The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-12-04
The Drink Evil.

Ihere Is no question OF the time
into which the drink evil does not
enter more or less. The reformer
and the patriot find their efforts OPP
posed at every turn by this abuse.
The saloon in politics establishes and
maintains corruption, venality and
low and sordid views and methods.
The saloon in society affects the Ia
Dor question most mischeyOusIy in
all its phases. 1t multiplies the suf-
ferings of the poor, renders the ele-
walton of whole classes almost hope
less, paralyzes the churches, neutral
ICES the schools, adds to the weight
of taxation, and lowers the moral
standard wherever its influence ex-
tends. There is no agency in exist
ence which operates so strongly and
in so maay directions for the degra-
dation of everything it touches, 1t
brutaIizes the cruder elements of
society. 1t opens the minds of many
who are somewhat more advanced
: 2 dangerous doctrines of Social
Y III 1t warps the judgment and
deadens the sensibiities even of fully
developed intelligences, and causes
them to view with indifference all
the harm done to the community by
the rum power.
The extent of the public depraya-
ton wrought in this way is sho n
in the difficulty which attends all
efforts to reform the abuse. The evil
in Itself is so formidable, its effects
are SO diverse, it interferes at so many
points with social and national pro-
gross. that the mere recapitulati0n of
what it has done and is still doing
would create an irresistible and spOn-
taneous demand for its abatement,
had not its corrupting influence pro-
ceeded so far that many are incapa-
BILE of realizing its true nature and
consequences. 1t is not to be assum-
ed that the general supinenesS re-
garding the drink evil grows out of
belief that its harmfuiness is exag-
gerated. Every grown man and
woman in the land knows well that
in this matter exaggeration is scarce
ly possible. But custom and famil-
iarity, together with the influence of
the peculiar vicious view of things
which drink produces and propa-
gates, have combined to form a bar.
rier of passive endurance which is
very hard to overcome. Add to this
the appeal which the saloon makes
to the lowest yet often strongest
cravings of human nature, and the
forces of its resistance to all change
for the better may be estimated. Yet
it would be an error to conclude that
the situation is desperate. The first
step has been taken toward temper
ance reform, in the appearance of a
steadily growing realization of ex-
listing facts. Before any abuse can
be removed there must be a general
recognition of its prevalence and of
its evil significance. That recogni-
ton. in the case of the drink evil, is
becoming wider every day.
There is. however, no question IN
regard to which popular education is
more necessary. 1t is a sef-eyident
fact that intemperance has been di-
minished, so far as it has declined at
all, by raising a portion of the COM
munity to plane from which the
debasing effects of drink are clearly
perceived. AS to the probability of
thorough emancipation from the
evil, experience has proved that
wherever it is possible to begin a
new social group without the saloon,
its subsequent exclusion is not diff
flcult. In the centres of population,
OF course, the problem is much more
complicated. AT such points pa
tient persistence, skililul adaptation,