Litchfield enquirer., 1881-10-27
How Shall Drunkenness be Punished

Drunkennsss ,s cFilie:: There can De -nl doabt of that But hdw shatI we lpnnish isei -Is it best, Che first fime man is found drunk to commit him to Jail. there to herd witl shieses and vaesbouds till his desradstiontii ! o,mpleses Practically ,hisds done only witl drunkards of the lowest grade. Mea of re spectable social position are not % punished unless their innrmity overtakes them away from home. Yet are they any the less crimi
 lal than the emigrant who is thrust into pris ,,n on his first lapse7
 The truth is that drunkenness. through a cri,ue, Is oue of very peculiar nature, Mosl .risoners in our jsils are there for disregardinN ttle right. of others. The drunkard is ttert for iniuring, himsslf. Then ags,nc with fe" exceptions, prisoners found in our jails are mol
 ,nly from the lowest sociai class, they foru s class by themselves, s criminaI class. passing d degradation any other to be found among
 IS. To them the infamy of imprisonment is # slight account. Drunkenness prevails, however, in all classes of society, and there would be DO surer way of making the drunk ards fall irretrievsble than to add to the deg. radiation of his vice the degradation of impris- Oinlent in the e0snni0n jail. rf
 We take 1t, then, that the jail is no suitable ,lsce to. reform druukards. Must society, therefore, leave men whose appetite for slcs'- nt,lic drinks has become unc0ntrollabie to tread the sharp descent to destruction without interterence2 If those men could be placed where their appe' ite could not find indulgence they would be useful citizeus. If It were .,ossible to send our inebria,es to Maine or to Kansas (if they would be really out of harms way there) would they not be in truth saved frum thenselves2 Penal colonies have been formed to which ordinary convicts are trans ported Is thele no place in this wide world to which druukards could be carried where they might be out of the reach of tempta- li0ns E7 ss.'. '.H Supposing any methods of that description irppracticable, would 1t be impossible to pro vide asylums to which drunkards may be committed for longer or shorter periods of de
 ention, or where, if reformation is impossible. they may remain permanently and yet find some means of seif.snpport through their own la- hor? We aave an impression that most Of the so called inebrIate asylums have not &C., complished what was expected of them. As it seems to us their failure has been attri butabe in the main to two causes: First. imperfect control of patients through lack of legal power over them; Secood, to the fact that, through want of suitable occupation for the inebriats while confined, his support has proved an'insupportsble burden on his friends or family, perhaps already nearly ruiued by his excesses. .,[....r
 The first difficulty calls for the pass- age of stringent laws giving full legal control over inebriates. The next difficulty might be met in part by state aid, in pat by setting the inmates of inebriate asylums at suitable work. The very fact that these places are called asylums seems to have led people to excuse their inmates from all useful labor. It must be remembered, how ever, that the inebriaie is just as able to work as any other citizen, provided only his abn"r nal appetite is not allowed to interfere with his usefulness. Why is it not best then that be should be made, as far as possible, self supporting? An intoIershle burden might thus be removed from individuals and from
 he state, and system established that would either reform, or remove from the sceneiDf their balefui activity, those num- bers of confirmed drunkards who are now such blot on our civilization. ~f
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