Smyrna times., 1889-11-06
For the Smyrna Times
Washington Letter.
WASHINGTON. d q Nov 9

" @AA'AAANN AO4Ns " ", Nov Il.
He who cares to write on a subject
so threadbare as that of drink, will
find field of ripe promise in Wasing-
ton. Yesterday afternoon l was pass
ing one of the most exclusive restau
rants in the city, when 1 observed
three young ladies emerge from the
elegant Vestibule and enter a public
hack that had the curtains partly
drawn. All three were very Young
women and very beautiful women.
knew two; one the daughter of a
United States Senator the other
nearly related-and the ward-of a
member OF the Supreme Court. All
were drunk. They were not simply
tlpsy, but drunk. One dropped her
nat, and the extra eXertiOn required to
replace 1t so exhausted her that the
vigorous assistance of the iehu who
drove the ramechacle was necessary to
place her inside. Two helpless dudes
VINO tried to start quick Irritation
with the young women were promptly
snnbbed, an action which cast perbans
one ray of sunlight across their record.
he sadness Of the drink story is
nowhere more marked than in the case
OF Henry D. Gregg, who went a few
days ago to the Missouri penitentiarv
tor five years as sentence for stealing n
horse and buggy. Greeg was the son
of an able Irish divine and after grad
uatlon at Dublin University, came to
InlS country. lie entered the service
OF General Sheridan as his private sec
retary, and was afterwards a clerk in
the War Department. He was a man
OF pleasing address and considerable
ability. Every opportunity was given
MN, but he would not reform. He
finally drifted West and his arrest fin
ishes the story? What temperance
lecture could tell more? What but
the simplest words are needed to tell
the story of his degradation.
Against the traffic in rum a bitter
war Is waged by the organized temper
ance societies, but without much
effect. The Commissioners seek bv
more or less judiciOus methods to
limit the trade. At present the CON
sent of majority of the property
holders of the block on which the sa-
loon is situated, is required. This
year the Commissioners announced
that no license would be granted to a
woman. This was so clearly uncon-
stitutiOnal that it has been abandoned
Among the better class of men in busi-
ness and political life drunkenness is
rather on the wane. Twenty wears
ago no one in Washington drank lager
peer and very few touched ale. Every
thing was brandy and whiskey. A
few years later came the first beer. sold
by the tirst-classs at ten cents per
glass, and then only in Difference to
few pltled customers. With the ad-
vent OF beer came the extended use of
claret, and it was but a step to the use
OF SOFT" summer drinks. To day one
fifth OF the drinks served over Wash
lngton bars to men past forty, contain
no alcohol. Many elderly men, fol-
lowing the example of Mr.. Couldock.
the seventy-ive year old actor, have
turned to sparkling apple cider as
their only beverage.
The six bottle men of Sheridan's
time are but memories, and their trans
Atlantic imitatOrs are with them.
Think Of Senator Tom Seymour, and,
If you please, President Franklin
Pierce. Remember also the tremen-
dous drinking of George S. Prentice
and Senator MacDougal. The latter
gentleman is said to have never will
llngly drawn a sober breath in twenty
five years. Public opinion has under
gone a weighty change. These men
wonld hardly be leaders to-day. The
time when the political arena was in
the barroOm, has practically passed
away, and a more decorous. even if it
be under the rose, quite as wicked a
one, has come to US.
The Western members of Congress
look at the accession of the four new
states, outside of party grounds, with
satisfaction. One effect of the admis-
sion will be to secure more liberal ap-
preparations for that part known as the
Far West" Their representation in
Congress will materially lessen the
power of Wall street as against the
producers of the West, including the
miners Of silver and lead and the baser
metals. So also the influence of New
England manufacturers in so far as it
may clash with the desires of the West
will be neutralized. The states west
of the Mississippi will demand equal
privileges with their Eastern neigh
bors, and will be in position to enforce
their demands. If they begin by die
tating who shall be speaker, their sue
cess will be as thorough as it will be
sudden.