Husbands & Wives

Like every big business and many small ones, E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. was worried about the "problem drinker." Absenteeism and inefficiency had made it the company's problem as well as the drinker's./- Five years ago, Du Pont put a man known only as "Dave" on the payroll. He was a former tennis pro who had quit drinking, thanks to Alcoholics Anonymous. In Detroit last week, Dr. G. H. Gehrmann, Du Pont medical director, told a meeting of industrial physicians how Alcoholics Anonymous--and men like Dave--could help companies cure their dipsomaniacs.

Dave started out at Du Pont's Wilmington, Del. headquarters as "special assistant to the medical department." Whenever Dr. Gehrmann encountered an alcoholic, he put Dave and A.A. to work. In 65% of the cases, they succeeded. Today a third of the members of A.A.'s Wilmington chapter are Du Pont employees.

Said Dr. Gehrmann: "There are now A.A. units--some of them, to be sure, started independently of Du Pont--in 52 places where there are Du Pont plants or offices . . . Furthermore, A.A. has rehabilitated the wives of some of our important people."

/- Last week the Keeley Institute of Dwight Ill., in a survey of 13,471 alcoholic patients given "the cure" over the past 18 years, found that by occupation, farmers topped its list of drinkers. Others in the top ten, in order: salesmen, merchants, mechanics, clerks, lawyers, foremen and managers, railroaders, physicians, manufacturers.

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