Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1892-06-16
HOWE COMFORTS for oRUNKARDs
In This u strong Hint for Temperance
Enrkers % Act Lpnn.

In THIS - u fNtTDuB I'M 4vA
workers 10 Act Upan.
[ thin. that the chronic drinking habit
among the poor is TO be att bnted to
Iaziness. illeness and to very large ex-
tent TO tile absence Of the social COM
forts and agreeable surroundings which
are enjoyed by persons in better circuln-
stances. Our tenement hoase system Is
unquestionably responsible for great
deal of drunkenness, brt this IS not 70
be attributed 10 the fact that the occu-
pants Of these homes are poor. Nor do
think that yon can draw sharp line
and say, with some modern philosophers,
that poverty is the cause Of drink, or
vice versa. Speaking generally. should
saw that drink was the cause Of poverty.
Want Of comfortable surroundings
and unhap.,iness ii domestic lie Is one
Of the prolific canses Of overindulgence.
Among women ii is caused very largel.
by laziness. \ certain class of the &C.
male sex are fall Of vanity ard the de-
sire to mike display. and that kind %
life leads them into all knfls Of bad
company and czcesses. which invariably
ends in their becoming inebriates.
At the New York Tonbs police court
there are brought every year from 1880
TO 20 900 women who have been arrest
ed for disorderly conduel. which, IL
most cases. includes diun1aunsss. From
10000 to 1900 men appear for the same
cause. As rule, the women who are
arrested are women Of III repute. There
are arrests for disorderly conduct. how
ever, which do not involve intOxication:
but in the great proportion Of arrests IN
toxication is included in the charge be
cause the parties accused Of disorderly
conduct are also intoxicated
In REGARD o. hercdisy as being the
cause 81 meb-ie;y my judicial expe-
rience would not lead me 70 say any
thing for o. against the theory. | have
had a great many cases where Ii was
shown that the habit was not hereditary;
and have had great many cases
where the children have followed the
parents IN habits Of crime or inebnety.
Ia considering this subject it should
be remembered that the liquor saloon or
the beer saloon i the poor mans club.
It is largely due TO their lack of social
opportunities that such people patronize
those places. Take my own case, for
instance. representing the social condi-
ton of large number of my fellow cit
liens. have a comfortable home 10
which can come after the work Of tie
day can enjoy the society Of my
family, and can retire to my library
and quietly read my newspaper or
book while | am smoking a cigar.
Here again is a workingman living IN
the fourth story of tenement house
He has a wife and half dozen children
huddled into one sitting room. Hecoines
home from his days work and aiiIls.
maybe. that his wife has been washing:
possibly she is drunk, having made
social call upon some of her neighbors
and INDUCED in too much beer. The
man finds no attraction at home ANA
wants to go out Even if his room is
pleasant and his wife is sober, yet there
are dozen other families in the house
that are making such racket-hghting
quarreling and swearing-that he wants
10 leave the place. Naturally he goes
into liquor store. where there is plenty
of light and warmth, where he smokes
his pipe and is led to take one or more
drinks
never saw any one and never heard
of any one who took to the use Of liquor.
in the first instance from pleasure,
Drinking is an acquired habit The tes-
timony is universal that the taste of
iquor is at first distasteful. the same as
tobacco.
What is the remedy for intoxication:
Is question that has puzzled the wisest
minds for centuries: and it is very diti-
cult, in my judgment. TO devise any
scheme which will cure the evil. | think
everything that can ought to be done to
furnish rational enjoyment for the peo-
pie, particularly where the population is
crowded.
To open the Metropolitan museum on
Sundays would, I think, be a great
stimulus in checking the indiscriminate
use of liquor ON that day. People can
not and will not go to church all the
time, particularly those who have been
working during the week. and are not
inclined TO spend their Sundays in that
way. They deserve and earn the title to
recreation on that day; and. in my
every opportunity ought to
be placed in their power to enable them
to have recreation and rational enjoy
ment. If you want to keep people ont
of the saloon on Sunday you must give
them some other place to go to.-Police
Justice James I. kilbreth. of New York.
in IndanaDdapt