Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1889-11-04
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Washington, Oct. %.

WASHINGTON LETTER.
ESPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE OF THE MoNIToR.]
Washington, Oct. %.
He who cares to write on q subject
so threadbare as that of drink, will
find a field of ripe promise in Wash
ington. Yesterday afternoon / was
passing one of the most exclusive res
taurants in the city, when l 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 of them-one the daughter
of United States senator, the other
nearly related, 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 exertion required
to replace it so exhausted her that
the vigorous assistance of the jehu
who drove the ramechacle was neces-
sary to place her inside. Two help
less dudes, who tried to start quick
Irritation with the young women. were
promptly snubbed, an action which
cast perhaps one ray of sunshine
across their record.
The 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 peni-
tentiary for five years as sentence for
stealing a horse and buggy. Gregg
was the son of an able Irish divine,
and after graduation at Dublin Uni
versity, came to this country. He
entered the service of General Sheri-
dan as his private secretary, and was
afterward a clerk in the war depart
ment. He was a man of pleasing
address and considerable ability.
Every opportunity was given him,
but he would not reform. He finally
drifted West, and his arrest finishes
the story. What temperance lecture
could tell more? What but the SIM
plest words are needed to tell the
story of his degradation
Against the traffic in rum bitter
war is waged by the organized tenn
perance societies, but without much
effect. The commissioners seek by
more or less judicious methods to
limit the trade. AT present, the con-
sent of a 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
women. This was so clearly uncon-
stitutional that it has been abandon
ed.
Among the better class of men in
business and political life, drunken
ness is rather on the wane. Twenty
years ago no one in Washington
drank lager beer and very few touch
ed ale. Everything was brandy and
whiskey A few years later came
the first beer, sold by the first class
saloons at ten cents glass, and then
only in Difference to few pitied GUS
toners. With the advent of beer
came the extended use of claret, and
it was but step to the use of ''soft"
summer drinks. To-day one-fifth of
the drinks served over Washington
bars TO men past forty, contain no
alcohol. Many elderly men, follow
ing the example of MI. Couldock,
the seventy-five years 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
transatlantic imitators are with
them. Think of Senator Tom Sey-
mour, and, if you please, President
Franklin Pierce. Remember also the
tremendous drinking of George S.
Prentice and Senator McDougal. The
latter gentleman is said to have never
willingly drawn a sober breath in
twenty-five years. Public opinion
has undergone weighty change.
These men would hardly be leaders
to-day. The time when the political
arena was in the bar-room has practi-
cally passed away, and a more deco
rous, even if it be, under the rose,
quite as wicked 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 adj
mission will be to secure the more
liberal appropriation for that part
known as the ssFar West" Their
in congress will mate
rally 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 manu-
facturers in SO far as it may clash
with the desires of the West, will be