The Clip Sheet, Comments from the Public Press

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This begins another thin slice of A.A. history, the Clip Sheet columns from the Grapevine, Jan. '46 through April '48, courtesy of Tony C.

Nancy

The Grapevine, Jan. '46

The Clip Sheet, Comments from the Public Press

"'Four per cent of the nation's drinkers are chronic alcoholics,' said the Associated Press in a release from Syracuse, Dec. 14. The AP was reporting an address by Prof. Selden Bacon, chairman of Connecticut's new Board for the Study, Care and Treatment of Inebriates, made before the New York State Conference on Social Welfare. Dr. Bacon was quoted as saying that 50,000,000 Americans indulged in alcoholic beverages to some extent and 2,000,000 were alcoholic."

From the New York "Herald-Tribune," Dec. 14:
"Children of alcoholic or psychotic parents, placed in foster homes at an early age, have as good a chance as children of normal parents of becoming well adjusted adults, it is indicated in a recent study published at Yale University.
The "Herald-Tribune" was reporting on a paper written by Dr. Anne Roe of Yale University and the late Dr. Barbara Burks, entitled, "Adult Adjustment of Foster Children of Alcoholic and Psychotic Parentage and the Influence of the Foster Home."
The newspaper noted that "the actual conclusions of the study are confined to 78 children placed 20 years ago in foster homes," and continued: "No child of psychotic parentage was found psychotic ... no child of alcoholic parentage was found alcoholic....
"It can be concluded," the report stated, "that such parentage does not preclude good adjustment. ..."

Ann Arbor, Mich., "Tribune": "Women alcoholics, increasing so rapidly in the last few years, have become such a serious medical and social problem that many leading physicians and psychiatrists have joined together in a survey and study of the situation. Twenty-five years ago there was only one woman alcoholic to 25 men alcoholics. Today the ratio is one woman to six men, taking a cross country figure. A reliable checkup, made by a director of the Psychiatric Institute of the Municipal Court in Chicago, shows that in about 12 years women and men drunkards appearing before the court increased in ratio from one to five to an alarming comparison of one to two.
"Psychiatrists are of the opinion that women's nerves and brains degenerate more rapidly with constant drinking because of a more sensitive nervous system. The woman alcoholic might feel helpless and hopeless. But if she wants to follow a program that will insure sobriety she should contact Alcoholics Anonymous. ..."

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Grapevine, Feb. '46

The Clip Sheet

Worry Clinic

Atlantic City, N. J., "Press": "We need to launch a new society called N.N. or 'Neurotics National' so that millions of 'Worry Birds' and other psychoneurotics will realize they have a lot of company. This is one of the first benefits received by the drunkard who looks around at the large gathering of Alcoholics Anonymous that pack the auditorium."

Alcoholic Ward Asked

Los Angeles, Cal., "Times": "Establishment of a separate ward in General Hospital for the treatment of alcoholics was advocated in a panel discussion before 200 delegates of the family and adult services division of a Welfare Council meeting. ... J. A. Sullivan, county psychopathic probation officer, made the suggestion after Deputy Chief of Police Arthur Hohman pointed out that 59,252 arrests were made for drunkenness during the past year, compared with 44,116 in 1941.
"A spokesman for the local branch of Alcoholics Anonymous recommended establishment of a research council, pointing out that this is the only large metropolitan area without treatment, clinical and research facilities. ... Speakers who described in detail the impact of alcoholism on the community included Miss Myrtle Judd of the Veterans Administration Facility, Dr. John Foyle of the County Medical Association, Dr. Charlotte Buhler of the General Hospital, and Marjorie Davies of the Assistance League."

Louisville Plans Clinic

"Louisville, Ky., Times": "Establishment of the first private-sponsored clinic for the treatment of alcoholics in the United States today was being planned by Norton Memorial Infirmary, Alcoholics Anonymous, and the distillery industry here. It will be housed temporarily in an old brick building on Oka, owned by the hospital. . . . Yale University professor, Dr. Selden D. Bacon, Mrs. Marty Mann. New York executive of the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism and A.A. member, conferred with F. W. Drybrough, chairman of the infirmary's $6,000,000 drive for new buildings. ... Representatives from the University of Louisville claimed to cooperate with the work, and the basic proceedings for the establishment were outlined by Mrs. Mann."

A Detroit, Mich., columnist writes: "A bartender in a Fort Street tavern is secretary-treasurer of Detroit's A.A. He was once a chemist, lost his job from drink, and took up bartending when he turned to A.A. Says he's doing fine."

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Grapevine, March '46

The Clip Sheet

Betting On the Drunk

By Wireless to the "New York Times": "STOCKHOLM, Sweden -Sweden is a land ... of many odd ways.
"Today's example: The population of Sandhult County in western Sweden is taking up a collection for the first drunk to qualify for lodging in the new county jail.
"That part of Sweden is virtually crimeless, and an inebriate is the district's only hope to inaugurate the new lock-up. The village drunk in Sjoemarken, where the jail is situated, is the logical favorite to win the jackpot, but he has said be will be back, hoping the fund will grow bigger."

Aid New Clinic
Washington, D. C., "Times-Herald": "Eight new patients and six who were formerly treated at the Force School presented themselves as willing subjects for an alcoholic cure when the Polk Health Center Alcoholic Clinic for Negroes went into operation January 15.
"Cooperating with the new clinic is the Washington Negro Group of Alcoholics Anonymous, which meets Fridays and Sundays at 8:30 p.m. in the Y.M.C.A, at 1816 Twelfth St. NW. The group supplies volunteer clerical help for the clinic, and alcoholics who require group therapy are referred to the organization by the doctors."

We Know-We Paid and Paid
Phoenix, Ariz., "Arizona Republic": "King Alcohol, with his satellites, beer, wine, and whiskey, is the largest single source of federal revenue, if the income tax be excluded.
"Last year, government taxes from this source totaled $2,300,000,000."

Alcoholic, Not Anonymous
Brockton, Mass., "Enterprise & Times": "A desk officer at police headquarters jovially inquired of a jocose 'guest' why he was visiting,
" '0, just a bit alcoholic, I suppose, but for the sake of the record, I'm not anonymous,' came the smart reply. 'For the sake of the record, it will be a good thing if you're not,' retorted the officer. ...
"The unsteady one gave his name and address and then added, off the record this time, 'Think nothing of it, pal, I'm just a social drinker on a night off.' 'You're drunk,' said the officer. 'It don't take you long to get the idea,' chortled the 'guest.'"

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Grapevine, April '46

The Clip Sheet

No Hospitalization in Denver
The Denver, Colo., "Rocky Mountain News," in a column devoted to the alcoholic and hospitalization, decries the fact that no hospitals in Denver will accept an alcoholic. "I have talked with the managers of several Denver hospitals," writes the columnist, "and they insist there is no rule barring alcoholic patients.
"The way it works, however, is that the alcoholic patient gets the run-around. Most hospitals are kept filled to capacity -- the Gen. Maurice Rose Hospital will relieve this condition somewhat -- and are receiving mainly emergency cases. The alcoholic for the first week anyway, is more trouble than the average patient. ... No matter how much he may need help, it will be difficult if not impossible for most alcoholics to get admitted to a Denver hospital. ... We continue to show pitiless savagery to the alcoholic who has the additional handicap of being poor."

Lady Drunks On the Increase
Edwin Neff of the Washington, D. C., "Times-Herald," writes that there is an alarming increase in alcoholism among women in Washington, and "the problem, while impossible to measure by statistics, is probably worse than the public imagines.
"It reaches into all avenues of society, and while causes vary with the individual woman, in Washington, at least, the problem most frequently is loneliness."
Neff declares that his statements have been confirmed by a Methodist minister, a member of A.A., and "to some extent" by Capt. Rhoda Milliken, head of the D. C. Women's Bureau. "Capt. Milliken's statistics show 2,700 women arrested for drunkenness last year," continues Neff. "That the problem is nationwide as well as local is indicated by an article in the February 'American Mercury' by Dr. Alson J. Smith, a pastor of St. Paul's Methodist Church in Brooklyn.
"Dr. Smith writes, 'many a homecoming soldier is returning to face a problem be never suspected -- his wife, or sweetheart or sister has become an alcoholic.'"

Obsolete and Inadequate
Antigo, Wis., "Journal": "For many years it has been recognized by those who have given thought to the problem of treatment of alcoholics that state legislation and institutional facilities are sadly inadequate and way behind modern knowledge of how alcoholics should be treated. But one state, Connecticut, has ventured to take a real forward step through adoption of a law for the study, treatment and care of inebriates. Prof. Selden D. Bacon of Yale University calls it 'the first new legislation designed to meet the problem of alcoholism.'
"Important features of the law singled out by Prof. Bacon are: 'It recognized that alcoholics are sick people ... the fact that alcoholics can be rehabilitated ... a responsibility on the part of the government to meet this problem. It calls for public education on the subject of alcoholism, It omits all mention of punishment as a means of controlling the problem. ... It offers free service to those requesting it. ... If Wisconsin intends to move forward in this field its legislators, judges and others should not only study the Connecticut law but also the valuable knowledge obtained by such organizations as Alcoholics Anonymous."

Alcoholic Vets May Get Help
Dallas, Tex., "News": The Veterans Administration is considering offering care to alcoholics in its hospitals, Mrs. Marty Mann, executive secretary of the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism, said here.
VA officials have been giving serious study to plans proposed by the national committee, she said, and have expressed a favorable reaction.

29,000 Alkies in Jersey
New York "Herald Tribune": New Jersey should establish state-operated centers to aid its estimated 29,000 chronic alcoholics, two Rutgers University sociologists said recently. ... On the basis of interviews with 456 physicians in 42 communities, Dr. John W. Riley Jr. and Dr. Charles F. Marden reported that referral centers for victims would be the first step in a more ambitious program to deal with alcoholics. Their report was prepared for the New Jersey Commission for the Rehabilitation of Alcoholics and Promotion of Temperance, headed by Alfred E. Driscoll, state Alcoholic Beverage Control Commissioner.
The centers, operated as a state public health service, would provide guidance and information for alcoholics and their families. In addition, the report said, the program could direct needed public education on alcoholism, and could help in coordinating the work of private agencies dealing with the problem.
Their survey of physicians, Dr. Riley and Dr. Marden said, was the first mass opinion ever obtained from the medical profession on the problem of alcoholism. Most of the doctors interviewed strongly favored a campaign of public information on the subject. They reported that 65 per cent of the doctors handled chronic alcoholics during the last year, that sedatives and vitamin therapy were the most frequently used treatment, that alcoholics make difficult patients, and that physicians generally lack facilities for dealing with them on a long-term basis.

A.A.s Aid Washington Judge
During February, the Washington, D. C., "Post" carried a story on its front page to the effect that Alcoholics Anonymous have "salvaged" all but two of 35 drunk case defendants referred to them by a municipal judge since the beginning of the year.
According to the newspaper account, two members of the Washington Group spend six mornings a week in court conferring with the prospects. They serve in answer to the request of the judge, who averred that he felt discouraged with present methods of dealing with alcoholics.
The judge refers only those cases whom he considers worthy of A.A. guidance, asking them to step aside for interviews. He recommends a system of "screening" such defendants, to avoid court appearances in many cases, and has urged a meeting of civic leaders for discussion of the handling of drunks and revision of the laws now governing disposition of their cases.

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Grapevine, May '46

The Clip Sheet

GOOD SIGNS IN MINNESOTA
Proposing to replace the old-fashioned, futile jail-cell treatment of alcoholics with progressive and effective methods rooted in medical science, interested persons recently held a three-day institute on chronic alcoholism at the University of Minnesota.
The "Minneapolis Star-Journal," commenting on the meeting, noted that the state hospital at Willmar has been too short of funds to employ adequate psychiatric care; while the Minneapolis General Hospital treats alcoholics only in its psychotic ward.
"The most effective attack upon chronic alcoholism has been made by Alcoholics Anonymous," continues the paper. "Minnesota and Minneapolis could help the good work by providing additional facilities for care."

Indianapolis, Ind., "Star": "In Times Square 26 people rushed to join Alcoholics Anonymous when they saw part of a fur coat walking in the B.M.T. subway. It was a live pet marmoset looking for its marmor."

NAUTICAL SHOE CAUSES DUNKING
Plainfield, N. J., "Courier-News": "What first appeared to be a duck floating sedately down Green Brook ... turned out on closer scrutiny on the part of park strollers to be a large-sized man's shoe, enthusiastically if not expertly pursued by two potential members of Alcoholics Anonymous.
"The shoe steered a steady course in the middle of the stream for several hundred yards, blandly staying out of reach of the outstretched sticks of the two tipplers. Climax came when the shoe moored on a rock in the middle of the stream and both stimulated gentlemen fell simultaneously into the water in their efforts to reach the nautically-minded footgear.
"The shoe's owner meanwhile slept soundly on the bank of the stream while his companions pursued their salvage operation."

COMMUNITY BENEFITS
Fayetteville, N.C. "Observer": "Alcoholics Anonymous since the establishment of its chapter here has served to help a number of local citizens snap their fingers in the face of the devil of intemperance and prove to themselves and their friends and families that they had what it took to stop drink before drink stopped them.
"The personal reward of getting out of the clutches of the alcohol habit is tremendous, and at the same time the benefit to the community is not inconsiderable when one considers the transformation of a citizen, who was apt to become a community liability, into a citizen who pulls his own weight, stays sober, earns money and pays taxes."

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Grapevine, June '46

The Clip Sheet

New York, N. Y., "World Telegram": "Tom Collins, announcer on the Cavalcade of America program, faced a pretty little crisis when the script a few weeks ago featured a dramatization of the work of Alcoholics Anonymous.
"The irony of signing off such a show with his usual tag was more than he wanted blame for. So he made a slight revision. 'This is Tom W. Collins,' he said firmly. Prior to this, nobody ever knew he had an initial."

In a recent Jimmy Fidler column from Hollywood, this comes forth: "Did yuh hear about the actor who refused to join Alcoholics Anonymous because he never goes into anything without proper billing?"

Richmond, Va., "News-Leader": "'A separate state institution for the care and treatment of alcoholics is possible today without additional legislation beyond the appropriation of funds for buildings," G. W. Gwaltney, executive secretary of the State Hospital Board, said in an address to the Richmond Chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous.
". . . Mr. Gwaltney said that the board hopes, in moving Western State Hospital to a new site, to be able to utilize enough buildings at the old location to make an institution for inebriates. In pointing out that additional legislation would not be necessary in order to provide for a separate institution for alcoholics, Mr. Gwaltney said that the 'Inebriate Law' of 1916, as part of the State Hospital Code, gives the Hospital Board authority to establish an institution for inebriates."

Salem, N. J., "Sunbeam": "A century-old 28-room Georgian mansion, once owned by a whiskey distiller known as 'The Lord of Jericho,' opened May 1 as a home for the care and rehabilitation of alcoholics. The huge, three story red brick building, Ivy Manor, is located on 200 acres of farm and woodland, seven miles west of Bridgeton at Jericho -- and seven miles from the nearest taproom.
"It was purchased by a group of Philadelphia and Camden businessmen, headed by J. Robley Tucker, realtor, Camden, N. J.
"The project has been indorsed by Alcoholics Anonymous, the celebrated self-help group which has aided thousands of alcoholics to permanent rehabilitation, Tucker said. 'We will call for patients by station wagon within a 100-mile radius,' Tucker added. 'But we do not want repeaters. ... Ivy Manor may properly be looked upon as a sort of half-way house. After a patient has physically and mentally recovered, we will put him in touch with the A.A., if he so desires. From there on, it is up to him -- and to them.' "

Washington, D. C., "News": "Alcoholics Anonymous, working with District authorities, made 54 'saves' out of 66 attempts here in the first three months of this year, Municipal Probation Officer Robert J. Connor has reported. He credited the Municipal Court plan of treating alcoholism as an illness rather than as a crime with salvaging many shattered lives."

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Grapevine, July '46

The Clip Sheet

St. Paul. Minn. "Dispatch": "Women drunkards are on the increase in St. Paul, in the opinion of those who study the problem here.
"Increase is noted both in those women who drink 'socially' and those who drink 'hard' and often alone.
"Total number of such women alcoholics ranges from estimates of 500 to 1,000. These estimates are based on a report by the Mayor's Committee on Alcoholism."

Brockton. Mass., "Enterprise and Times": " ... A local organization interested in helping each other solve a personal problem, presented a book to the library. The book is 'Alcoholics Anonymous' and the Brockton Group of that organization is the donor. We admire the group and the manner in which its members have attacked their own problems. In presenting this volume to the library, they have done so in the hope that others who may wish to know more about Alcoholics Anonymous may do so easily."

Marquette, Mich. "Mining Journal": "One hundred eighty Marquette residents heard discussions on 'Alcohol and Modern Life' by a public health physician, a member of the licensing and enforcement division of the Michigan Liquor Control Commission and an attorney who is a member of Alcoholics Anonymous at a conference in Guild hall here. ..."

New Rochelle, N. Y., "Standard-Star": "Appeals for greater awareness of the magnitude of the problem of alcoholism in Westchester and throughout the country, more sympathetic understanding of the chronic alcoholic as a sick person on the part of the physician, and recognition of this illness as a public health problem requiring facilities for care and treatment in both voluntary and public hospitals, were made by speakers at a meeting of the Westchester Medical Society on the general subject of 'Alcoholism.' ... Three hundred doctors and laymen attended."

Another recent AP story . . . this one from Atlantic City, N. J.:
"Don't use sleeping tablets in the barbiturate family when you're drinking (or vice versa) unless it's a long sleep you're after.
"This was the gist of a report to the American Therapeutic Society by Dr. H. B. Haag who, with two research workers at the Medical College of Virginia, has concluded a series of experiments illustrating the dangers of combining certain sleeping pills and alcohol.
"Experimenting on mice, dogs and rabbits, Dr. Haag reported that, the toxic effect of seconal, for instance, was increased 40 per cent when the animals were fed a small quantity of alcohol.
"The 'chain reaction' was even greater when barbital and phenobarbital were used, the researchers learned.
"Half the animals used in the tests were killed in a short time. ..."

Chicago, Ill., "Sun": "Sipping tea rather than drinking old-fashioneds and Martinis at cocktail parties is the future in store for a group of prominent Chicago businessmen. ...
"They feel that holding cocktail parties is a bad example to the younger generation.
"So they have organized 'Alcoholics Onymous.' The last word, of course, means 'bearing a name,' as opposed to Alcoholics Anonymous."

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Grapevine, Aug. '46

The Clip Sheet

Aid for Veterans
Brockton. Mass. "Enterprise and Times": "Aid for returned war veterans who have taken to drink is being provided by Alcoholics Anonymous, it was pointed out at the meeting of the Brockton group. ...
"It was brought out that veterans of the first war who became enslaved to liquor had few to help them with their problems, but veterans of the last war are finding sympathetic persons to work with them on the problem.
"Members were informed that one group in Greater Boston which has a total membership of 21, has 12 veterans of the past war as members, and the group has been turned over to those men, and they have been given the offices in the organization."

Sickness Explained
Manitowoc, Wis., "Herald-Times": "An alcoholic, as distinguished from a normal drinker, is a person who drinks even when he doesn't want to, a representative of Alcoholics Anonymous told members of the Wisconsin Public Welfare association at their annual convention (in Milwaukee). ...
"The speaker, who remained anonymous, said one of the major jobs of A.A. was to convince the alcoholic's family and the public that the true alcoholic was a 'desperately sick man' to be helped rather than to be scorned and abandoned."

First Reaction
Impressions of a first meeting in A.A. were published in the "New York Herald-Tribune" July 1 in the form of a letter to the editor from a new member of the St. Petersburg, Fla., group. The opening and closing paragraphs of the letter as published in the "Herald-Tribune" follow:
"Attended a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous at 8 p.m. this date. Took no alcoholic drink during the day, nor the day previous.
"The meeting was entirely different from any I had ever been to ... There was no ranting and old-fashioned roaring against the liquor interests. In fact, alcoholic drinks were not advertised at all. Nothing was drastically highlighted or dogmatically propounded. Just a rather comfortable assurance that a very real human problem had been squarely faced and is being squarely solved on a day by day, time payment basis for solid investment toward health, wealth and happiness. Just a mutual agreement felt rather than spoken. A right about face from the road of self ruin to the far happier path of fraternal self-healing."

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Grapevine, September '46

The Clip Sheet

Milwaukee, Wis., "Sentinel": "What the movie censors are up against is contained in this brief note from an upstate client who in red ink, writes: 'The kiss is an intoxicant and like liquor must be abolished from the screen.' Say, I wonder if he knows what Lost Weekend was about!"

Tulsa, Okla., "Tribune": "The Chicago Marriage Committee has made its report on what we might do to stem the tide of divorces that threatens to divide the country more certainly than politics or civil war have ever done. ...
"Drinking was found by the Illinois committee to be the obvious cause of many of the divorce cases. Drinking seems to accentuate the mental and physical maladjustments which are chiefly responsible for separations. The report said nothing about how to eradicate the drink habit, though there are many ways. One of the best has been developed by Alcoholics Anonymous, which has a chapter in nearly every large city. Certainly the A.A. leader should be a member of any judge's advisory committee. So should a good doctor, an understanding preacher and a bright teacher."

Chapel Hill, N. C., "Weekly": "James S., the novelist who lives in Chapel Hill, is a member of Alcoholics Anonymous. ...
"One day recently he got a telephone call from a fellow member, a business man in a town not far from here, who felt the mania coming on. 'Come right on over here,' said Mr. S. The man did come, but on the way be obtained a supply of liquor, and when be arrived late in the afternoon he was roaring drunk.
"There was no hospital to take him to, so Mr. S. decided he would ask the police to let him stay overnight in the jail in the basement of the Town Hall.
"The initial trouble was that the police did not know Mr. S. Not being familiar with Alcoholics Anonymous, naturally they did not at once understand his explanations.
" 'No wonder they thought there was something queer about me,' be said afterward. 'I had just come off my farm. I was in old dirty clothes and had a heavy growth of heard.'
"He named several persons in Chapel Hill with whom he was acquainted. The jail was empty at the time, and the police willingly took the stranger in. Mr. S., seeing that there was plenty of room, asked if he could stay there, too. The police said yes, and he went to bed in one of the four bunks in the cell. Next morning the stranger, sobered up, was attended to according to the approved A.A. method."

Indianapolis, Ind., "Star": "Indianapolis women who formed their own group of Alcoholics Anonymous a year ago report that there have been few slips among those who have decided to stop drinking. Ages of the women in the group are from 24 to 55 years. Housewives outnumber the business career women in the group."

Elberton, Ga., "Star": "Drinking far outranked all other male faults in a recent Gallup Poll of the ten worst faults of husbands and wives. Among wives' faults drinking was number four, while nagging was number one.
"From wide experience with alcoholism, it is my firm conviction that nothing but the power of God can break the habit. Other so-called 'cures' are only temporary.
"Alcoholics Anonymous, now a nation-wide organization, of growing proportions, with clubs in all principal cities, shows men how the power of God can cure alcoholism. To the increasing number of those who write the Everyday Counselor concerning alcoholism, I again say, seek out your nearest club, or write to Alcoholics Anonymous, Box 459, Grand Central Annex, New York 17, N. Y."

New York "World-Telegram": "Simplicity, sincerity, mark A.A.'s program over WNYC," said Harriet Van Horne, radio columnist. "This man's testimony, mercifully lacking in the smug fervor usually found in reformers, was far more persuasive than anything I ever heard from the dry crusaders. He didn't preach abstinence for everybody. Just those suffering from alcoholism."

"Drink to me only with thine eyes, and you won't have to join those anonymous guys," writes H.I. Phillips in the New York "Sun."

[admin]

Grapevine, Oct. '46

The Clip Sheet

Baltimore, Md., "Sun": "The Baltimore chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous has a wealth of acting talent, but there is one role for which none of its 70 members can qualify -- that of a drunk.
" 'Certainly the weakest spot in the whole cast is the man playing the part of a dipsomaniac,' says Charles Hughes, script writer and director of a radio serial which the local chapter will present. ...
"Mr. Hughes said two casting experts were highly satisfied with the talent that appeared for tryouts but, for some reason, no one seemed to be able to properly act the part of a drunkard!"

Springfield, Mass., "News": "Decrying treatment of acute alcoholism in this area, and throughout the state, as inadequate and cruel, a member of Alcoholics Anonymous today called on legislators to study the situation and do something 'humane' about the men and women who are suffering from what he terms a 'disease' and not criminal tendencies.
"The spokesman pointed out that there is a definite increase of women alcoholics throughout the state and that the increase is marked in this area.
" 'These people are suffering from a disease and are treated the same as people appearing in court for assault and battery or rape,' he declared. ...
" 'The time has come when we should remember that burning people at the stake was a rather poor method of ridding the communities of witches in days gone by. Punishment is not what these people need, but kind, sympathetic cure and treatment.' "

Dayton, Ohio, "News" "City approval Tuesday was given a request of the Dayton chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous to aid in the treatment of a man sentenced to the workhouse for a three year term as an habitual drunkard.
"The approval came from the city parole board after a member of A.A. outlined his plan to help restore the man to the position of a useful citizen.
"The man will be permitted to attend the regular meetings of the organization but will be confined to the workhouse at other times during his sentence."

Philadelphia, Pa., "Tap and Tavern": "Using former addicts who were cured of the disease of alcoholism through the help of the Alcoholics Anonymous organization as participants, WIP is presenting a new series of broadcasts titled, Alcoholics Anonymous, which does not pull any punches in recounting the autobiographical confessions of the people on the program.
"Slotted late Tuesday evenings (10:15 to 10:30 p.m.), in order to reach only an adult audience, the series does not campaign against social drinking, but its members from all strata of life (bankers, truck drivers, accountants, attorneys, actors, middle-class business people and often high-school and college-aged boys and girls) recount their own case histories on how they acquired the disease and the climactic point at which they turned onto the road to recovery through the help of A.A.
"A.A., which is working in close cooperation with the country's leading medical and psychiatric authorities, is receiving strong popular reception from listeners and is mailing a series of booklets of informative literature on request."

A UP story carrying a Utica, N. Y., date line tells of a wealthy Alder Creek resident, who was held for grand jury action on a second degree manslaughter charge in the fatal shooting of a Utica lawyer who had been a member of A.A. The deceased went to the Alder Creek resident's home at the request of the latter's wife who sought to have her husband quit drinking. Stories such as this one appear frequently in the papers; frequently, too, alcoholism is not mentioned as the major factor involved.

Stamford, Conn., "Advocate": "Over 100 years ago, the Connecticut Medical Society suggested a law for the treatment of alcoholism as a disease, and one warranting intensive study and understanding. Last year -- after 116 years, pretty much the same ideas were incorporated in a bill passed by the Legislature. Its salient point is that it omits all mention of punishment as a means of controlling the problem."

Vancouver, B. C., "Sun": "Arrests and convictions for drunkenness in the City of Vancouver, if present trends continue to the end of this year, will be three times what they were in 1943.
"Actual figures, which were obtained from the Records Department of the city police station, are as follows:
Year Arrests Convictions
1943 2184 1831
1944 3219 2731
1945 3975 3087
1946 (6mos.) 2870 2358