The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-11-16
TIE MAN AND THE MAN TRAP.


irtis very old one; 1t calls saloon a
tsaan trap" and calls upon society TO
abolish the ''nan trap"
As matter Of fact, q saloon is no more
. imam trap" on the ground that the
spectacle OF its bottles invites a man to
pEl drunk, than a brokers' or jewelers.
window is a imam trap" because the
sight of his gold or his diamonds invites .
necessitous or furciferous fellow TO steal.
A common crime in the great cities is
! The smashing of q jewelers. show window
and the snatching of his diamonds bv
thief Suppose the thief when captured
should say. IF that jewelers. display win
6ow had not tempted me wouldn't have
turned thief" This answer would be pro-
na1nced the extreme Of immoral impu-
denee, bat il is quite as good logic as the
Plea that 'if it wasn't for the saloon I
weuld not get drunk" Oh. yes. you
would. 1t is your willingness to drink
that starts and supports the saloon. Your
lax Of self-restraInt makes you drunk
aui just as the thieFs lack of self-re-
straint made him a thief The object
OF effective temperance attack is not
the man trap" but the man. The shortes.
road to abolishing the saloon is to do as
John Wesley did. address yourself to the
man; persuade him to reform. and you
have abolished the saloon. If he will not
reform you had better abolish the man,
for until the drinker decides not to drink
the dram shop viii never be abolished.
Il is easy for prohibition to substitute
Tor open bars the worse evil Of "drug
stores" or secret bars. or the solitary vice
that sucks alcohol from the private bottle
or jug in the cupboard; but this is only
replacing regulation with its revenue from
the liquor tax BY the sale of rum that is
freer and fouler just in proportion as it il
forced to become secret. The prohibition
OF the sale OF alcoholic stimulants as
a beverage by all men because some
men get drunk IL about as absurd as it
would be TO prohibit man from planting
grape vine for its grapes or hop vine for
its hops because grapes can be made into
wine and hops into beer.
Society can hold men responsible for the
consequences of their evil habits In shane
of outrages on its peace and order; il can
teach them wise methods Of life and diet,
but society can not by law stamp out
suicide by rum, rope, dagger. water, prus-
sic acid or pistol; it can teach the best
way; 1t can punish those who walk the
worst way. but it can not subject the wise
and decent to disabilities for the acts of the
unwise and indecent. Society can punish
a man for attempting suicide; it might
as justly, We think, restrain incorrigible
druakards of their liberty as il does the
ncurable insane. but it cannot indct. try
and sentence to exile all the instruments
of self-destruction: it can punish man
for the outrages on public peace and safety
he may commit when intoxicated, but it
cannot spill every other mans glass be-
cause he has a drunken neighbor any more
than Ii can expect landlord to limit his
bill of fare to the diet of a single dyspep-
tic guest That dyspeptic guest must
practice self-restraint or suffer the conse-
quences; he cannot expect the rest of the
company TO be content with the diet OF
dyspeptic lest the dyspeptic be led into
temptation, and eat something that will
make him feel sorry.
Society can perhaps indirectly by the
education of moral sausion persuade the
sober TO make an important personal sac
ritlce for the sake of example to the fool
ish and self-induigent, but society cannot
hope under law to club mankind into
any such fundamental concession and
surrender. Sixty-three millions of peo-
pie will never be forced into total alb
stnence under law or rooered by statute,
even IL We assume that 60oOo persons
annually Gle prematureiy because OF in
temperance. You might as we'll expect
The world to stop money-getting because
the love of money is the root of ali evil
IN many minds. and breeds q vast crowd
Of criminals; men guilty OF breach of
trust. forgery embezzlement larceny,
burglary. highway robbery, swindling;
all forms OF theft, and even murder; as
vast multitude as rum plants in the
penitentiaries and dishonest graves
Puolicsentimentd eplores and denounces
intemperance. but does not favor prohibit
ton. which Is about ss fit for its intent as
a colander for q ire bucket or hoop skirt
for macintosh. Public teachers should
teach total abstinence a, the highest
prudence for the greatest number. and
the incorporate use Of alcohol should be
treated by society as sn odious offerse,
excluding those guilty of il from decent
company and narrowing their orportuni.
ties for respectable and responsible COM
naercisl or professional employment. Make
Il as intolerable an olfense against social
deeency TO be drunken as il is TO be- liar.
r ioaier, a petty swindler or sponge;
make intempersnce bar TO employment
snd advancement; teach the young the
effects of alcoholic beverages on health,
morals and crime; multiply the influences
nj education that teud TO give Us better
men and women. who stand for the only
real reiormstorv power In the nation.
Turn your batteries on the growing gem
grafton If men instead of the man traps.
Men and women who can't be persuaded
IN i,ehays dseen6fH xatii ell she man traps