The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-11-01
SEATTLE. SUNDAY. nor. 4.
FRANCIS MUEpHY.s METHODS.

perance and he deserves q Iuii mouse, iOr
Mr. Murphy's methods Of dealing with the
public discussion Of the evil Of the drink
habit is instinct with the spirit of moral
.uasion and purest philanthropic appeal.
Mr.. Murphy does not preach the shallow
doctrine that men will never be sober or
chas.e until the saloon and the brothel
ara legally forced to go, but he argues and
pleads for that self-restraint whose prac-
tiee is the only thing that can surely
make the world of saloons and brothels
deserted village.
The evil Of intemperance cannot be
abated by the use of clubs. 1t is disease
of the very bone as well rs blood OF the
races of Northern Europe and the United
States. The Anglo-Saxon. the Scandina-
Wan, the North German. the Russian have
always been the hard drinking races Of the
world The Latin races who inhabit the
southern parts of Europe are not superior
morally 10 the Northern races, but the
drink habit is not their peculiar vice; they
are more prone to the Oriental vice Of gross
RIGHTEOUSNESS. Mr.. Murphy does not at
tempt to deal with vice which has for GEN.
turtles corrupted and crippled the vigorous
health of society from top to bottom as if
ii was only superficial streak of dirt that
could be spoDged off its cheek with little
effort.
Alcoholism is as old as the race. The
Hebrew Bible, the Greek comedies of
Aristophanes, the Latin works Of Juvenal
and Martial are full of satire and invective
directed against the drunkard, and MIR.
Murphy approaches his subject with that
dignity of philosophic and philanthropic
treatment that ought to mark the dis
cussion Of great evil that has always
been the despair of the worlds humane
thinkers and teachers in all times and
chimes. The Incorporate are found at the
top and bottom of society; the idle, pur-
poseless rich and the abject, hopeless poor
contribute most 10 the ranks of drunkards.
The idle. the unhappy. the unhealthy
minded drink whether they are rich or
poor, learned or iliterate. Probably
few men of intelligence enough to
lift them above playing animal
for the mere sake Of transient
animal satisfaction persist in the drinking
habit after the careless hours of youth are
over solely because they love liquor, or be-
cause what was once only impulsive and
initiative conviviality has become the i'm
movable letters of the drink habit.
Few men outside Of persons of incurably,
because constitutionally weak minds and
bodies from birth, drink chiefly from
purely piegish passion for guzzling rum
and the animal relish for the fiddle In
broad way it is safe 20 say that busy
men seldom drink Unexpectedly. while
idle men are prone to intemperance, be-
cause they are really one class of unhappy
men, since idleness 10 any but the most alb
iect animal man is always q stat1 of I'M
rest. The busy man who becomes broken;
the hopeless paUper at the bottom of So
ciety; the idle, purpose!ess prince at the
top. all really stand for various phases Of
pain, unrest, disappointment, discomfort
nnd despair. and the drift of such men is
toward drink. The impulse is akin to the
feeling % hich prompts a man in pain TO
accept noiyues. sedatives, soporifcs and
nn9sthetlcs # all sorts; humanity hates
pain and seeks 20 escape IT, even Tor a few
hours, aid mental OF mora! pain is weakly
coaf'd "F the GnhA hAa't- IL men were
merely animals they would not drink any
more than animals, but because a man IS
more sensitive creature. since he has q
mind snd soul 20 suffer pain, he drifts
from dependency easily toward drink.
A man commits suicide, an animal never;
and the nearer man is to a savage AMI
mai the less likely he Is 10 commit suicide.
or g. become insane. When hope is but
dim star the downcast man steers the bark
Of his life either neriIgently or sometimes
with desperate reck,cssness straight for
the rocks. Purely animal drinkers there
are among mankind. but the vast mass Of
in'emperance, outside Of the purposeless,
idle, is'iess rich, and the ahject, hope
les7y wretehei poor, IS made up Of the
worlds crippled, wounded or beaten
.waose yoG,a bore no aower on is branches,
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