Blue-grass blade., 1891-12-19
DON'T BEGIN.
This Should BE the True Rule for the Drink
Habit.

This Should BE the True Rule for the Drink
Habit.
A writer in the Philadelphia Press, in
discussing the drink habit. dwells very
strongly upon the point that If man
wants to stop drinking the only way is
to stop" He thinks the trouble is that
the average drinkers are seeking soma
remedy in medicine which will relieve
them of the necessity of exercising self
control over their appetites. and care
and vigilance for their further self-pro-
lection. He gives the following inter-
esting personal "reminiscences in sup
port of his theory that the only way to
stop is to stop.
There are many cases in the city of
men who had been convivial at one
time. but who by sheer force of will
overcame the habit. Not long ago the
Press told the story of Bourl1e Cock
rams mastery ten years ago OF this
habit. aud he has been a teetotaller
ever since. Senator John p. Jones,
who at one time had the western habit.
although he never was drunkard, a
few years ago shut off short, and has
overcome his appetite completely. Ex-
Attorney-GeneralG Garland in his early
days did as they do in the west and
southwest, and twenty years ago made
up his mind to stop it. Years ago Sem
ator Frye INDUCED in an occasional
glass until he determined that such
habit was ruin, and then he stopped it,
and ex-senator John P. Stockton, of
New Jersey, has been a total abstainer
for more than a quarter of century,
and has the firm belief that any man
who could succeed IN business or his
profession needs no other medicine
than mental determination to break off
the habit"
There is a great deal of truth in the
saying of this correspondent. Put into
other words, it is simply that if a man
desires to stop drinking, and is willing
to exercise the virtues of self-denial
and self-control. he can accomplish it
without aid from anybody else. There
are. however, grave objection to ac-
cepting this dictum as the only posi-
Bile solution of the drink problem. 1t
excludes from the calculation two very
essential facts: First. that of those who
have acquired the drink habit, only a
portion have sufficient moral strength
to abstain entirely; and We may a Id
thereto the comment that these form
by far the larger portion of habitual
drinkers. Second. it excludes from con-
sideration entirely the formation of the
drink habit.
We may take it as a truisn that no
-
the fixed resolve that ne will become a
drunkard. On the contrary, we pre-
sumo that there is no such person but
determines that he will not become
one. He relies on his own ability to
stop whenever he chooses, unmindful
of the fact, proved in tens of thousands
of instances that drinking creates a
morbid condition of the physical sys-
tenn which demands more of the same
stimulus, and thus habit is insensibly
fastened upon him which it takes very
strong will power to break. Persons
who do not possess this yield them
selves. after more or less of a struggle,
and 60 steadily on the downward road.
becoming confirmed sots-
The question now arises, what is 10 be
done with this far more numerous class
who do not possess the power to alb
stain from the use of intoxicants?
They may wish to stop, but they can
not stop. 1t would certainly seem
that it would be better for the entire
community that the opportunity should
be taken away from allowing men to
begin the drink habit. 1t would stop
all its evils of the drink habit by pre-.
venting its beginnings. There would
then be no need of any effort TO cure
men of drunkenness: there would lie
no drunkards, because men would have
10 opportunity of entering upon this
vice. Instead of saying, THE way to
stop drinking is to stop" it is better to
say that the way to deliver humanity
from the evils of the drink habit is to
abolish rum itself-through prohibition
to stop the manufacture and sale, and
thus pulyerize the rum power.-Toledo
RIa~-
Inc ii;.Sis Ut Caaracie
Health Is the basis of character as Of
fortune. There is physiology of NOR.
ality. Some of the grosscst vices ara
largely fed from an impure, diseased
and enfeeblcd physique. Drunken.
ness, especially among the poor, is, 10
large extent, the craving for stimu-
lation that grows out OF their lifted,
ill-housed, ill-elothed and overworked,
unsunned, sewer-poisoned condition.
Lust is intensified and inflamed by the
tainted blood and the overtaXed ner-
vous system. Purity of mind grows
naturally ont of purity of body. Ply
s.ologists understand these facts far
better than ethicists. Then, too, lesser
vices are, in their measure. equally
grounded in abnormal physical condi-
tions. Faults of temper, irritability.
sullenncs> and anger are intimately
connected with low health, the under
vitalizcd state that charactcrizes the
city poor. Rev. Eeber Newton