The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1847-02-13

anguish il II often accompanied. They die
iy their own hands, tOrmcntGd with self re-
prouch and covered with infhmy and disgrace.
Besides the direct victinIes of intemperance,
lullttIdes die of diseases aggravated by in
IoXicating liquors, who might otherwise have
been restored
Nor are the evils accustomed 10y intoxicating
drinks confined 10 those who use them. No,
they fall with oppressive weight upon their
innocent and unprotected ianlilies. The i'm
paired earnings oi'thc Incorporate husband
and father are often squnnderGd for drink,
while the alfGctionnle wife and helpless chill
drGn are left to stnrvc. lie, who il may be
was once II provdent and tender thther, is
transformed by alcohol To II demon, and vents
his passion, naddcncd to fury, on his un0f-
Tending and unresisting family. The scenes
ofcruelty and outrage, which are frequently
enacted under the drunknrd's roof are O.
uoug TO shock every sensibility of the SOUL
and to rouse every friend of humanity to en-
crgetc effort TO stay the desolnting evil The
drunkards wife often goes down broken
hearted to an unIimcly grave; his children
participate IN their fathers shame, and grow
gIp in Ignorance, vice and wretchedness. In
'nne Poor House in the state of n. York, out
-ofI9O Inmates were 10 wives ofdrunken hus-
bands, and II children of drunken fathers
Who can estimate the suflSrngs inflicted on
these unhappy victims of intempennce, be-
fore they came to this last refuge ofthe wretch
ed.
Says the recent Address to the People of
Massachusetts, "'The real d0ings of alcohol
are often attributed to other causes. The
poor have passed silently from observation
into their novels, and into the poor houses,
and the insane have been gathered into their
nSyluns, and at no point has the transition
been such us 10 startlc any one, and the world
gladly suffers them To pass from its notice.
IT, from some eminence we could see at once
the million graves tennnted by drunkards
which have been dug in this fair land in one
generations; if we could see in ldhg perspect-
i've the cells otthe criminals and maniacs il
has made; five could gather mt once its vict-
inns, who have tenanted the poor house: and
then range round all those friends. for they
once all had friends, whose hopes have been
blasted, it we could see the area ofgraves eX-
tending by the addition thirty thousand a
year, and the wretched throng before us keep
ing constantly full, then should we be ready
10 accord to this evil its dreadful preemmi-
ncnce among the causes Of human suffering
Should such evils he inflicted by foreign
foe, the nation would rise az one man; should
they come 10y pes.Ilence, or famine, the whole
land would be in Consideration aud mourn
ing.
NOuINl All llllS lc Sttll Nv one, WHOSE MOT
al sense had not been blunted by familiarity
and whose associations had not been pcrver-
ted by fashion. would he look upon it, exist
ing though it does in Christian land, with
less wonder than upon that worship of idols, |
where human victims are offered, or upon
The places and customs and rites and cere-
mouies, that draw men into these prison
houses and into this Galgotha. with less hor-
TOr Than upon the temples and rites and org
les Of heathenisn, in connection with which
parents offer their children III the fire?
Would he not say the whole system was one
of horror and blood and wonder that any hui
man being could do any thing to give it coun-
tenance"
But the evils arising from the use of intoXi-
eating drinks reach beyond the inebriate and
his wretched family. They flow out over So
clety in the various forms ofpnuperstn, crime
and enormous waste of property.
According to the report of Mr. Chapman,
who some years since visited the poor houses,
and prisons in each county oi'tlle state ofNew
York. the number Of Paupers, whose pauper
iSnl was accustomed
Not from iutemperanee was 1853
D@rbtul, 1902
FROM iRtenperancc, 1914
In Albany, the number received into the
aims house in 1893 was 633. Not from in
temperance |. Doubtful H. Incorporate
GIG.
The poor in the Baltimore aims house, in
1914, numbered 1893, of whom 95 only were
temperate. The cost of their support to the
city was $lS.2O5.
The annual pauper tax of Massachusetts,
caused by intemperauce, II few years since
was 1921 900.
There is abundant evidence to show that
from "a to As ofthe pnuperism ofthe coun-
this source.
Nor is it less prolific ofcrime than of pau
persm. Of200 murders, committed annu-
ally in the United States, As, it is computed,
are committed in consequence of alcoholic
influence.
Justice Cole the Police Court, Albany,
"of all cases that come before me during the
year, 96 in 100 originated in or were directly
caused by intemperance. More than $500
cases came under my cognizance in year"
G. Hastings, ESQ, District Attorney of
Livingston Co N. Y. says am free in ex-
pressing a decided opinion, that ut least $40
of all the offences committed in our country
are fairly chargeable to the use of alcoholic
drinks"
In the city ofNew York, which by strange
, inconsistency of Legislation is excepted from
the operation of the license law of the State,
and where the traffic under legal sanction, is
carried on to an amazing extent, the results
are truly appalling. During six months of
the last year MAY to Oct. inclusive the rec
ords of the Police Court show, that there
were taken up in the streets of that city 1856
persons for intoXication alone, and, in add-
ton to these, 1899 persOns were arrested for
drunkenness and disorderly conduet--in the
whole 7765 persons arrested in half year in
consequence of intemperance! Daring the
same time 1915 children We're picked up as
lost Such are the legitimate and shocking