The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1885-05-28
A Lost State !!

dation and despair which can approach in
its sorrowful features the miserable
wreck of the drunkard. We occasionally
hear some such foolish ard hard-hearted
remark as this: eff the man drinks, it is
his own fault-nobody drags him into
saloon" This kind of expression is more
the result of stubborn disposition than
an attempt to produce reasonable argu-
ment. True, nobody drags the victim to
the doggery, literally. But the fellow who
runs the den does draw him there through
the medium of the accursed stuff he has
on sale, and which has such hold upon
the appetite of the victim that he would.
undergo any degree of torture rather than
do without it. Suppose that all drunk
ards-all those who have unfortunately
fallen into the habit of drinking immod-
erately-should suddenly quit going to
the doggeries. How long, think you,
would the latter continue in the commu-
nifty? While it is therefore true that the
success of the horrible business depends
upon the men who patronize it, still the
men who have the poison for sale use
every effort to prevent falling-off of
that patronage. The doggery-keeper
knows that by the very nature of his traf-
fic, it can but thrive upon misery, and
that the more unnatural appetites, the
more wrecks he can create in commu-
nifty, the better his business will thrive.
All the eXertion and earnestness, there
fore, in keeping up this horrible and MUIR
derous business, lies with the seller, while
the drinker drifts helplessly into the state
of misery prepared for him. There is in
Jackson to-day class of drunkards, COM
posed of more than score of men-or
what was once manhood-who are tum-
bling about, miserable, total wrecks, a
burden to themselves, a terror to their
families, and burning disgrace to their
friends. These men are seemingly lost.
They may struggle bravely, manfully, for
few days, or weeks, or months, to shake
off the demon who has possession of them,
only to fall again, helpless and hopeless
into the power of the doggery-keeper,
who ever proves himself a hard master.
The business itself requires man with
conscience like q devil. We have heard
of "warn-hearted" doggery-keepers; of
such fellows showing "a willingness to do
man favor" but we have never yet
observed in one of these any aim or pur-
pose beyond his own personal gain. The
whole aim is to get money without work,
and without giving an equivalent. They
will parade pompously at the front door,
and seek to associate with decent men; at
no hooIr mil fol iv,r
their vie stuff the very clothing which
the miserable victim of their internal
traffic has stolen from the backs of his
family. To a casual observer it would
seem that the Lord never gave doggery-
keeper conscience as large as ten-cent
piece, for the means of procuring the lat
ter will show him to be entirely without
the former. We are speaking in no feel
ing of unkindness toward men, but
toward the demons which they become
while engaged in the miserable work of
destroying souls and bodies. The victims
of the doggery-keeper are wholly within
his power. No dog could be more meek
and servile to his master, or receive a
kick or blow with less complaint. The
picture is presented in Jackson to-day of
young men, who were bright, intelligent
young fellows, holding themselves in alb
ject servitude to miserable, bloated, stink
ing deformities whose heads are mere
slop-vats. These young men will permit
their interiors who keep the dens to kick
and cuff them from pillar to post, and go
on 'uncomplainingly, on the road to death
and hell. 1t is a sadder picture than that
of the hideous, Shiny, poisonous snake,
dragging down from its lofty flight the
beautiful bird, the real charm lying in the
very hideousness of the reptile. 1t is un-
fortunate that such things can be, yet
they exist, and about the only apparent
chance for hope of any improvement just
now is that the rising generation, those
just coming into the age of manhood,
may see in these miserable wrecks, and
the bloated demons who are running them,
such horrible examples as will cause them
to forever shun those representatives of
the Devils Kingdom, the doggery-keep-
ers.