McClure's Magazine, in this number, publishes an article by Dr. Hugo
Muensterberg entitled "Prohibition and Social Psychology." It presents
this essay with the full knowledge that it will meet with strong
criticism. But it finds ample justification for doing so in the fact
that Dr. Muensterberg brings to this age-long problem a viewpoint which
is really new; the contribution of one of the most recent of sciences
to a discussion whose chief current arguments were old in the time of
Confucius.
The last word concerning the alcohol question will certainly be said
by modern science. Experiments concerning the physical effect of that
stimulant, conducted in the exact and dispassionate modern spirit,
have been in progress for years--practically all, by the way, reaching
the result that the direct effect of alcohol is injurious to the
healthy human body. Now the inquiries of social psychology open a new
field for debate.
Does society, in its still crudely developed condition, demand and
always secure a stimulant of some kind? If so, are the stimulants it
obtains in default of alcohol more harmful, broadly considered, than
is alcohol itself? These questions are novel and striking ones; and
Dr. Muensterberg brings to their discussion perhaps the highest skill
available for his view of the subject.
It is unnecessary to say that, by presenting this view, McClure's
Magazine does not therefore endorse it. And it is still more
unnecessary to say that the opinions and conclusions of Dr.
Muensterberg do not need the endorsement of any publication or
individual to make them of general interest and consequence to the
American public.
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