Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-04-25
THE TOWNS TOPIC.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR DISCUSSING
"IocAL-orTioS POINTS.

LETTERS TO rHE EDITOR DISCUSSING
"LocAL-orTl0S" POINTS.
Views Of varions Parties Upon the Az
sorting Subject Of "License" or
mo License
lie The Editor of the Dispatch
The prohibiuoDists endeavor to sus-
tain their falling cause by misuse OF
certain figures and estimates obtained
from The Office Of the Police Justice aud
Superintendent Of the Poor House.
They fix the total police expenses Of
Richmond, cubra, ug the salaries and
expenses Of the P,lice Court, the po-
lice department, the city Jail, &C., at
s77,7i0. They then take the nombcr
Of cases in tho Police Court and en-
desvor to prove that so per cent. Of the
crimes committed in Richmond is due
TO the use OF intoxicsnts, wholly re-
CARELESS Of the fact that "drunk and
discrderly p" is hot a crime but mis-
dtmsanor. Having reached this result
these gentlemen sspiently argue this
proposition
Crimes caused by lntempersnce cost
annually ............-.. iss
OtheT to'ofo
Their argument is : Give us local
option, and the whole police department
Of city OF $4,000 inhabitants can be
administered for l5,54S. In other
words, we shall be able to abolish the
Police Court and police department
and entrust the affairs Of the city to the
custody Of a magistrate and constable
for each ward, the county Jail, on Main
street, afsordiUg sufficient accommods-
lions for the city's criminals. OF all
the absurd statements put forth in this
remarkable campaign this distortion OF
the police records is the most audscious.
We sumbit the testimony OF few
men whose experience entities their
statements 10 consideration. Mr.. Green,
warden Of the Kings-county On. W
penitentiary, says:
sit is not a matter of mere supposi-
ton when ! say that not even per
cent. Of the criminals can be said TO
have committed their offence in conse-
quence and by reason Of intoxication. l."
An investigation conducted by Rev.
John Ruth, chaplain Of the Eastern
district pa peni,entiary, is COM
plete refutation Of the theory that in
temperance is the cause Of majority OF
crimes.
The annual report of the New Jersey
Bureau of Labor and Industry says
Anexsnlioation Of the reports Of the
prisons Of the United States proves that
the influence ofrum in exciting to crime is
greatly exaggerated. To the lack Of
education must be attributed much
Of the crime which is commonly attri-
buted to liquor-drinkiog."
DR.. Joseph Burlington, in his work
on Alcoholic lnebriety. says that " after
careful and psinstakiog examination
OF court and prison records less than
per centum OF capital crimes could he
traced to IN, use ofin;oxicating liquors"
Or. Parrish adds
Pursuing the same line Of inquiry
from time to lime, it fell in my way to
ask a very worthy chaplain of a peni'
Tertiary how many of the several hun
creds Of conyicts under his care could
connect their crimes with the use OF
intoxicating drinks. His reply was
Those whose crimes are the direct re-
suit Of intemperance are very few. l
do not know Of one
Hon. Richard Vaux, pententiary in-
spector, says; IL do not consider in
temperance as a crime-cause.
General Mott, Of the Trenton peni-
Tertiary says a. am decidedly Of the
opinion that our penitentiaries are not
filled with those who trace their crimes
TO intemperance."
John @. Salter, warden Of the Hi
nois penitentiary, says:
L" Crime usually has its source in tue
mental or moral constitution. The de-
sire for alcoholic beverages is generally
physical desire, an animal lust, and
has but a distant, il any, relation to
what is recognized as the moral charac-
ter"
The following is contributed from
the Maryland penitentisry:
"Out Of 534 conyicts there were
strictly temperate III moderate drink
ers, 242; occasionally incorporate,
III, and habitually Incorporate, T.
As TO pauperism, without crOwding
your space at this late hour, it is suiii-
Gent to say that, aside from physical
ailments and the results of economic
evils and scant natural resources, indo-
lence and impro,dence are the chief
sources of pauperism here as every
where, now as Of old. The following
from the celebrated Liebig may well
command the earnest attention OF those
who really wish to benefit their fellow
beings:
ain many places restitution and
misery have been ascribed to the in
creasing use Of spirits. This is an er-
TOR. The use Of spirits is not the cause,
but an effect Of poverty. 1t IS an ex-
cep,lon from the rule when well-ied
man becomes q spirit-drinker. On the
other hand, when the laborer earns by
his work less than is required TO pro-
vide the amount Of food which is indis-
pensable in order to restore fully his
working power, an unyielding, inexora-
bic law OF necessity compels him to
have recourse to spirits" MN.
rha paf,ce aud sunday Ctostpx