The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-06-22
CROOKING THE ELBOW
The Prohibition and Anti-Pr1-
hibitiOn Statesmen.
HARRISON AND TEMPERANCE
Great Men Who Have Been Ruined by
the Use of LiQuOr-The Tastes Of
Reed, Ingalls, and Edmunds.

w chiNOION, June lJ.-lopeCldl COiAtS-
pondence of The HERALD. During the
past month a number of church conven-
lions have passed resolutions criticising
the nse Of wine at White House dinners.
President Harrison has been drawn over
the Goals and number of resolutions re-
ferring to the alleged charge that liquors
were sod in Vice-President Morton's fiat
have been passed criticising Mr.. Morton
and at the same time commencing Post
master General Wanamaker for his cold
water feasts. The excitement regarding
the use of spirituous liquors has pervaded
the capital and Speaker Reed has driven
beer and wines from the House restaurant.
There is
A CONGRESSIONAL TEMPERANCE SOCIETY
which has been holding its regular meet
ings during the session and there are some
members of both houses who believe
that we viii eventually have 4 prohibit
ton party which viii control the gov
ernment. Among these is Senator Wilson,
of Iowa, who told me not long ago that he
firmly believed prohibition laws would
eventually prevail throughout the United
States, and another is Senator CloquItt of
Georgia, who breaches temperance on every
occasion. Ex-Governor Dingley, of Maine,
is q prohibitionist, Philetus Sawyer be-
lleNes in total abstinence, and Henderson,
of Illinois, Kerr of Iowa. and O'Donnell,
OF Michigan, do not drink drop. Cheadle,
of Indiana, says that during his canvass
Tor Congress he was asked what he would
do when he came to Washington. He re
Piled that he would keep sober, and he says
that lie has never tasted drop of intoxi-
eating liquor. Cutcheon, of Michigan, has
never touched drop IN his life, and Kerr
OF Iowa, has been a lifelong coldwater man.
There is no doubt but that
TEMPERANCE is GROWING IN CONGRESS.
but there is still room for improvement.
Every session 4 dozen new members come
here who are not accustomed to drinking
They fall into the habit, and before their
congressional term is closed they are ruined
Tor life. One of the funniest men of the
last Congress, a man whose name was in
the papers as the great wit of the session,
was not elected to this He had before he
came to the House a splendid legal prac-
uce. be acquired drinking habits at
Washington, and he has now degenerated
though he is not yet forty, into bar-room
loafer. One of the brightest men who ever
sat in the House of Representatives was
James h. Bedford, of Colorado He was
making 200 year before he was elected
70 Congress, and when he came here
he was as bright as the silver OF
rs straight as string. He got
10 drinking and Washington ruined him
He reformed and re-reformed only to break
his good resolutions and sink lower, until
during his last days in Congress he was
almost constantly under the influence of
liquor. He was very brilliant man, and
he could make better speech drunk than
most other men could sober, and no matter
what his condition was the galleries were
always ready to listen to him. After he
left Washington he went back to Denver,
and understand he has now reformed
When | saw him year ago. ne said he was
making fortune at the law, was Prohi-
bitlonist, and that he never again intended
TO run for Congress.
saw in the House to-day white haired.
round-headed, short-bodied Judge, who
used TO represent q congressional district
Swlthin a hundred miles of Chicago. He
was highly respected, and was
ONLY MODERATE DRINKER
when he came to the House. He had a
nice family and he was thought well of
here. He could Lot resist the temptations
OF Washington and he is now drunkard
He has had several experiences with the
Providence hospital and L have seen him
on the street in such a condition that /
thought he must be having lit of delirium
tremens at the time He would shake his
with his hands and grab his leg as though
there were q snake or bee inside of mis-
pantaloons. In the House today he was
only half sober and he drifted from mem
Der TO member, receiving cold looks from
all. There is an American minister who
gets salary from Uncle Sam consider
ably higher thaD that OF a Congressman
who has been laid up d number of times at
this same Providence hospital and this
hospital IS the place TO which ali statesmen
are carried when they become so under, the
influence of liquor that they need medical
treatment. The authorities are very dis.
Greet and no one knows the names of their
patients, nor do they publish IA catalogue
of their diseases.
do not believe that there is a greater
percentage of
DRUNKENNESS AMONG THE CnNGREssNEN
and other statesmen here at Washington
than there is among any other body of men
outside OF a church synod the worlu over
The great majority OF public men drink
more or less. 1t is only the few, however.
WHO drink TO excess and as to our presi-
dents there has never been an instance OF
any one, except Andrew johnson, being
charged with taking too much whisky
while in the White House and all OF them.
with the exception of President HAYES
have been moderate drinkers. Washington
was good judge Of wine. Thomas Jeffer-
son paid II 900 for drinks during his life
IN the White House and Andrew johnson
served up Tennessee punch TO his guests.
President Arthur hau some of the finest
wines in the world on mis- White House table
while he was President. Cleveland drank
beer at his luncheon and ALWAYS
had wines at his state dinners. John
Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams,
Notwithstanding the fact that they came
from drltan New Eng land, served wines
TO their guests and Madison had good
wine cellar. Buchanan was, through his
long residence abroad, a lover of good
wines and a judge Of liquors, and it is SAID
that Frank Pierce had a mum Der of sprees
at Washington before he became presi.
dent. Andrew johnson drank whisky
straight, and when he was governor OF
Tennessee he had a covered washbowl in
the executive chamber anG il was in this
bow that he kept the jug. President Har-
rlson has always been temperate man and
no one has ever seen him at public bar
The demands OF the White House are such
that it is almost absolutely necessary to
{ furnish wines at state dinners and the
diplomsts who have been accustomed to
them from b3byhoud would make a bad
meal without them.
A great many OF our statesmen believe
that
TEE Use OF LIGHT WINES AND BEERS
tend 10 temperance. If you win take
Franco and Italy you viii find less drunk
enness there than in England. and there
are not rs many drunkards there es in the
United States. Many OF the statesmen
drink only at dinner, and not few touch
nothing except when at a high feast.
Speaker Reed once told me that LIE did NOT
approve OF mixing drinks at these state