The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1873-07-19
The Cure Of Drunkards.

ance Society, the Rev. Dr. Prime strucl
the regular old-fashioned, orthodox blow
denying that intemperance was disease
and declaring his sincere belief that it wa
q crime which should be punished severe
ly. A scientist then stepped In in the per
son Of DR. Harris, Of the Prison Associa
ton, and said there was no punishmen
that would subdue the appetite for stron,
drink Then DIR. Willard Parker CAV,
support to the theologian, and said thai
if man goes into fever and ague dis
trict and lives there, knowing that he vii
become infected, he in aiming"
But DR.. Parker overlooks the fact that
the disease or insanity under which the
confirmed drunkaru labors, in that he has
not the moral power to resist the tempta-
ton there is in q bar r-room, or in the closet
where he keeps his brandy bottle. Snch a
man is demora,iEed, has lost hia iRdapend.
ence, his manhood. his moral principles,
his reason, which should teach him what
to do for self preservation in short, he
labors under peculiar form of insanity.
The confirmed drnnkard really 80 weakens
his physical strength ~ often to be inca
pable Of reforming, even when he cries
from the very bottom If his soul to be re-
leased from the bondage Of rum. What il
that, pray, but disease Will not Dr.
Prime he little more practical He may
see thousands going to utter rum through
intemperance, and yet under the most
agonizing protest What will he GO with
such men Preach Why, some Of these
men preach to themselves such sermons as
no clergyman could render, and then 60
out and get drunk again. Some Of these
men are naturally good. Did DIR. Prime
ever consider that it is more generallyyour
good dhearted fellow" that becomes a
drunkard than the mean souled, squeeze
sixpenny kind Of a man Not every
drunkard is good-souled man, but many
a man who is a drunkard was at the out
set not only noble, but actually fcll through
his generous social qualities. Concede
that they were weak somewhere 50 are all
men. Some Of the weaknesses of these
drunkards were not of their making Their
ancestors may have sinned, and they pay
the penalty. DR. Prime has doubtless
heard Of the sins of the fathers being vis-
tied upon the children ''to the third and
fourth generation" Desire for strong
drink is hereditary, the weakness TO in
dulgt is hereditary.
Drunkards are weak, and that weakness
is often an inherited disease that deserves
the deepest pity. There are men who
have disease OF an exactly opposite ma
ture to that which affects some Of those
who have fallen. Some men are simply
human ice-bergs cold calculating, and
every way selfish. Such as these pride
themselves on their moral uprightness; they
do not yield to temptation they do not
become drunkards, or in any way debauch-
ed. No, some of these men never had q
temptation of the kind but beyond this
they may be as cruel as the grave, utterly
wrapped up in self. The first class is Ger
tainly as well worth saving as the other
1t is cause for congratulation that with
in the past few years there has been rap
idly growing conviction that the theory Of
crimnality is not sufficient to cope with the
phases Of the evil Of intemperance. Be
cause of this conviction we have the utter
ances of the scientist, such as DR.. Harris
and the institutions for the treatment OF
alcoholism as a disease, such as our excel
lent and effective asyluns on Wards Is
land and at Binghampton.
Homilies are good, but medicine is some
times equally demanded. The scientists
think so, and recognizing, no matter what
the beginnings may have been, intemper-
ance does at last come to be q disease, they
have done work which even DIR. Prime
must approve. The inebriste asylums al
ready permanently cure sixty five per cent.
Of the drunkards who entrust themselves
to their care. What will these institutions
not do in the future when science has
made more complete revelation. Some
of the men they have saved from them
selves and foA Ae geod work Of the world,
are of DR. Primes own clLss--that is the
clergy. Who can estimate the amount Of
good already secured by men who hold the
theory Of DR. Harris Will not DR. Prime
JOIN them
If we will not introduce the Maine
liquor Law, and thus prevent the sin by re-
moving the chances OF its commission, We
must help the weak sinners and try to give
them strength 10 resist the temptations
with which we allow them to be surrounded.