the support of destitute and deserted children; [Footnote: Ibid,
p. 89 ] the maintenance of prisons, of courts, and police - the
Massachusetts Bureau of Labor Statistics has shown that eighty-four
per cent of all criminals under conviction in the correctional
institutions of that State committed their crimes under the influence
of alcohol. [Footnote: Ibid, p. 72] When we add to this the still
greater numbers of incapables supported by their families and friends,
we realize that the national drink bill is really very much greater
than the mere sums spent for liquor. Comparative statistics show
graphically how strikingly pauperism, crime, and destitution are
diminished by prohibition. It is variously estimated that a fourth
or a third or more of all acute poverty is due directly or indirectly
to alcohol. Our municipalities are always poor; all sorts of needed
improvements are blocked for lack of funds. If this leakage of the
national wealth can be stopped we shall be able with the money saved
to create a radically different and higher civilization.

(3) The moral harm of alcohol is comparable to its physical and
economic harm.

(a) As we noted when considering the value of alcohol, the higher
nature is stupefied, leaving the emotions less controlled. The
silliness, the irritability, the glumness, the violence, the lust of
men are given freer rein. The effect of alcohol is coarsening,
brutalizing; we are not our best selves under its influence. The
judgment is dulled, the spirit of recklessness is stimulated-an
impatience of restraint and a craving for further excitement. Even
after the palpable effects of a potation have disappeared, a permanent
alteration in the brain remains, which makes it likely that the drinker
will "go farther" next time or the time after. The accumulation of