Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1866-02-14

lorigin, more or less, in the crime o
drunkenness"
Judge Coleridge, at Oxford, said
There is scarcely a crime comes be
fore me which was not directly, o.
indirectly, caused by strong drink"
Justice Patterson, at Norwich, sale
to the Grand Jury: "If it were no
for this drinking, you and l should
have nothing to do"
Baron Anderson said: Drunken
ness is the most fertile cause of crime
and if it could be removed, the assizes
oft the country would be merenullities.
Judge Wightman, chargin G the
Grand Jury at Liverpool, said: a
find from perusal of the evidence il
the dispositions, one unfailing cause o.
fOur-fifths of the offences in this las, in
deed, it is of every other) calendar
the besetting sin Of drunkenness. In
almost all the cases of violence to the
person, the scene has been a public
house or beer shop, and the parties
infiamed and exasperated by intoxica
ton. So long as the habits of the
people are those of intemperance
whenever an opportunity is afforded
so long as they are incapable Of recre-
alton and enjoyment except that Of
drinking to excess in a public house
much Improvement cannot be expect
ed"
The evidence now adduced shows
clearly and incontrovertibly that the
use Of intoxicating liquors tend to
produce crime. Let us advance a
step, and see whether, conversely, tenn
perance has any tendency to diminish
crime. Immediately after the great
Washington movement of 1912, the
revolution in the drinking usages OF
society made itself strikingly manifest
in the diminution of crime. The
average number of convicts in the
State prison of Maine, had been eighty.
for several years; it was less than
sixty for several years after. The
number of prisoners decreased a full
fourth, while according to the census.
the population increased full fourth
thus making the real diminution of
crime as the result of increased intern
perance fifty per cent. As early as
1881 the number Of prisoners at Sing.
Sing, n. Twas 1000, but Immediate
ly after the Inauguration and vigorous
prosecution of the total abstinence
movement, and doubtless as a conse-
quence oft, the number decreased TO
1853; Notwithstanding a great increase
In the population both of the State and
city of New York. In Portland. Me-
at the March term of the police court
tor 1881, seventeen indictments for
crime wereprOsecuted. Afew months
afterwards the prohibitOry law went
into force, and was thoroughly execu-
ted, and at the March term, 1852. of
the same court, only one solitary in
dlctment was presented and that was
found to be the result of a malicious
prosecution. During tho nine months
prior to the date when that law went
into operation, 279 persons were
committed to Jail in Portland: DURING
the nine months following only 1876.
less than half, and y of those were
liquor dealers, punished for violation
OF the prohibitory law. Similar re-
suits occurred everywhere, under a
and persevering enforcement
Of that law, and if the law were viror- |
Dusty enforced in Vermont, our tails |
would have rooms to let, instead of |
being crowded to overlooking. as some |
Of them now are.
These facts, to say nothing of half
iozen columns more of the same sort.
which might be produced if necessary.
'rove beyond all dispute, that intern
'erance is a powerful agent in produc-
ng crime, while temperance tends no
ess powerfully to diminish it. We
will consider that point as settled.