live and the schools, factories and offices where we work, should bo designed with a view to admitting a maximum amount of tho sun's beneficial rays. Tho Government him set a good example in this respect by devoting over osii ue spaco 01 me now post-offlco building in Wash ington to an arrangement which permits the interior to be flooded with sunlight, and Mayor Preston of Baltimore predicts that in tho not very far distant future overy school house -will have its roof nnd four walls built of glass. tho liquor business." had no saloons wo would neod to havo no police, prisons, courts or charltablo Institutions thoro will al ways be something to bo said In favor of the liquor buslnoss whoso rovenuos form tho solo support of theso Institutions. Whllo it Is difficult to got exact flguros on thin sub Jcct, bocauso of tho confusion In public bookkeeping, thoro aro enough avallablo to support tho case for tho liquor business. The last gonoral compilation of governmental expenditures Is nontalnod in tho cen sus report of 1902. This shows that Urn ontlro an nual oxponsoB of tho State and local governments for charities, insane and penal institutions wero then a trifle moro than 100,000,000. Tho total rocolpts from liquor Hcensos wero $55,000,000, and tho Federal Internal and customs revenuo from liquors $200,000,000 nihil" tlonnl. ThUB tho rovenuos from tho liquor business would pay all tho oxponBos of our penal and publlo charltablo Institutions and lcavo $155,000,000 for other usos. It may bo objected that thoro aro othor charges which should bo considered, nB, for oxample, court proceed ings nnd police. Tho cntlro expenditures of States and Whiskey and Beer Taxes localities for courts, military and pollco for the year 1002 wero not qulto $100,000,000. Adding all this to the oxponsos alroady given, makos a total ot $200,000,000. Tho rovenuo from tho liquor traffic would pay this, too, and lcavo a balanco of $50,000,000 for other purposes. Tako tho caso of Now York State Whllo tho total expenses In that year for charities, Insane and ponal in stitutions amounted to $20,000,000, the liquor licenses produced nearly $13,000,000, and this was before the In crease in tho tax, which now makes them yield $18, 000,000. On a per capita basis tho share of tho Federal rocolpts from the liquor traffic paid by tho State of Now York was moro than tho $20,000,000 spent for tho nbove-enumoratod institutions. It is also polntod out that It Is not reasonable to charge up tho oxpenso of all tho asylums, almshouses, prisons and hospitals to tho liquor business. This Is shown by tho Stato ot Kansas which has beon for a number of years under prohibition laws. Kansas re ports a total expenditure for these purposes of $1,600,000, approximately $1.10 per capita. This Is only RO cents por capita loss than tho average for the United Statos. Dut if this excess in other States were all chargoablo to tho liquor traffic, tho total difference would hnvo amounted In that year to Iobb han one-halt tho receipts from liquor licenses nlono. Wero tho liquor business to bo abolished, as tho pro hibitionists urge, tho nation would bo forced to raise, by direct taxation or In soma other way tho $255,000, 000 which is received annually from this sourco and which ia moro than enough to pay all tho cost of police, prisons, courts and p .bllc charltleB. How MORE BABIES Alone Can't Make NATIONS GREAT S RUDDERS to Keep AUTOS from SKIDDING THE two front wheels of a motor car are connected by a rigid axle which is capable of being turned so as to proceed in a direction not quite parallel with that connecting tho two hind wheels. By this arrangement the car is steered; and when, by means of it, the front wheels are turned so aB to run at an anglo with their previous course, the hind wheels have to follow them as best they may. This pre sents no difficulty it tho machine is go ing at a slow pace, and If the road is firm and dry. But when the road Is slip pery from rain or oil, the momentum which the machine has already attained causes it to press the front wheels sideways in stead of forward. Then the phenomenon known as "skidding" appears, and the front wheels slip instead of revolving. In a racing automobile on a circular track there is still another danger. Any body much longer than its diameter, when propelled at high speed, has a natural antipathy to turning to the right or left a tact which is taken advantage of In the construction of bullets, torpedoes, and dirigible balloons and it it ia compelled to do so, suddenly develops centrifugal force. It the body is in the shape ot a parallelogram running on four wheels, thlB shows itself by the outer, or "off," side lifting from the track, whllo tho in ner side bites into it. On a racing track this tendency is coun teracted by building, at the angles where the cars have to turn, a steeply sloping bank up which they climb sideways, so that the track, In fact, lifts as do the outer wheels, and tho car heels over un til it almost seems as if its occupant must fall out. By this the liability to skid is probably much Increased. An English automobile ongineer raises the question of whether the present mode of steering racing cars Is not mechanically wrong. For road cars the old method of altering tho car's course by setting the front wheels askew may still be good enough. But steamships, torpedoes and aeroplanes, all of them machines driven so as to produce as much momentum as pos- BiDie are an steer ed by rudders placed not In front, but in tho rear; and that a rudder can be made to bito as well on a track as in the soa or thn air may be seen from the analagous case of the bob sleigh or the Cana dian toboggan. If this principle were applied to racing cars much skidding might be avoided. OME people persist In bollovlng that a nation muBt contlnuo to lncrenso in population in ordor to keep paco wltli its rivals and bo ablo to maintain Its indopondenco and influence, Bays Dr. Woods Hutch inson. This theory was all right many yoars ago, but to-day tho nation with tho largest population Is not necessarily tho strongest nation. In this age, science and brains nro moro than a match for numerical strength, and a nation that deponds upon population for Its buccobs will havo a poor chanco in competition with emallor and brainier races. As civilization advances tho birth rato declines, and tho higher tho intelligence of a people tho lower will be their birth rato. Crude, uncivilized nooDlcs aro YOU MIGHT TRY-- To Clean Brass. HALF a lemon dlppod In coarse ealt and rubbed thoroughly over the sur face Is an excellent way to clean braBswork. A Shampoo for Pussy. 10 BE well cared for, a cat should occasionally havo a shampoo. Dry oatmoal Is tho best thing to ubo for tho purposo. It should bo rubbed Into tho fur woll, allowed to remain flvo mlnutos, and then whisked out with a brush. For White Furs. WHITE furs can bo frcshonod by rubbing into them a generous amount of damp cornmoal. After lotting dry, shako and brush out thoroughly. noted for tho rapidity with which, they multiply and also for thoir woaknoBS. Tho higher tho birth rate tho greater the death rate. Small families aro stronger and more vigorous than largo families. Whoro thero aro a great many children bora In tho family, tho first two or three 111 be below tho avorage, being weaker and loss able to withstand tho pressure ot exlstenco than tho later children. This Is accounted for on tho theory that in tho first children tho parents have not thoroughly blended their quali ties, but that aB thoy go along thoy gradually bring out their good traits and mix tbem in tho samo child. As a typo advances in tho scale of civilisation, Its rato ot reproduction doorcases. The highest type of animal produces only ono child nt birth. Twins and trlplots nro usually tho result ot a revision to a type of long ago, and thoy nro caused by tho splitting Into two or three parts ot the original gorm. Twins are not as sturdy aB othor children in tho same family. Thero Is nothing in sclonco to support tho theory that a high rate ot child birth Is a sign of prosperity and progress In a nation. Tho contrary is more likely to bo true. The defectlvo classes in a community breed a great doal faster than the normal, although their off spring aro not as vigorous and do not survive as well as the children ot normal people. Franco Is oxcltod over her population's coming to t standstill. Sbo boob Gormany steadily increasing and fears that somo day the preponderance In population on Germany's sldo will bo disastrous tor France. But it tho population of Franca Is at a standstill, the na tion's advanco in thrift, intelligence and other good qualities is not. The French peoplo are making a great progress In mental dovelopment, which -loro than off sets their failure to show an Increase in numbers. LESS Chance of LONG LIFE Than There Used to Be If Your BUTTER TASTES BAD, Perhaps There's IRON IN IT THE disagreeable flavor which perfectly good but ter often develops after being kept for several months Is due to a slow chemical change pro duced by minute particles ot copper. Iron and other metals which get into the butter during its manufac ture. This Is the opinion of tho experts ot tho United States Department, who set out some timo ago to solve the mystery of good butter bo frequently turning bad. If butter la properly made It can be held In storage from the Summer season when It Is plentiful, until Win ter, when it is scarce, without materially injuring its quality. Yet, as farmers and wholesalo dealers have learned to their sorrow, the finest butter Btored under ideal conditions, often comes out of storage so tainted that It is unsalable, or greatly lessened In value. The fact that this damaged butter had a peculiar metallic taste, led the Government's experts to think that bits of rust and metal might be at tho bottom of all the trouble. A test was made by adding quanti ties of iron varying from one to flvo hundred parts to a million parts of cream. Butter made from this cream quickly developed a bad taste, that, although slight, was quite noticeablo, and the longer the butter was kept In storage the more pronounced the disagreeable flavor became, due doubtless to tho very slow chemical changes produced by the iron. Butter was also made from cream which had stood In rusty cans, and in every case this butter had a peculiar taste and was easily picked out from all other samples. The buttermilk also had a decided metallic taste. The influence of copper on the flavor of butter was studied In a similar manner, and it was found that copper, even in small quantities, seemed to cause more marked changes of flavor in butter than did the Iron, with a decided tendency toward a fishy flavor after be ing kept In storage. ' These experiments plainly show that If cream is kept In rusty cans, or It It comes in contact with Iron or copper in the separators, drums or pasteurizers, it is quite liable to take up sufficient bits ot metal to give it a bad flavor. How You Can Tell an EGG'S AGE W THE fact that the average length of life Is somewhat greater than it used to be has made many ot us' prono to believe that wo havo a bettor chanco of living to a ripe old age than our fathers and grandfathers did. This pleasant idea, however, is entirely erroneous. Not only Is tho oxpeotatlon of fur ther life at the age of sixty, fifty or oven forty years not improving, but it is 'probably a slim mer chanco to-day than it was a hundred years ngo. In fact, Prof. Herbert W. Fisher, of Yalo University, goes bo far aa to say that our con ditions of life are approaching a point where tho very existence of tho human race 1b threats encd. Tho average length of llfo ia increasing bo causo epidemic diseases aro suffering dofeat at the hands of our sanitary fighters. Bi the saving in this direction is largely of infants and young children and has no effect on cm adult's chances of living long. As Prof. Fisher points out it is easy to see how average longov Ity may improve and yet "the ship of llfo be all tho while going on the rocks. Suppose, bo says, that among 10,000 people dying to-day, somo die nt no hour old, somo at forty years, some at ono hundred ; the lion- Fresh Eggs and Old Ones Behare in a Tumbler of Water ITH eggs the precious things their present high prices make them it is important for every housewife to know a simple and accurate meth od of testing their freshness. There is no better Indication of an ogg than its density, eggs that float being a bad investment. All you need to test eggs that are under suspicion 1b a glass of water. Into which you drop them one by one, while you watch closely how they behave. A fresh egg will sink when placed In water and rest on its side; if three weeks old it will lncllno slightly with the email end down; If three months old It will etand on the small end, and it older It will float, with the large end out of water more or loss, according to its age. A device embodying this principle has lately been patented. It consists of an air chamber of aluminum, on the outside ot the stem ot which Is a rule. The egg is placed on a wire holder at tho bottom of the Instru ment and placed In water. The depth tho Instrument sinks, as shown by the rule, indicates the donslty ot the egg, and enables you to tell at a glance whether It is fresh or has been kept a long time In storage. avorago being forty. Supposo that In a corre sponding 10,000 dying In tho next generation ten years aplcco havo been added to the lives (of 5,000 babies who formerly would havo died In an hour. This adds 50,000 years to tho total, or 5 years to tho avorage. But supposo that at tho samo tlmo, a year has been lopped off from tho Hvob of 1,000 men who die at ages abovo forty. This cuta oft 1,000 years for the total, or one-tenth of a year for tho average. In mere years, then, thero 1b still a net gain of 4 9-10. But in human dostlny tho net result Is not gain, but loss'. Tho years glvon to the babies aro lens significant than the years taken from tho men. The years glvon to the babies with no years to follow aro not serviceable yoars. Tho years taken from the men are the best years of tho best lives Jn tho community. Tho appalling fact la that although at all early ages (usually under forty) there has beon gain, yet at all ages beyond that point, thoro is a steady and progressive loss. The authority for theso facts is abundant. They were re vealed by the lato Conservation Commission and are being every day reiterated by tho life Insurance authorities'. The same facts aro, in deed, the burden ot tho statistical songs of all nations as sung at tho recent International Hy giene Congress at DroBdon. All had lost, except England and Sweden; Epldomlo dlBeases aro responsible for most of the deaths under forty; organic dlBeases do mcX of tho killing ovor that ago. Sudden assaults from outside tho body cause epidemic diseases whllo organic diseases aro due to a gradual derangomont inside. This derangement Prof. Fisher declares, is due to our modern ways of earning a living. "Directly or indirectly," he Bays, "all organlo dlBeases aro occupational; and as only two deaths In a hundred are free from some dis ease or other despite tho defeat of epidemic diaoasoB the groat fact ot occupation looms up as tho most important fact in lite. "Our division ot labor Is the curse of our times because it doprlves us of opportunity for versatility and ties so many of us to tho deadly monotony of a Blnglo repeated operation of the hand or brain. Versatility is' the unescap ablo condition of life. We can never thrive until we Uvo according to that condition. "Nothing moro signally illustrates how die motrlcally wo aro travelling against our own Interests than the much-vaunted feat ot modern efficiency wheroby a bricklayer now lays ten bricks' in tho time he could formerly lay but one. Ho lays tho ten by no longer having to stoop for them. Did you over hear of calis thenics? If you will stand with legs apart and arms outspread, and then turn your arms at right anglos to your legs, and then stoop and touch tho floor, you will be performing the most Important evolution known to calisthenics. It Is precisely the evolution ot which the bricklayer has been deprived. "Civilization will continue to prepare and promote its own destruction untlj it stops counting progress In economic terms by num ber nnd speed and begins counting it In term of health." How TELEPHONES Ruin Girls' HEALTH ORK at a telophono switchboard Is not only trying to a girl's temper but If sbo undertakes to follow It for any length of time It is very liable to ruin her hoalth. The enormous strain tho work imposes on th eyos la the reason given in a re port of tho American Medical Association for tho fact that the average length of service, even undor good conditions and in tho cases ot healthy girls, rarely ex ceeds three years. There are in the United States about 125,000 tele phono girls. Tho working hours are about eight per day, aud tho average number of calls 1b about 140 per hour, ruunlng, at tho busiest times to 225 or more. The operator sits facing a swCchboard covered with numbers, each number having a small signal light that flashes on and off as the call Is completed. When the person calling raises his receiver, a light flashes on the switchboard at "central," and this light continues to burn until the bporator "plugs" the number, receives tho call, plugs tho number called for, and the called person raises his receiver from the book. When the re ceivers aro finally replaced on their hooks, both lishta flash and burn until the operator removes the connect ing plugs. To complete ono call means four flashes of light Tie operator's eyos are thus exposed to from 500 to 1,000 flashes of light every hour, to say nothing of the mental and physical strain under which she constantly works Although more than 1700,000 was spent in 1911 Im the effort to provide thu beat possible working coalition, for the switchboard lrls, yet the average lengti otU vice does not exceed three years. Headache, dullaMi. Indigestion, exhaustion, nerve strata, Insomnia, and lYt are. some ot the sxmntoms that tellew. wegfc g Jfcl y