The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1881-12-23
SOCIETY AND TEMPERANCE.
TIE Mckenzie Club Asks that Holt
day Social Drinking be
Abolished.

[ December 18th, 1881, the following
resolution was offered by Genera
NJ. N. Bane and was unanimously
, adopted.
Resoloed, that the president O.
this club be and is hereby in
structed to appoint committee Of
/, five discreet members Of the club
who shall examine into and report
upon the question of FURNISHING
Intoxicating liquors to their callers
guests, and friends during the
coming holidays. And that said
report be made in writing, anC
published in the daily papers. In
pursuance of the above resolution
the following named gentlemen
were appointed by the president as
said committee, with instructions
to report at our next meeting
| General NJ. NJ. Bane, Rev. R. G.
I McNeice, Il. G. Armstrong, Sr. j. j,
Phare, Esq, and DR.. Gardiner. The
following is the report of the com
mittee to the club at their regular
meeting held on the 10Th inst.
To the Mckenzie Reform Club.
The special committee appointed
by you on Monday evening, Deem
Der 18th, to investigate and report
upon the social custom of offering
wine and liquors to callers, friends
and guests during the holidays,
herewith subnIst the following re-
port. Your committee after full
conference on the subject, are I'M
animOusly of the opinion, that
the terrible evils Of lntemperance
are vastly promoted by two most
unreasonable and mischievOus Gus
toms, namely: the street custom of
"treatiug" in the various saloons,
and the domestic customs in private
houses of furnishing liquor on
social occasions. The former drags
again into the gutter, many a
worthy man who, after a desperate
struggle had gained the pathway of
sobrIety and WOULD have kept it but
for the enslaVing temptation, which
greets him at every corner in the
seductive request, s'come in and
take something" But your COM
mittee believe that the domestic
custom referred to is by far the
most mischievous of the two, so far
as it goes, on the general principle
that a concealed enemyiS capable of
inficting far greater injury, than
one who fights in the open field. In
this case the terrible foe is concealed
beneath the attractive exterior of
social responsibility, that before the
victims are aware they are in dis
graceful, if not staggering condi-
ton. Many a man who would be
ashamed to go into saloon to
drink, many a man who regards
drinking as a dangerous habit at
best, is made to forget both the
danger and the disgrace, when the
invitation to..drink is emphasized by
attractive social surroundings, and
the persuasive voices of cultured
women. One great difficulty in the
suppression of intemperance, is to
get intelligent men and women to
give attention to the appalling evils,
which flow from the use of wines
and liquors. And so we empha-
size anew some of these evils. The
dangerous habit of liquor drinking
strikes down, and carries to the in
sane hospitals Of the nation, more
incurable victims than any other
cause. And the sad thing about it
is that many Of these victims were
formerly among the brightest, and
most cultured men, in the various
learned professions. This habit
counts its ranks of idiotic, im6ecile |
and physica ly deformed, until the
hearts of good men grow sick, and |
the foremost thinkers of the age are
appalled,. 1t seeks out the family,
the home, the purest and most |
sacred spot on earth, and deluges
this best of all earthly affairs with
its black waters, and converts this
most heavenly Of all earthly insti-
tutions into a place of misery which
rivals that of the lowest hell.
Every man, woman and child that
sips the wine glass, the fascinating
pulp or hot punch is taching into
his system an enemy, that is
likely to creep to the brain, seize
the delicate nerve fibres with devil
ish unrelenting clutch, and after
mesmerizing for a brief time the
soul Of the poor victim, at last to
plant a virus in his Yitals, which |
shall send it's fery currents oil
poison down to the fourth genera
ton. To bring these things home
to all, let it be noticed, that here is a |
beautiful and enterprising city |
where the temptation to strong
drink are so numerous and seduc- |
tive, that hardly day passes when
one does not see staggering along
the side Walks-a SOrrowful dis |
grace to themselves and their
friends, men who formerly occupied
high business, professional or Off
cial positions, and others who are
bringing great dishonor upon the
positions they now occupy and |
wOunding the hearts of their best
friends by their Incorporate habits.
On every hand grey headed fathers
and mothers are spending sleepless
nights over the downfall of their
sons. Wives with breaking hearts, !
are grieving over the ruin of their
former worthy husbands, and
friends with disappointed hopes are
mourning over the degradation off