The Dillon tribune., 1885-01-24
The Danger Of Moderate Drinking.

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The Danger Of Moderate Drinking.
The following from Texas paper makes
ont strong case:
The veriest drunkard on earth, in his
,ucid moments, will freely confess that
drunkenness is brutalizing, debasing and
ru;nous to both body and mind. All sots
commenced as moderate and occasional
drinkers, and hooted at the forebodings Of
their friends that they would wind up as
drunkards. They would meet the warn
;,,,s of sincere friends with the remark
that they had resolution enough to control
themselves, and that they could stop at any
moment. All feel this degree of conf
dence in the strength of their own resolu-
tions at the outset. The occasional drinker
NAV gradually become the regular drinker;
the moderate may insensibly drift into the
;mmoderatc drinker. 1.-THE appetite" as
Shakespeare says, "grows by what it feeds
upon" The craving for stimulants in
creases; habit ripens into second nature; it
takes an increased quantity to keep of de-
pression, and the end Of it is that the mod
crate drinker often becomes the absolute
and helpless slave to alcoholism and neg
lects his business as we'll as brutalizes his
nature and intellect. He may 60 SO far as
to his self.respect and feel no shame in
being drunk in public. Moderate drinkers
should be careful. They may before they
are aware Of it 60 too far.
1t is said that there are in the United
States 100000 ircorrigible drunkards, and
that 10000 drunkards die annually-tnere
wrecks, bodily and mentally. Alcoholism
helps fill our poor houses, jails, penitentia-
ries and asylums, as we'll as our grave
wards. 1t also transmits to posterity vari-
Gus diseases, physical and mental.
There is hardly a town that is without
half a dozen miserable wrecks, the victims
Of alcoholism, who were once worthy and
and promising men. 1t is melancholy
and deplorable state Of things, yet drunk
enness is upon the increase. Temperance
societies are palliatives. Drunkards can
only be cured by medical skill-by reliev-
ing tie abnormal morbity Of the stomach;
superinduced by alcohol. This is the best
scientific skill OF the world is now agreed
upon.
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A certain man journeyed from the era
die to the grave; he fell among saloon.
keepers, who took his money, ruined his
name, destroyed his reason and then turn
ed him into the street. A moderate drinker
passed by, looked on him and said: ut
served him right; he is fool to get
drunk" A Christian voter also passing,
looked on him and said: "The brute! He
is not fit to live; he is disgrace to his fam
ilv." But fanatic" SD called, seeing
him, had compassion, raised him up, as
sisted him home, ministered to the wants
of himself and family, got him to sign the
pledge, and pointing him to the "Lamb of
God that taketh away the sin Of the world, !"
left him in comfort and happiness. Who,
think you. wa, the great friend Of human
i,v-the saloon-keeper, the moderate drink
er, the Christian (?) voter or the fanatic?-
Catholic TEMPERANCE Advocate.
At recent temperance lecture in San
Francisco Mrs. J. Ellen Foster referred to
drinking among women and said: Il say
the women are drinking dreadfully, and
there is to-day an asylum in New York
for nebriate women, and in that asylum
the wives and daughters Of merchants re.
siding on Fifth avenue are placed to De
cured Of this horrible appetite for strong
drink. In Boston, in Chicago anG in your
own city of San Francisco drinking among
women is increasing daily, and among
women, too, who are socially high, and are
mothers Of children and wives Of prosper
Gus men,"
When Moses spoiled the golden cali
business lie did not stop to inquire how
much money was invested in it. Neither
will the Prohibitionists stop to inquire
how much capital prohibition will wipe out
in the brewing business. 1t is always nec-
essarv for sinners to sacrifice something
when they mend their ways, whether they
do it voluntarily or from compulsion. The
brewers will have to bear it just like ordi-
nary sinners.
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There never was a stricter temperance