The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1881-08-09

/
Iof the State. And more than forty
thons:;nd crimimals AFRO supported at
the puhHc,cXpcnsc inthc prison houses
OF this country alone. Lilo insurance
companies cigaged for m,inyrycars in
studying the influence Of inebricty
upon their risks, have asccrtaincd that
the average life Of drunkartls Is only
thRty-hIe years six months, while tile
average life OF non-uscrs is siNty-tOur
Years. The average loss of life, as APP
pears from statistics Of insurance COM
panles, Is loss OF twcnty-nine wears
on tho life Of every lrunknrd. When
1t is remembered that there are not
less than sixty tilouSyNd drunkards in
this country, It is easy to calculate the
enormous consumption OF life, with
its consequent waste of emery and
industry, thus entaiIcd upon, the
country.
Says the eminent psychologist Of
, England, DR.. Carncntcr: "It is per-
| tcctly well known to those who are
convcrsant with insanity, that Of all
the prcdisposing causes Of that dis
order. habits Of intcmpcrancc on the
part of either or both parents. are
among the most frequent" Mr.. Henry
Maudslcy, the distinguished Professor
OF Medical Jurisprudence in tho Uni
vcrsity College Of London, SAYS:
"N hilc we must admit hereditary in
flncncc to be the most powerful factor
in the cauS&tion of Insanity, there can
DC no douht that intcmprrance stands
next to ii in the list Of efficient causes,
IL acts not only rs q frequent exciting
cause, where there is hereditary pre-
disposition, but as an originating cause
OF cerebral and mental dcycneracy, as
q producer of The disease dc nOro. If
all hereditary causes Of insanity were
cut oil, and if the disease were thus
stamped out fora time, it would as
snrrdIy soon he created anew by intern
peraIce and other cXceSscs." Yet the
State, in caring for the public health,
"Npchds large sums OF public money
annually in irving TO cure the insane
and in pro, iding for the diolic. thus
produced by the liquor traffic. Large
asylumS arc erected at great expense,
skilled physicians are employed, and
the necessary nurses and attendants
paid for. The expenditures in this
country for this purpose, Mr.. Rogers
says, are estimated to reach tifiy mil
lions Of dolxrs every year.
hen is this manufacture Of the
idiotic and insane, with its consequent
burdens Of taxation, to cease? Mr..
Rogers tells us that q. careful invcsti-
CATION Of the subject has been made bv
DR.. Hitchcock, President of the Michi-
gan Stale Board of Health. who dc
clarcs that the number of idiots in this
country, made srch by the use Of
alcohol. is 3l9, ,0OG, and that tho slatis-
ties show that over 5000 persons arc
annually made insane by the same
cause. DR.. CARPENTER also calls at
tcntiOn to the case OF SO idiots, Onlv
about Il quarter Of whom were found
10 bc the children OF parents who were
known To be temperate, while ninety
nine of the number were the children
OF parents known to be absolute
lrunkartlS.
On the score Of paupcrisn,, the in
dictmcnt against the liquor traffic is
still heavier. In England alone, the
enormous sum Of $500 900 pounds
sterling is paid for the support of pau
pcrs, the larger proportion Of whom
arc created by Intoxicating drinks. In
our new country the burden is pot
yet so great, but, rs the country
grows older aud more populous, this
Durdrn must increase, unless tic
liquor business can be diminished.
MIR. Rogers says il is II wrll-known
Fact that in our own country alone
500 Geo Il. capital is invested in
this business. and that only two and a
half per cent. of the vast capital en-
ploycd in the production Of !hcsc
liquors is returned as wages to the
laborrrS engaged in their manufacture.
Already the statistics collcrtcd from
year to year in several tf our States
show that Intoxicating drinks form the
chief producing cause Of our rapidly
increasing paup.riSm, especially in the
large rltic$. In some localities eighty
per cent. and III others ninety per
cent. OF all our palIp2riSu is produced
by this cause.
Aiicr filling his v't:ahlc paper with
incon!cstablc facts like ,hrsc, Mr..
Rogers sums up his argument in these
words: "Snch, then, is the relation Of
he traffic in Intoxicating liquors to
crime. to the public health and to pau-
ncriSm. In tlic causalion of crime and
paupcrlSm. it appears as Il more i'm
portant force luali all other forces
combined, and It's injurious effects
upon the public hcalt., arc as great as
lh"y arc lamcntarlc. Certainly il is a
seeming absuiditA that a State should
be possessed OF II power to lcGiSlatc
! l"r the prevention of offences, ard at
| the same time be denied the right to
put forth that power to eradicate the
cause OF almost all offences; that it
should be undcr the necessity Of bur-
| dcning itself with enormous taxation
for the snpport.o.f the poor, the insane,
and the idioic, and at the same time
| denied The rightto remove the cau> G
which makes enormous public cXprl-
di'urc necessary. The primary end of
government is the protection Of human
lrights. In .ordcr to protect these
| rights, great public burdens it, the
shape of taxation arc imposed. Is not
Etlmt the wi$cSt legislation and the
most in conformity to the ends aud
purposes of governments which fur
niSlcs the maximum Of protection for
the minimum of taxation? This is the
! result to;be achieved by the sue cssful
prohibition Of the traffic in intoXicat-
ing liquors.