THE CANKER IN OUR MIDST
SIR,--I feel sure that all right-minded people, not merely a majority of them as he modestly anticipates, will share ex-Corporal Brooke's .condemnation of alliophagy. A ..viee quite • inexcusable in a well- • nourishcd populace.
I fear, however, that, perhaps misled by analogy, he is mistaken in assuming that this disgusting be- haviour is at, present illegal. It is indeed incredible that such an abominable act, one that cannot but cause distress to every innocent person with whom its perpetrator comes into contact, should be legally permissible; but such is; unfortunately,, the. case.
It is to be hoped that ex-Corporal Brooke and other public-spirited people will initiate a campaign to have alliophagy made. illegal and punishable by heavy penalties. No really decent and clean-living man or woman is likely to withhold his or her support. As, however, there are always some, often by no means uninfluential perSonS, who are apt to be more easily roused to action by monetary than by'moral considerations, thOse initiating such a cam- paign should emphasise, the following pOints:' Firstly, that every alliophagist convicted and imprisoned will mean a vacant job for someone, perhaps for some decent and clean-living person who has waited long on a lower rung of the promotion ladder. Secondly, that doctors of psychiatric medicine are likely to gain considerably from the many frightened alli- ophagists who will consult them, as paying patients, in an endeavour to cure or conceal their loathsome proclivities. I feel sure that a campaign to outlaw alliophagy that bases its claims on the twill pillars of moral rectitude and financial gain is unlikely to fail in its laudable objective.—Yours faithfully,
Previous page
