The Delta independent., 1889-06-18


uon. They have been led to adopt tho
reasoning of those who maintain that
drunkenness has become vice of tho
state, folt not by q single class of :he
people, but by the whole. and that
therefore the state may rightly inter-
fore with peoples drinking customs.
II this imputation of individual vices
to the entire body of the community
were we'll founded, the failure of the
radical means of cure to obtain, after
an active and able canvass, a vote OF
more than $4,000 out of total vote of
$50, 900, might well be disheartening to
the friends of temperance and good or
der. But is it true that tho vice of ex-
cessive drinking has become SO much
more general nowadays than in the past
as to warrant the consideration Of it as
a general vice, under which circum-
stance only would it be justifiable to
attempt the suppression of the drink
ing of liquor as a beveragep
1t is perfectly evident to any student
of our own time and of past genera
tions that this is not the case. On the
contrary, any one who remembers the
drinking habits of thirty or forty years
ago.. or any one who has studied the
record of social customs in New Eng
land since the settlement of the coun-
try, must be aware that u steady and
immense gain in the direction OF tenn
perance has been made, which has ex-
tended to all classes of society except
possibly to the very most unfortunate.
The drinking customs of the past gen.
Grafton are well known. Scenes ut the
tables of the wealthy and cultivated
were tolerated, and in fact expected,
w .1n nty,,n h1,, ic-'
grace respectable people. The clergy
man had his pitcher OF rum on the pull
pit, with which to moisten his lips rs
he discoursed upon the moral virtues.
There are still eXtant bills for quanti-
titles of Intoxicating liquor, used ut
'raisings' of church buildings, and
paid for by the parish, Bhich
show an astonishing consumption
OF intoxicants and an absolute
federation OF their use. The pail of
rum stood upon the counter OF the
country store, and customers helped
themselves with a dipper. The re-
suits of all this were what were to be
expected. In the parish records OF
deuths, n hundred years ago, the words
alcoholism" or 'drinl1'' placed oppo-
site certain names as the cause OF death,
figure with startling frequency. 1t was
not merely the case in this country.
The drinking habit had been brought
to the country from Great Britain. In
1870 Sir Mathew Hale, whose situation
and experience fully qualified him to
judge, estimated the proportion of
crime caused by drunkenness at so per
cent, and few venture to put it higher
than 75 per cent
The fact is that the general commu-
nifty has advanced in n most marked
degree in point OF temperance. The
change has been SO radical that it has
entered into the life and habits OF the
people; and it has been brought about,
not by prohibitory enactments, but by
the influence of individual opinion and
the growth of individual conscience.
At the same time we have become in
tensely aware of the abuses OF alco-
hol. 1t is the ago OF statistics, and OF
n minute consciousness Of social evils
We are concerned. and very properly,
about symptoms which gave our ances-
tors no. uneasiness ut all No ono
with trace of public spirit would
deny the evils OF alcoholism which
face lis on every hand, but it is simply
question Of the most effective means
of meeting them. While tho general
community has grown in temperance.
certain social influences, such as in
dustrial congestion, overcrowding in
wretched tenement quarters, and the
wide separation OF tho rich from the
poor, have driven thousands into in
temperance, and stimulated the growth
OF that mischievous institution, the
low rumshop. 1t is emphatically the
duty OF society to grapple with this
evil; and yesterdays result in this
state, by clearing tho field for some
time TO como OF an impracticable
remedy, will, we arc convinced. prove
rather an aid than n hindranco to re-
form.-Boston Transcript.