The interior journal. [volume] (Stanford, Ky.) 1872-1881, 1874-02-20

| Who expect 10 ulsHlsS the suuF'V' WV"
sneer, and by calling il The hobby of "a
natics, "Pur;;aaic nonsense etc, to
give the following from the Heek, a
careful perusal.
$50 long MS II is mquestionablc that
four.ffths of the crime in this country
spring from the use of intoxicating Il.
quors publicly sold-that, as nearly as
can be computed, not less than fifty
thousand persons die annually of drunk
cnness-and that it is a serious question
whether the sixty millions of dollars an
nually raised by the internal revenue
ard by the tariff on importations Of IL
quors do not cost the country two or
three hundred millions in the conse-
quences of the use of liquors, it is clear
that the question will not be settled by
calling the temperance movement Puri>
ianic, or by vehement rhetoric about regu-
lating eating drinking by law. Mr.. j..
n Stearns, in his remarks before the Judi
ciary Committee Of the House of Repre-
sen,atives upon the petition for the ap-
point ment of a national commission of in
quiry concerning the liquor traffic, said
that the country is only on the threshold
of the question. During the last year
twenty one States have been legislating
upon it, and more Governors of States
have called attention to the subject than
ever before. Mississippi and Indiana
have passed very restrictive license laws,
and Indiana has closed nine hur dred
grog-shops under /, law pronounced con-
stitutional by the Supreme Court. In
Ohio, the women, who, as wives, daugh-
iers, mothers, and sisters, are the imme.
date sufferers from the brutality of
drunkenness, have begun to go in bands
to the drinkins-shops to pray and remon-
strate and in Boston, the State police
have CLEANED out" the winecellars of
the fremont House and Young's Hotel,
two Of the most noted hotels in the city.
Just at this time, also, comes General
IIarny's testimony that the chief difficult
ty in our relations with the Indians is
whisky, and that the remedy is for the
nearest officer to hang every whisky deal
err. Most OPPORTUNITY, also, Mr.. Meyer
Stern, one of the New York Commits
sioncrs of Charities and Correction, has
lately made report upon the legal
treatment of habitual drunkards, show
irg that during the last three years six
teen times as many women as men had
been committed for drunkenness; ard
that while of five hundred men one was
re.arrested hundred times for the same
oiiense, of nine Thousand female drunk
ards twenty-nine were re-arrested hun
drcd times. Mr.. Stern very truly says
that the present law fosters rather than
prevents drunkenness. The casual Of
fender who is not hab,tual drunkard is
sent to the work-house for ten days. In
the case of every woman this is final
and absolute ruin. Ten days association
with the worst of their sex under the
ban of the law destroys heart and hope,
and the poor creatures sink into despera'
ton. A reprimand or fine would be
punishment enough. But the confirmed
drunkard, if he is to be imprisoned at all
should be secluded long enough to give
him chance to reform. and therefore
should not lie committed with common
criminals.
These facts all show the activity of the
public interest in the subject. The point
which must now be settled is the actual
effect of prohibitory laws. That they
are evaded, and that drinking continues
in spite of them is not denied. But that
is not the question. Theft continues de
spite the laws, and the laws against
]
theft encourage secrecy and deceit in
thieving. The question is whether upon
the whole. prohibitory laws have good
effect in diminishing drinking and pro
noting order. Is the peace more cheap
ly preserved in prohibitory communities!
Are the jails and poor-houses emptiel
than elsewhere? Is the average Of wei
fare higher? Such are the questions that
should be answered.
Yet it is now impossible to reply salts
iactorily, because Of the want of au
thentic statistics. The New York 1rij
une says that the most trustworthy testi
mony shows that after twenty years ex
perience. prohibition in Massachusetts i
a failure in the cities and large towns
General Butler says that he thinks liquor
is not sold in the majority Of towns in
Massachusetts. Mr.. A. NJ. Powell, il
his remarks to the judiciary Committee
says that in a prohibitory county ia
; Maine, of twenty or twenty-five thou
sand inhabitants, he found an empty Jail
without a prisoner for year, and the
last inmate woman imprisoned for sell
ing liquor Illegally. Governor Perhan
told him that his county of Oxford, in
Maine, with a population of thirty oil
thirty>iive thousand, he could show ar
empty Jail, which had been empty two
third. of the time during six years. II
Vinelanl, a prohibitory town in New
Jersey, as Mr.. Landi. stated before ;
Committee of the Legislature, there is ,
population Of ten thousand five hundred
and last year the police expenses wer'
twenty-five dollars; and in 1872 the pool