:''for others with the same name, see

Committee of Fifty (disambiguation) Committee of Fifty could refer to one of the following: *Committee of Fifty (1829), met in New York City and advocated redistribution of property between the poor and rich *Committee of Fifty (1893), formed by scholars to investigate problems asso ...

'' The Committee of Fifty was formed in 1893 by a group of American businessmen and scholars to investigate problems associated with the use and abuse of alcoholic beverages. The committee was chaired by prominent New York City lawyer Joseph Larocque, and included figures such as the leading physiologist of the time, Harvard's

Henry Pickering Bowditch Henry Pickering Bowditch (April 4, 1840 – March 13, 1911) was an American soldier, physician, physiologist, and dean of the Harvard Medical School. Following his teacher Carl Ludwig, he promoted the training of medical practitioners in a contex ...

, and educator, Progressive reformer, and future mayor of New York City,

Seth Low Seth Low (January 18, 1850 – September 17, 1916) was an American educator and political figure who served as the mayor of Brooklyn from 1881 to 1885, the president of Columbia University from 1890 to 1901, a diplomatic representative of t ...

. It attempted to use contemporary social scientific methods to study the subject in an amoral manner, in contrast to the

temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...

. Financed by private subscription, the composition of the committee left "little or no doubt about the seriousness of the eastern corporate community in the matter of the political control of liquor." After many sub-committee investigations, the committee concluded that occasional and regular moderate drinking did not cause health problems, that drinking did not inevitably lead to drunkenness as temperance activists contended, and that alcohol education should be based on a recognition that "intoxication is not the wine's fault, but the man's". The committee was especially critical of the

Woman's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization, originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program th ...

's education program, " Scientific Temperance Instruction". After reviewing the results of three studies of Scientific Temperance Instruction practice and outcomes, the committee concluded that "under the name of Scientific Temperance Instruction' there has been grafted upon the public school system of nearly all our States an educational scheme relating to alcohol which is neither scientific, nor temperate, nor instructive". The Woman's Christian Temperance Union and its Superintendent of Scientific Temperance Instruction, Mary Hunt, strongly objected to the committee's conclusions about its programs and activities.Hunt, Mary H. ''Reply to the Physiological Subcommittee of the Committee of Fifty''. Boston: Woman's Christian Temperance Union, 1904. See also 58th Congress, 2d Session. Senate. Document No. 171

References

{{reflist Think tanks based in the United States Alcohol in the United States 1893 establishments