The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1888-03-16
"COME, TAKE A DRINK"


"COME, TAKE A DRINK"
The Custom of Treating" and What II
Leads to-Drink in Commercial ana
Business Relations.
The following facts with reference
to the treating habit are furnished
The Voice by well-known newspaper
man Of Brooklyn, whose business and
social relations have given him clear
insight into the relations of this per-
nicious social custom to the wide preva-
lence of inebriety. ]:
One must know the facts about the
treating" habit in order to know
what an important element it is in the
matter of excessive drinking. Let us
go to the famous Hoffman House bar.
We will sit at a table and drink bot
tie OF lemon soda as an excuse for be-
ing there. In one hour we have seen
fifty men drink at the bar; four of
them drank alone. Thirty were &C.
companied by from one to three
friends. Each man treated. Sixteen
came in parties of two or three, and
each member of the party treated.
Down town, at Nash & Crooks, we
see few men come in singiy. In half
an hour, while sitting at the lunch
counter, we have seen fifteen parties,
ranging from two to five persons each,
stand up at the bar. In most cases
each man has treated and in nine cases
out of ten these parties have been
joined by other men, some one of
whom has been acquainted with some
one in the party, and introductions
and reciprocal drinks have taken place
all around.
You may say this doesn't prove
much, and that it only happened So
But claim that the treating" habit
is responsible for most of the excess
i've drinking. This is not pet theory,
but is based Oh personal acquaintance
ship with a large number of menswho
have suffered from the drink habit
men whom l have met while holding
official positions in both the State and
the National Government, and in a
WIDE acquaintance with men generally,
from very early age.
Let us take a report of 900 cases of
inebriety in the Kings County IN. W
inebriate asylum. Of these 600 cases,
45S became inebriates from associa-
ton, i. e., from going with drinking
men and indulging in the habit of
treating. Among other cases given
are melancholia, injury, business, dis
ease, trouble. being in the army (mean-
ing, probably. the fatigues and expos
ure of military life) and hereditary.
AS to hereditary the specialist in dip
somania does not believe that because
q mans father or grandfather was a
drunkard he must of necessity be one.
What he says is that man so situ-
ated as to relationship will have a
standing tendency toward the excess
i've use of liquor, and that he should
not use it at all. The specialist says
that there are very few men who really
like the taste of alcoholic drink, but
there are many men, in our present
state of civilization, the condition of
whose nervous system is such that they
can not escape becoming inebriates if
they drink at all.
Many an inebriate, morally speak
ing, would like to stop the habit, but
he drinks from what he believes to be
a physical necessity. Hence it is that
man who has once been committed
to the inebriate asylum can never
drink with safety on his release.
A distinguished artist was lately
found dead in a liquor saloon. Three
years ago he told me of the great ex-
cesses in which he was indulging, and
asked me how he could stop. 1 told
him the first thing to be done was, as
Falstaff says, forswear "villainous
good company" No man could ever
break the habit as long as his compan-
ions, during social hours, were men as
badly off as himself A year ago two
OF his quondam companions died from
excessive drinking. Soon after this
the artist voluntarily went to an in
ebriate asylum, was cured, and for
time did well. The doctor of the in
stitution met him, and his former pa
tent said he drank nothing but beer at
his dinner. ''You must stop that"
said the physician; "you can drink
absolutely nothing intoxicating" The
artist failed to heed the order; sure
enough, he relapsed into his old habits
and died.
The methods of carrying on bust
ness resorted to by some firms in the
mercantile world lead many men to be-
come excessive drinkers. More than
one-half of the "drummers, or COM
mercial travellers, in the United States
make it matter of business to treat
their customers to liquor and cigars.
1t is not absolutely necessary to pursue
this custom in order to get trade, and
men who are thoroughly businesslike
refuse to use any outside inducements.
But the more ordinary class of drum
mers'' do a large amount of "treat-
ing" as they believe it helps along
trade.
The expense of " treating" goes on
their expense account and is rarely
questioned Some travellers make
gross charge for their expenses; others,
In the smaller houses, have an itenized