OCR Interpretation


The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917, July 14, 1915, NOON EDITION, Image 6

Image and text provided by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

Persistent link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1915-07-14/ed-1/seq-6/

What is OCR?


Thumbnail for

THE PUBLIC FORUM
SIGN YOUR NAME. Some con
tributors to the columns of The Day
Book Public Forum may wonder why
their letters are not printed. A great
number of lett&rs-on interesting
topics come into the office unsigned.
That's the answer.
The Day Book will print letters
from readers using initials only, but
it is necessary that we have the writ
er's name and address for the office.
"When writing a letter for The Pub
lic Forum please sign your name and
address.
Thank you!
A REQUEST
. By R. F. Connor
Oh! weatherman, weatherman, up in
your tower,
A great favor we are asking of you;
Don't for a week or ten days throw a
shower,
We have dampness enough in the
dew.
Oh! weatherman, weatherman, high
in your tower,
Send us more sunshiny days.
Though the wheat and the oats grow
taller each hour,
Have pity on our poor sickly maize.
Say, weatherman, weatherman, up in
your tower,
We surely would call you a "beaut"
If you'd throw on the heat with a lit
tle more power,
We could then wear our Palm
Beach suit
REV. LEONARD ALL WRONG.
As a reader of your paper I wish to
protest against a statement in your
Issue of July 7, attributed to Rev. A.
W. Leonard of Seattle, that "liquor
in the United States is killing 2,000
men a day." The dispatch was from
Atlantic City, and the statement was
said to have been made before the
convention of Anti-Saloon League of
America.
It Is men like Dr. Leonard who are
casting discredit on the anti-saloon
movement and losing i followers. I
am unable to decide whether men of
his type are ignorant or intentionally
misleading the public. In either case
his sort injure any cause they seek
to support
If Dr. Leonard had looked up the
United States census figures he
would have found that his statement
was absurd. Two thousand deaths
a day from alcohol would give us a
total for one year of 730,000. Now
census figures for the registration
area of the United States, which in
cludes 63.2 per cent of the popula
tion, show that the total number of
deaths from all causes in 1912 was
838,251. Deducting the number of
deaths among infants of less than
five years leaves us 633,612 deaths,
and if this ratio is carried out for
the non-registration area we find the
total of deaths from all causes (five
years or more) to be 933,612. Yet
Dr. Leonard would have us believe
that 730,000 die from alcohol alone.
As a matter of fact, there are but
2,500 deaths a day in the whole
United States from all causes, so that
to give 2,000 of these to King Alcohol
is to compliment him too highly.
Moreover, the census for the regis
tration area for 1912 has this entry
among causes of death: "No. 56
Alcoholism (acute and chronic),
3,183."
If we double the amount, to allow
more than amply for the non-registration
area, we have only 6,000
deaths in twelve months due to alco
hol. Deducting this from Dr. Leon
ard's vgures, leaves the doctor with
724,000 to account for.
Even the uneducated mass of peo
ple soon detect such absurd state
ments as these and are alienated
from good causes by poor leaders.
T. H.
FOR PLAYGROUNDS. It appears
to me the men who are endowing
universities and libraries and others

xml | txt