The Red Cloud chief., 1884-07-18

INSANITY AND INTENPERANCE
I. srvrr~ ~ Rsv. c. q. nsrsxAx.l

o! the public ear. in orisr that the
may. with dramatic execution. pls,
upon the sympaihiss Of IN. popular
heart The puhsict>i. economist aus
financial philosopher regard 10 as :
question not unworthy OF ;h-Ir closes
1 I-niion- The causa of rae,
and national deterioration and decay !
studs-d n, never hc:orc. Men Of mn.
culine brains AMI pu5iic spirit claim
that aside from morals. whatever weak
ems the productive poacr Of III. ~citiF.r
Of restraints the mot enlarged growth
o! his every capacity - \ soIrcc al
menace and evil toth. State. No qu-s
ton has been - thoroughly stud Ell fur
the pat nifty wears n, that If Temper,
snce. IL has beer preached and PRAYED.
sung and shouted. lecicrvd and liz
tened To-. til now \ man who pro
mulgates \ new idea in reference 80 1,
/. in positive iansrr of being immur.
tailed Tor his brilliant discovery. The
latest phase OF this subject i m attempt
Ia discover Just To what extent the ex.
ce>,iye use IF alcohol contribute, ~ The
prevalence of insanity.
Ii has been asserted msny times by
the advocate. of total abstinence tina,
strong drink j. largely responsible for
the RAPID spread ot insanity among the
American people. Now. IL IL can be-
proved that there is \ constant waste
OF MINI force going on in the Nation.
(which seems pretty ~certainl ~ \ ~
suit ui intcmperancc. then there would
seem to he an additional reason for
supposing. from the standpoint Of polIi-
icaI economy. that such n waste WAS
detrimental Ia the growth. progress and
perpetuity Of the State. For IL is held
To Ire pbilosophically true that upon tn.
power Of the citizen depends the mate
rial prosperity Of the Commonwealth.
h was with u desire Ia rc'utc the
the charge ~ often made. viz: that ia
temperance produces 20 a great extent
the insanity of the country that Mr. g..
Thomann has written 4 pamphlet of
some size. entitled Real aud lmagin-
AIRY Effects of in,emperanc~," of which
II copy has been sent to the Ptoplc',
Cause. The book j, published by the
| nited States Brewery Association Of
New York City. which is. of course. =
pledge Of good faith tha, the author IL
in favor of-bcer. The work purports
L. contain LETTERS and statements
from Superintendent of eighty Amer
lean Insane As,lum>. the history Of tive
hundred inebriaies. etc. etc. A. IN.
book j. published by n Brewer, ASso.
citation. every statement II necessarily
correct and none of the figures lie. We
therefore accept ever, thing said rs
thoroughly impartial. ia Difference e
the birthplace OF the volume. IL il not
often one sees a book that was born IN
:. brewery. We ar" not sure but the
author has :mmortalizel himself. II the
statements upon the subject Of insanity
are correct this i, the best book 81 the
no great harm il done.
Passing over the first hall Of the
work. which il in MANY Instances soph-
i,;ical in argument and fictitious in his
torical data, we have to- do entirely with
he SAYS of the insane. The author
10 show that intoNicants do not
produce insanity Ia any great extent.
but we must say that the statistics he
and the phssiciau, he quotes. are
very damaging To hi cause. We should
not care to be tried before n Judge who
pass sentence ere the testimony
was taken. This. in our opinion. i
just what his authorize, do upon the
question If alcohol insanity. We are
Iold that DR.. ID. ID. Richardson. Physi.
o. the Philadelphia Hos
pital. saws ~. 1917: "Asid. from her
edi;v. ! believe there i. no c,us. so fire.
productive 81 insanity A. the
excessive us. of intoSicants." Dr. u.
ilsthewsOn. of the Nebraska As,lum
ior the Insane. writes thus tothe author.
! not give the statistics YOU ask.
know it Is bad enough-bad beyond
comprehension
All the ply sicians whom the author
for Information ver. not
prepared O. answer. with those
mentioned. but nearly all point
mt incompetence A. an efficient cause
II insanity. We CLEAN some startling
acts from Mr.. Thomanns pages which
sc wonder be did not break down un-
Ter. A. the Marshall lntirmary for the
insane in Troy. y. T.. IN 1852. out 81
~ pat ent- admitted. lis. o. nearly
Orty-iwo per cent. were :h.r. from
rink. In the New York tiiy Insane
Asylum in the year 1877. out 81 49, pa
ent- admitted. 20. OF forty-fye and
IN. hall per cent. were insane through
We select 1T random twenty
hree asylums from the number he
mentions. and We find that In the year
s>3 they contained 1880 patients. or
'early ten per cent u the whole mum
,cr Of inmates. And this estimate. IL
he remembered. does not includ.
hose in whom alcohol was an excit-
ny au-e, or in other words who
p~redi-posed to insanity prior TO
the habit: nor does IL embrace
hose though free from III. habr,
lost their mind, through the
OF Others. This moreover. doe.
ct even include TIE feeble minded and
i'oiic born Of intemperai. parents, A.
n indirect cau-e Dr A. II. Richardson
?. 1871 81 the Iowa Hospital. ;~.,iae.
twenty-five per cent. OF the pa
Ienis were insane through drink a.
irect cause and twenty-five per cent
Ne m it'd rect factor in their in
spity. making = sum total 81 op~.haf
l al the patients admitted II Il. TIN.
testimony Of all the physicians
Ell II not equally strong. but we
We have never Rad exper
ssiimon~ on an examination II a pa
80 uniformly agreed A. this. 1he
rePopdersnce Of evidence Is against
though the au;hor OF ,hI.
amphlei has written In the inte-r.,
alcoholic leverage We accept his
s. Inspired on insane
lums and lGnatics: he has evidently
excellent facilities for the srns.y II
9TH He has opened up = wii. seli Of
lEesigation and we can not see why
g should not; push %. inquiry . liftle
'rther IN b Interest Of Temperance.
There are mary more .syiums To
FAR from both 10 this country asd In
srsigu lants. We ran only - e.,