The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1889-08-15
Should Drunkenness BE Punished ?

SHOulu DTHllkeHHeSS Dt uulSHGu9
The free and exhaustive discussion
ol the evils OF drunkenness during the
last few years has developed a search
ing inquiry into the question OF treat
ing drunkenness as n crime against
society. Most of the agitation for pub
lie sobriety has been directed against
the keepers Of hotels and saloons as ii
they were the sole criminals, while the
drunkard who wilfully brutalizes him
self has been treated as the innocent
victim of the rum-seller. Now, the
question Of sternly furnishing drunk
enness as n crime is very generally
discussed, and with a strong tendency
of public sentiment to demand the rec
ognition Of drunkenness as a crime for
which the drunkard is responsible, and
punish him with such severity as
would be likely to repress this very
common vice.
1t is simply the sickliest sentimen-
tality to treat the drunkard as the
helpless victim of the rum'seller. He
is tempted, of course, by the gilded sa-
loon and by social customs to cultivate
and crafty his appetite for intoxicat-
ing drinks but who that commits
crime is not tempted ? Pride, vanity,
want and passion tempt the world to
sin but the merchant is not censured
for his richly laden temple Of com
merco that tempts the prohigato to
proverty and often to crime the Jew
eler is not censured whose glittering
gems tempt the vain to extravaganza
and the crimes which so often follow ;
the broker is not censued when his
means and Offices tempt the speculator
to bankruptcy and often to forgery or
fraud the banker is not censured
when his open safes Of gold and abun-
dance Of money on every side tempt
the cashier to gambling and theit.
In all other channels OF crime the
guilty party is held and punished
as the criminal but the drunkard,
who has less excuse for his crime than
most other offenders, is treated by SEN
timental reformers as the innocent
victim of the rum-seller, and those
whom the law authorizes to sell liq-
uors, even if entirely law.abiding, are
denounced as the authors of the new
common crime of drunkenness.
Drunkenness is crime against both
the moral and the civil law, and it is
among the least excusable of crimes
Every man who makes himself {
drunkard does it in the face OF the full
est knowledge of his sole responsible
ity for his double ofl'ense against him
self and against society. There is no
a hopeless vagrant drunkard in tn,
land who did not depart from the patti
of sobriety down the thorny way o
dissipation with his eyes open and hi
senses admonishing him at every stel
OF his peril. All the safeguards tha
the affection of home and the respec
of friends could throw about him wer
exhausted to make him desist from tn
crime that brutalized him in his bes
, days and has now lefthim little Of tn
semblance of the manhood give
him by his Creator. These degrade
wretches merit sincere pity for thei
crimes against themselves, against q
lection, against respect and against 81
. ciety but they are mona the less Grin
inals than are the equally perverte
and debauched burglar or highwa,
man, and the law very Justly permit
no plea of drunkenness in mitigatio
of serious crimes.
,, 1t is time to halt the idiotic sent
mentality that treats the drunl
ard as the helpless victim OF the run
seller. The rum-seller has his respons
n bility, both in law and in morals, lb1
it does not in any degree lessen the +
}. sponsibility Of the drunkard for Il
f crime OF brutaIizing himself and a
- sailing the good order and safety OF S
ciety and there should be stern al
certain punishment for the crime
N drunkenness. The state of MINES
ta has already clearly defined Il
crime of drunkenness by statute wi
T. severe penalties for every violation
sobriety as violation of the law, al
the sooner that like laws are enact
in allthe states of the Union, the soon
will the most practical and the mC
just methods be adopted to suppr,
one of our commonest and most {
mOralizing crimes.-Phila. Times.