The licensed trade : an independent survey / by Edwin A. Pratt.

  • Pratt, Edwin A., 1854-1922.
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The licensed trade : an independent survey / by Edwin A. Pratt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    52/352 (page 38)
    from one State to another, and offered for sale by drug- gists as possessing medicinal qualities, shall bear a label setting forth the percentage of alcohol (if any) they contain. These have clearly been steps in the right direction, and the policy thus adopted in the United States is one that may well be commended to the notice of the authori- ties in Great Britain, where the ‘ drug habit ’ is not only steadily growing, but is likely to receive still further encouragement if the American producers of quack medicines, finding their sales in their own country checked somewhat under the new regulations now in force, seek to find a still larger market in this country for their concoctions than they do already. My own particular concern with this drug habit, however, is the further evidence it offers in support of the contention here advanced : (i) That the desire for occasional stimulants is so deeply implanted in human nature, as an integral part thereof, that one cannot hope to eradicate it altogether ; (2) that, if checked in the form of a moderate consumption of ordinary alcoholic beverages, it may assume some other form much more injurious to the individual, if not eventually to society; and (3) that the combination of these two facts simply serves to establish more clearly than ever the raison d'etre for that trade in alcoholic drinks which aims at supplying, in legalized fashion, and under effective con- trol, what must, in face of the truths here advanced, unquestionably be regarded as ‘a public want.’