Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1889-06-21
The Growth OF Temperance.


There are, beyond doubt, thousands
OF sincere people, OF the best in the
commonwealth, who are to-day deeply
discouraged by the result OF the cleo
ton on the prohibitory amendment.
The cultivation of statistics showing
the extent of the abuse of alcohol and
the proportion of crime which is due to
il has led very many TO impute intem-
perance TO the whole body of the ma
ton. They have been led to adopt the
reasoning Of those who maintain that
drunkenness has become u vice of the
state. felt not by u single class of the
people, but by the whole, and that
therefore the state may rightly inter-
fere with peoples drinking customs.
Ii this imputation of individual vices
t0 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, vote OF
more than 80, 900 ont Of total vote of
$50, 600 might well be dishearteuing to
the friends OF temperance and good or
der. But is il true that the vice of ex-
cessive drinking has become so much
more general nowadays than in the past
as to warrant the consideration of it as
general vice, under which circum-
stance only would it be justfiable "
attempt the suppression of the drink
ing of liquor as beverage?
1t is perfectly evident to any student
Of our own time and of past genera
tons 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 Il 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 at the
tables Of the wealthy and cultivated
were tolerated. and in fact expected,
which would now irreclaimably dis
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 at
paid for by the parish, which
show an astonishing consumption
| of intoxicants and an absolute
liberation 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
de tbs a hundred years ago, the words
alcoholism or drink 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 80 per
cent, and few venture to put it higher
than - per cent
The fact is that tho general commu-
nifty has advanced in n most markOd
I degree in point Of temperance. The
change has been SO radical that it has
entered into the life and habits of the
/ people; and il 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 age 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 at all No one
with a trace of public spirit would
/ deny the evils OF alcoholism which
face us on every hand, but it is simply
n question Of the most effective means
/ OF meeting them. While .he general
community has grown in temperance,
certain social influences, such as in
| dustrial congestion, overcrowding in
wretched tenement quarters and the
wide separation of the rich from the
! poor, have driven thousands into in
temperance. and stimulated the growth
of that mischievous institution. the
low rumshop. II is emphatically the
duty of society to grapple with this
evil; and yesterdays result in this
state, by clearing the field for some
! time TO come of an impracticable
remedy. will. we are convinced. prove
rather an aid than II hindrance TO re-
form. Boston Tran script.