ALCOHOL AND LONGEVITY 237
an amount might not produce much loss of efficiency
if spread evenly over the week, and especially if it were
drunk after the evening meal when the day’s work was
over, but we have seen that there is a tendency to
increase the drinking at week-ends, and consequently
to diminish the drinking in the middle of the week.
Excessive drinking not only causes an immediate
reduction of manual efficiency, but it lowers the “ will
to work ” so much that the workman stops away
altogether for a day or even more. Though admittedly
there is no exact evidence available, it seems probable
that, taking industry all through, the total reduction
in efficiency produced by the consumption of alcohol
is something like 10 per cent. Even if it is only half
this figure, such a reduction might mean all the
difference between success and failure when competing
for world markets against a country which had adopted
prohibition.