Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1871-04-20
What Drunkenness Is Doing.

THE Pittsburgh Commercial, in a recent
article upon what drunkenness is doing in
the land, says:
Yesterday afternoon, while looking
over a batch of exchanges, a suggestion
was made that, among other things, we
should observe the more striking cases of
infraction of law, violence, and disorder
reported in the various exchanges then
under notice, as arising directly from
drunkenness We did not complete the
task it was too sad. When we had
glanced through about a score of exchan-
ges, our courage failed us. The instances
reported were of themselves SO numerous
and CHASTITY as to make Us shudder. 1t
seemed as if the whole country was being
rapidly turned into a vast grog- -shop-a
hell of drunkenness bowling, stagger-
ing pandemonium of brutalized men.
Drunkenness in every city and town !;
drunkenness in the country; drunkenness
by land and sea. Drunkenness in the ken
mel and in the parlor; drunkenness coiled
upon the door-steps, and drunkenness
frothing in the Legislature. Drunkenness
among the poor and among the rich.
Drunkenness in the dark lanes and alleys !;
drunkenness in the wide, lamp-lit streets I;
drunkenness in the home, by the cradle,
at the altar, in the school and in the
church; drunkenness everywhere-vast,
opaque, omnipresent, encompassing the
land like baleful atmosphere. 1t was
horriblep
The Commercial to show that the above
is no verbose, declamatory rhetoric, gives
a partial resume of the results of its in
vestigation, in which it mentions between
twenty and thirty murders and suicides,
| all occurring within few days; besides
these there were many shames and crimes
of such character that they should not
be named in the columns of respectable
journals, the direct and frightful fruits of
the dram shops, which are being gathered
day in and day out through all the blessed
year. 1t then refers in eloquent terms to
the many unknown miseries and crimes
caused by the seeds sown by the trafficers
in rum throughout our land. We further
quote:
"And let it be remembered that these
instances are but faint illustrations of the
ravages which drunkenness is making. 1t
is only the exceptional cases of violence
and disorder which are reported in the
press. When the volcano overfiows, a note
| is made of the occurrence; but no men
ton is ever made of the fluid core of fire
which evermore burns within. The evils
of intemperance are not adequately indi
Gated by such instances as we have cited
Back of its visible ravages, and deeper
than all these, lies a field of devastation
which can never be reported, because il
can never be explored. The sober people
of the country suffer from it, in having tc
raise annually a vast amount of taxes
which go to build poor houses and
prisons, and to support paupers and
criminals created by drink. There art
also in our country two millions of child
| xx-hn in inf tu of
are the innocent and helpless victims o
drunken parents. There are three mil
lions of mothers, wives, sisters and daugh
tiers of confirmed drunkards in the United
States; and women suffer more from thil
vice than from all other evils combined
The keenest pangs and the sharpest agon
les are endured by women who make NJ
sign. In the wasted realms of the socia
affections, in the higher or inner life o
wife and mother and friend, what torture
are silently endured, what suppressed
wretchedness is borne, what slow tormenti
of desolated hopes and broken hearts g
on, no word of which ever reaches th'
outward carl The cases we have reported
are but the inadvertent evidences which
escape through gaps and chasms. What
then, must be the character of the fer
sea of anguish which burns and smoulderl
beyond? The breaking hearts of mother
over ruined sons; of wives from who's
life all love and tenderness have beer
blotted out; of the want and woe of littl,
children, grown old and haggard befor'
their time? And now let the mind e
back for years, and then multiply the year
by centuries, and try to comprehend thi
fathomless and shoreless sea of unuttera
Bile ruin and overthrow; and you will be
gin to have some conception of the illimit
able downward-dr dragging horror ovel
which we have preached this poor sermon
But not till then"