The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1879-03-20

aLtuaoG ANp rfs vicfIas.
Ne have long had The conviction
that there Is go greater cause q evil,
moral and ply zeal. 10 this country,
than the use Of alcoholic beverages.
/ 90 not mean BY this that extreme 10.
diligence which produces drunkenness.
The babitual use u iermented liquors
10 80 e1tout lar short Of what Is ueees-
ssry iu produce thai condition, add
such A. ID quite common 10 al ranks Of
society, iujures the body aud dimin.
ishes the mental power TO an extent
which, ! think. few people are aware
Of When the census gives us the
deaths by drunkenness it not only
frames ltd reports from the indulgent
verdicts Of surviving friends. but what
is more necessary 10 observe. it leaves
out II view the indirect but vastly
more important influence Of intemper-
anoe as tue preparation for aud ally OF
almost every disease that human fiesh
is heir to 10 considering the relation
Of alcohol to the public health, we are
not 10 coufue ourselves to its effect
upon its immediate victims, but 10
look at its effect upon the sanitary con.
dition Of tue community and its tend,
ency TO produce and propagate seeds
Of disease. Aud here, first. we notice
that poverty, oi which drink is the
principle cause, especially IN our large
cities, Of al disease. II is this poverty,
hopeless and degrading. which com
peIs It's victims to huddlc together in
tenement houses where the decencies
Of life are not possible. aud where the
malignant Influences Of the external
situation are reinforced by the pestiier-
Gus Influences within. When to all
these Is added the lack OF clothing for
the changes Of our climate, the Insult.
cient aud unhealthy food, the overwork
Of mothers, and the premature work Of
children, we can see at once that IN
such homes as these is the origin and
uutriment OF malaria and lever; and
then II finds for its ready victims the
inmates With systems enieebled and
corrupted by debanch aud yitiated by
hereditary alcoholism.
An epidemic does not create these
deadly Influences. but Gully intensifies
aud so magnilies them as TO render
them visible 70 the popular eye. At
such times alcohol is seen TO be the
ioerunner Of the pestilence. The fol-
lowing impressive facts are from Dr.
Lees records In the great fever
which ragged in London in l739--the
era Of tt gin mania drinkers were
the FIRST and the greatest victims DR..
Short observes The like was the
fate Of all tipplers, dram drinkers, and
punch merchants. Scarcely any others
died o! this severe feyer" The Asiatic
cholera, too, singles out the drinker
with fatal precision, when il leaves the
softer generally uuscathed. SO well
known was this fact that tue authorities
at Philadelphia closed the grog shops
A. nuisance TO the public health. In
Albany the satHe year, While only one
ia > 500 Of the teetotalors was seized
one 10 sixty u the general population
persisted Ia New Orleans 10 1853 the
ycHpw fever came down like storm
upon them. with its l27 dram shops
Ia one Of The lour parts into which il
has been divided Ii is not the citizen
proper. bot the foreigners, with mis-
tAktn rolious about the climate and
country. ~ho are the chief supporters
Of these hsunts Of incompetence. About
5000 OF them died before the epidemic
loached single citizen or sober man.
as iar as can get at the facts II 10
upon The last clause we would pause
moment Five thousand druukards
Hrs aud lheu! Why. then the d..
sease acquiring virulenee by feeding
upon sueh material. spreads ike con.
liagfaiun la aud vide. aud spares not
The nobicst aud best