The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-08-13


Adams Express Company, at Terre Haute,
Indiana, committed suicide in his room
few days ago, by pistol shot through the
head. he was 80 attentive 10 business, that
but few outside Of his most intimate friends
knew Of his disposition, and a. a citizen and
business man his character was deservedly
high. Yet the victim Of strong drink LEFT
letter which says:-
| Liquor has ruined me es well as thousands Of
others; l have tried hard 10 quit but Gnd Il
impossible 10 do so. l have drank nothing
=" this evening, and am perfectly calm. have
no unknd word or feeling towards any one.
" That curse Of all evils, rum, takes one more 10
" the grave, who might have been esteemed snd
L enjoyed the confidence and respect Of the com.
/ muniy. Ny poor family God l cannot
| " think of them, or write Of or TO them. Ny
" cup Is full. May a just ana merciful God deal
| kindly with them"
As a source Of individual wretchedness, Of
moral perversion, and public evil, there is
probably no single vice calling more loudly
for social correction than lntemperance.
States have supplied slmshouses for the poor,
| penitentlaries and prisons for the criminal,
and places of refuge and discipline for the in
sane, the crippled, and the abandoned; yet
while II viii be found, upon examining the
statistics Of such institutions, that by far the
largest part of their inmates owe their unfor-
tunate condition directly or indirectly to in
toxicating drinks, society has adopted no
means ofreclaiming the inebriate, and thereby
| applying the most effectual corrective to a
disease than which there Is none more alarm
ing in its extent or more prolific of private
and public injury.
II is time that something was done to strike
this great curse at the root; that the civil
| authority of every Commonwealth should
begin to regard and deal with it as mon
strous political ofIense, not only subject prop
erly TO its jurisdiction, but imperatively de-
manding the exertion of all its restraining and
conservative power. AS the fruitful parent Of
crime, intemperance is, In our judgment, as
legitimately an object of criminal justice as
the larcenies, riots, blasphemies murders, and
all the endlessly varied forms of violence
misery, and disorder provided for in peual
codes and subjected to legal control
Though philanthropy has been anxiously
exercised in devising means of prevention, 1t
is amazing that SO little has been done to
reform the drunkard; that while the humane
spirit ofthe age is founding 80 many useful
establishments for private relief and public
advantage, no provision has yet been made to
arrest the victim of intemperance in his
course, and by bringing him under compul-
siye, but kind and rational discipline, retrieve
him from the fearful tyranny Of a passion
which has deprived him Of the moral and
physical energy requisite to rescue and pre-
serve himself
The fact is, that in neglectlng thus long to
recognize the confirmed inebriate as q crimi-
nal, constantly offending against the peace,
/. the happiness, and the morals of the State-or
! as an irresponsible agent, incapable Of self
control, and therefore, as one who has for
feted his rights of personal liberty, society has
overlooked a grave-perhaps the gravest-
malady of the kind that has ever contributed
to afIlict it or invoked the interpostion Of Gov
ernment. An enlightened practical view of
this question should be delayed no longer.
The positive and frightfully extensive infu-
. ence which Drunkenness has in corrupting
, men, in disqualifying them for the rights and
, duties of citizenship, and in difiusing wide
spread licentiousness and distress through the
. land, duplicating the innocent, and burdening
: the State, should be realized; and an inteui-
: gent social sentiment, justly careful of the
r general welfare and security, and actuated by
a benevolent desire to restrain and recover
, those who have become the helpless slaves oi
4 a resistless appetite, should at once provide
n seme sufficient plan for reforming drunkards
q and eventually suppressing the vice itself
= No better expedient for the end proposed
A. could be devised than House Of Industry
l oil tl,a could ha an
n forced, the requisite physical and moral influ
a ences be brought to bear upon the patient
40 and the labor of his hands be applied to defray
in ing the expenses of the institution. Thi
would at once accomplish three impOrtan
objects, namely, relieve society from
70 nuisance; subject person incapable Of sell
=, control to wholesome reformatory govern
=, ment and release the public from princip0
10 occasion of the heavy charges now in
~ CURED in the support of thousands of ind
"a viduals whose habits Of intoxicatlon hay
either Immediately or indirectly thrown ther
ca into almshouses, prisons, and hospitals.
va Philadelphia has acquired an envable repu
bo taton for valuable measures of improvement
M in prison discipline and kindred matters. sh
100 has nov the opportunity Of leading In a move
10 ment relative to class Of uniortuuates an
n. an evil which rise In their claim upon char
ne table sympathy and legislative concern ia
~, above most other objects of the liad whic
have already received Che care Of ststosme
and the bounty ofprivste benesolence. Wi
=. not, theR, some of our most influential citizen
~ take this suggestion up in that earnest spiT
n which its great consequence 70 society shoul
excite, and press II forward 20 practical real
a. zation! A more interesting reiorm Ia
80 rarely engaged public attention, and it d,
serves to be nrged with corresponding zeal.
We PINoDIcNs r. cBiyPu.-l'rcm lir. John
re Kromcr No. 4O3 Chesnut street, W. haye receive
ar copies Of Fyaak Leeiss Nqr,pGpr, Haipey
n HceI{y, Madame pemore5tf jartG' Of Poshjo
e- London Htyt.a'R Nalo uad 7iac, I'Hc
es Ha1prr's London Soci1p, 1caif!o Bur- and CcT
ne | kU HGg7-i,c', AH hIc wear Ror'd. II Is onl
ho necessary to say that these splCudld periodic,