Arizona silver belt. [volume] (Globe City, Pinal County, Ariz.) 1878-19??, 1886-05-01
EIsuREs AeouT INTERFERENCE.
Shs Sixty Thousand Men That Annually
Die Of Drunkenness.

tSt Louis Olobe-DemocratI
Brother Sam Jones, IN speaking OF the
sin of iutemperance, ssidl
ooh, the sin of intemperancei Look
OF that tramp, tramp, tramp, the boys
are marching, 60,00d every year into
arunkard's graves. And as the $4,000
this year 90 down into drunkard's
graves, the recruiting officers of hell are
recruiting this army from our boys.
That boy of yours, that boy of ours, Is
marching into the ranks to ill them up,
and ia less than ten years from to-day
your boy will step down and out yonder
TO grave and I'll a drinkard's grays
and drunkards hell"
Now, if this means anything more
than a mere piece of pointless hOrta-
tiOn, il is grave assertion that 60, 900
men annually die of drunkenness in the
United States. Let us see how such a
statement viii look when placed in lux
opposition with the actual vital sta
tStics OF the country, as exhibited M
the last decennIal census. The total
population on June J., 1880, was 50,-
1856, 7S8, and tho total deaths for tho
year ending that day were 755, 1913. or
an average oi Il. 90 per loco living. OF
this lAtge number who died-large in
fact though small in percentage there
died under years of age 500, B24, too
young, We presume TO DO clR5sed as
drupkards, while tho total of deaths un-
der 20 years we're 3OS, 900 exactly lie
duct these latter figures from the aggre.
gate of all ages, and the remainder, con
Shutting nearly all those OF what
may DO called OF drunkable age is only
855, S98, Of whom more than half were
females. and many thousands professed
temperance people. Rut say, for sim
phcity Of calculation, and setting OF
the temperance people against the
the drunken women. that $50, 900 of
these were men, it would then appear,
taking Brother Jones statement as true,
that ore out Of every three men buried
annually in the United States fills q
drnakard's grave.
But this Is not all; there remains
still ailother point to 30 considered. Il
Is fair to presume that il man lives 10
be, say, 80 years old. that he has passed
the period Of greatest danger; that, in
other words, incurable and fatal drunk.
enness develops and Stays somewhere
RcNNENh kAC ASOS VI ~ dtAu 9p- Al DE-
casional casa may occur below or be-
yoRd these limits, but common sense
will support the view in general Now,
how many deaths Of people over so
years old occurred in the year
mentionedi Exactly $50, 1877. Sup-
pose these all deducted from the
grand total, and We have precisely
1Ts, 796 deaths between the age OF 20
and 50, and half these being considered
rs men, on the same principle of of
setting unfortunate women against
temperance men, there remain only
80, 58S deaths for the year, out OF
which to people the 10000 drunkards'
graves
The figures look absurd, as they are,
when put 70 the test of accurate knowl-
edge. There is no doubt a lameutsble
amount Of drunkenness in the country,
and thousands OF promising lives are
annually wrecked. Nay, more: many
hundreds Of deaths ensue directly, and
Others indirectly, from the excessive use
Of alcoholic drinks. The actual number
OF deaths directly resulting from this
cause in the year referred 10 were.
males ! 332, females 254. These figures
Ap AEIEhdul eAouBn, III MI Consci6uCe'
and they need no establishment, no
rhetoric tropes or loose exaggerstions
70 intensity their horror, particularly as
they may, perhaps, be fairly doubled In
allowing for the deaths that whisky
caused indirectly Let Brother Jones
picture In his fervid language an entire
congregation as large as that which list.
ened TO the sermon quoted going down
annually into this pit Of destruction and
he VIII need no stronger argument. But
eIsggeration is always weakness