The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1889-11-01
washington Letter.
lfrom cur regular correspondent.l

ftroln our regular correspondent.l
WASHINGTON, d. c.. Oct. %, 1899.
He who cares to write on a subject so
threadbare as thai of drink, will find a field
of ripe promise in Washington. fester-
day afternoon | was passing one of the
most exclusive restaurants in the city, when
| observed three young ladies' emerge from
the elegant vestibule and entera public hack
that had the curtains partly drawn. All
three were very young women and very
beautiful | knew two; II the
daughter of a United States Senator; the
other nearly rclated-and the ward-of a
member of the Supreme Court. All were
drunk. They were not simply tipsy, but
drunk. One dropped her hat, and the extra
e~xertion required to replace it so exhausted
her that the vigorous assistance of the jehu
who drove the ramshackle was necessary
to place her inside. Two helpless dudes
who tried to start a quick filtration with
the young women were promptly %snubbed,
an action which cast perhaps one ray of
sunlight across their record.
The sadness of the drink story is now here
more remarked than in the case of Henry
d. Gregg, who went a few days ago 10 the
Missouri penitentiary for FIVE years as sem
tence for stealing a horse and buggy. Gregg
was tie son of an able Irish divine and af-
ter graduation at Dublin University came
to this country. He entered the service OF
General Sheridan as his private secretary.
and was afterward a clerk in the War De-
partment. He was a man of pleasing ad-
dress and considerable ability. Every op-
portunity was given him, out he would not
reform. He finally drifted west and his ar
rest finishes 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 temperance soci-
m~issioners seek by more or less judicious
methods to limit the trade. At present the
consent of a majority of the property hold
ers of the block on which the saloon is sit
hdlcu, Al ic4hlltd IN JtaA ~ II
sioners announced that no license would be
granted to women. This was so clearly
unconstitutional that it has been abandon
ed.
Among the better class of men in bust
ness and political lie, drunkenness is rath-
er on the wane. Twenty years ago no one
in Washington drank lager beer and very
few touched ale. Everything was brandy
and whisky. a few years latter came the
first beer, sold by the first class saloons al
ten cents per glass, and then only in defer
ence to a few pitied customers. With the
advent Of beer came the extended use Of
| ~claret, and it was but a step to the use OF
fsoft" summer drinks. To-day one fifth
OF the drinks served over Washington bars
to men past forty, contain no alcohol.
Many elderly men, following the example
of Mr.. Couldock, the seYenty-five year old
actor, have turned to sparkling apple cider
as their only beverage.
The six bottle men Of Sileridan's time are
but memories, aud their transatlantic i'm
itators are with them. Think of Senator
Tom Seymour, and, il your please, Presi-
dent Franklin Pierce. Remember also the
tremendous drinking of George 5. Prentice
and Senator MacDougal. The latter gen.
tleman is said to have never willingly drawn
a sober breath in twenty-five years. Pub
lie opinion has undergone a mighty change.
These men would hardly be leaders to-day,
The time when the political arena was il
the bar-room, has practically passed away,
and a more decorous, even fit 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 states, outside
Of party grounds, it'll satisfaction. One
effect Of the admission will be to secure
more liberal appropriations for that part
known as the .'Far West" Their repre-
sentation in Congress will materially lesser
the power Of Wall Street as against thu
producers of the West, including the miner
Of silver, lead and the baser metals. oo als'
the influence of New England manufact
urers in so far as it may clash with the de
sires Of the West, will be neutralized. Tit
states west of the Mississippi will demand
equal privileges with their Eastern neigh
bors, and will be in position to enforce thei
demands. If they begin by debating VIII
shall be speaker, their success will be a
thorough it will be sudden. WESTON.
Uf.yus as a. the GafrpAlIe fAnureSS 81.