The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-02-24
Drink the Chief Cause Of Crime.

In his new work on "Alcohol and the
State, Judge Pitman says of " drink
as the chief occasion of crime:''
l. Drunkenness itself is, by statute
and by reason, a crime-a social nui-
sance.
2. Drink excites the evil passions; how
much or how little it takes to do it is a
question of temperament and circum-
stance.
3. 1t fortifies for crime.
A. 1t throws Oft the reins of prudence.
Recklessness is one of the first fruits of
drink. Reason teaches that crime is
folly; alcohol clouds the reason.
8. 1t tempts to crimes, especially to
lust and robbery, by putting the victim
in the power of the criminal
6. And emboldens to crime by rem
dering itsdetection difficuls when the
necessary witness is wholly or partially
insensible.
z. 1dleness and poverty are prolific
agencies in the production of crime; but
intemperance is the main cause of these.
8. Truancy is regarded as one OF. the
most common proXimate causes of
crime. But among the causes of tru-
ancy that which so far transcends all
others as to be properly considered the
cause of causes is the immoderate use
of intoxicating liquors.
9. lntemperance is the efficient ally
of other vices Wine has been well
styled "the devils water power"
Without it much of the machinery of
evil would stand still. 1t is the life of
the gaming house and the brothel, and
surely these are ot-beds of crime.
The Board of Police Justices of the
city of New York, whose testimony is
valuable because of their daily observa-
tions of crime and criminals, in their
annual report say: "We are fully sat
istied that intox cation is the one great
leading cause which renders the exist
ence of our police courts necessary"
Hon. George P. Sanger (ex-Judge of
the Court of Common Pleas, and at
present the United States Attorney for
the District of Massachusetts, speaking
from his experience as the prosecuting
officer of the same district. says:
"There are few criminal cases into
which the use of Intoxicating liquor
does not more or less enter"
The authorities all agree on insanity
resulting from drink. DR.. Ray, one OF
the first authorities in this country
upon insanity, says in his "Mental
Hygiene:" "A potent agency in vitiat-
ing the quality of the brain is habitual
intemperance, and the effect is far
oftener witnessed in the offspring than
in the drunkard himself. His habits
may induce an attack of insanity when
the predisposition exists; but he often
escapes with the loss of the natural
vigor and hardihood of his mind. In
the offspring, however, on whom the
consequences of the parental vice may
be visited, to the third if not the fourth
generation, the cerebral disorder may
take the form of intemperance, or
idiocy, or insanity, or vicious habits, or
impulses to crime, or some minor men
tai obliquities
AS to pauperism. from drink. Bishop
Ireland, of Minnesota, who lectured in
Chicago recently, agrees with all good
authorities that "three -fourths of the
inmates of poor-houses and asylums,
three-fourths of all who are recipients
in any way of public or private charity,
have been reduced to poverty through
their own intemperance or through the
intemperance of their natural protect
ors. The men who babble about social
reforms without pointing to the saloons
as the first cause of poverty and degra-
dalton talk in the air. Chicago Inter
Ocean.