Judge — March 12, 1927 — page 15: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

POPULAR MECHANICS NUMBER OF JUDGE A CHANCE FOR THE INVENTOR By William Morris Houghton ore we can decide in this country what con- B stitutes an intoxicating beverage it seems obvious that we must decide what constitutes an intoxi- cated man. When is a man drunk? This question has never been authoritatively settled, and yet not only is an answer necessary now to the proper interpretation of the Constitution of the United States but, with the grow- ing complexity of civilization, it has become of funda- mental importance to police regulation everywhere. \ body of experts, including a number of prominent medical authorities, is at present wrestling with the question in England. In the meantime over here we have the dictum of Henry Ford, implicit in his factory rules, that a man is drunk if you can smell his breath, and over inst that the opinion of an honest-to- soodness judge-on-the-bench (whose name, we are very sorry to . we have forgotten, because he de- serves to be canonized) that a man is not drunk until he’s lying in the gutter with his hat stove in, his collar unbuttoned and his person exposed in a manner that may be left to the in ration, ) vetween these two extremes are various criteria ot In England, for example, the commonest tes’s. say the news- papers, in- clude the ability to vapidly ow out tripping, slurring or salivation such ers as British Constitution, Ferminolk cal Exacti- tude, Sixty- sixth Battery of Artillery, Truly Rural, Methodist Episcopal NOVEL DEVICE fespec the last). Both there and here gentlemen under suspi- cion are often asked to touch the tip of the nose with one finger while the eyes are closed; walk a straight line; walk around a round table without touching it anywhere. In a little pam- phlet entitled, “Intoxication; How Proved,” the late Magistrate House, of New York, cited, among other legal opinions on the subject, that of Judge Mitchell of the Court of Appeals that “a child six years old may answer whether a man whom it has seen was drunk or sober.” But the trouble with this test is to find the child of six who has been a witness at the proper time. Attachment that is expected to save many lives, during the coming joy-riding season Not only are children of six ina minority it com- munity, but they are especially urce in saloons and night clubs where men accumulate their packages, and they’re usually in bed when fathe morning. comes home in the Certain city department the Sun, have a regular an employee has proj a breath that invites analysis. It consists in part o the following questions and answers, the one quite as invariable as the other: in New York, according to routine of examination once ted into the official atmosphere Q. Is there anything the matte as sure as you're born with you? A. Not a Q. Have you been drinking drop since 1) I prom- ed my wife | ouldn’t touch any of this new liquor. Q. Have you _ - been takin medicine? \ Rute Yes, | TRAVEL some medicine Go. on a Repucing for Id, and PROHIBITION it made me a - sociery little dizzy for ae aminute That’s what makes my breath smell like that. The oral examination completed. the patient must read a newspaper, stand on one le then on the other leg. close his eyes and keep from falling down, pick = pencils off the floor without bruising his chin, tell what time it is, and try to kee his temper. After which he is pro- nounced drunk and unfit for duty and sent home te face the music. renys, took PouyTics mufic WEATHER Bpoxs povies This host has introduced the conversation chart as an aid to stimulating talk among his guests a oe a I other words, there’s no such thing as standardiza- tion in this matter of testing the inebriate, the: no unanimity of opinion regarding what constitutes < drunk, and what with our new laws and our new toys such as the automobile and the airplane, the machine gun and the Maxim silencer, poison gas and poisons like Wayne B. Wheeler—it is high time there were Wherefore, in this, the Popular Mechanics Number of Jupce, we call upon the Edisons of the land to cut the Gordian knot and devise a mechanical drunk tester, impartial in diagnosis and by whose findings we can all abide, to be erected in every courtroom and police sta- tion in the land. Our talents never ran to mechanics, but we can (Continued on page 29) comicbooks.com