Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1874-04-16
Is prunkenness a Crime ?
a the Baltimore American, 4th. ]


We have received the first number Of
the Inebriate's Record, a modest publi-
cation, issued by the patients Of Harlem
Lodge, intended, as its prospectus states,
to aid "in creating and cultivating a
healthy public sentiment on the subject
of intemperance and of inebriate asy-
lums." The Record is to be published
by subscription, and if the receipts ex-
ceed the expenditures, the overplus will
be appropriated to the library fund OF
the Lodge In their address to the pub
lie the patients of the institution say:
Nobody knows better than the inebri-
ate himself what sorrows of heart, strug-
giles of mind and pains of body must be
endured in the conflict for victory. Too
often the people who know the least on
the subject say the most, and say it un-
wisely. The time sas now come for us
to appear end defend our own cause.
We shall write articles for this paper,
which shall be designated by the mum
bers that stand opposite our names on
the asylum roster. We do not intend to
display ourselves, but to utter our senti-
ments.
We do not wish to be considered as
criminals because we have been unfor'
tunate enough to yield to the demands
of an appetite that may have been
inherited, or that, by the customs OF
society, may have been engendered.
Crminality is one thing, and inebriety
is another They may exist in the same
individual or they may not For the
criminal class there are places Of pun
ishment. The inebriate proper requires
different kind of treatment.
We admit that we sometimes need
restraint, but not punishment. We are
not without human sensi0ilities, nor are
we entirely ignorant of men and the
wants ofhumanity.
We desire to put ourselves in com :
munication, as far as possible, with the
social refnements OF the world about us.
Wen be considered by some as out
casts, but we do not wish or intend to
consider ourselves as such.
We know our families are annoyed by
our presence when we are under the
influence of intoxicants, and to relieve
them, as well as to promote our own
good we consent to temporary isolation
that we may endeavor to recover our
selves. If we are to be successful we
must have assistance.
We must feel that we are not totally
cut off from society. We must, in a
measure, retain our relation to the com.
munity to which we properly belong.
We shall issue this paper once a month,
as our method Of speaking to our friends
and the public.
The appeal that these lines make to
the sensibilties of good and sympathiz-
ing people we hope will be answered in
such way as to enable the continuation
of the proposed publication. What the
world thinks of the drunkard, how it
half pities, half condemns, and almost
wholly contemns him, is well known.
1t may improve the position somewhat
to know what the drunkard thinks OF
himself, and to learn from his own state
ments something OF the sore struggles,
the establishment and the desire for
reform by which he is agitate1. But in
this as all other things, it is necessary
to start from sound premises, If logical
conclusions are to be arrived at. And
it does not seem that the sort of pallia-
tive argument for drunkenness, the ap-
peal, all for pity and none for judgment,
with which the Record starts out, is
quite the right basis on which to place
a reel, energetic and conscientious re-
form. The man that excuses his vice
is not on the road to Improvement, and
we counsel the patients of Harlem Lodge,
whether they call themselves inebristes
proper" or, in plain Anglo-Saxon,
drunkards, that the best starting point
from which they can make fair effort
for moral and physical regeneration will
be the full, unequiyocal and common
sense estimate of the degrading vice to
which they have made themselves slaves.
The poet tells us that rose by any
other name will smell as sweet, and we
certainly do not soften the guilt and the
awful penalties of drunkenness by call
ing it inebriation or by describing it as
tho yielding to the demands of an ap-
petite that may have been inherited, or
that, by the customs Of society may have
been engendered" We mean no offence
to our friends in Harlem Lodge, who
have our Warmest gympathies and strong