The Progress., 1892-06-25
The Temperance Cause.
HOME COMFORTS FOR DFUNKARD3.
IN This l. n Stron: E'int Cor Temperance
Workers to act Upon.

Workers to Act Upon.
think that the chronic drinking lanit
among the poor l. - De attributed to
lazincss, idlcncss and 10 q very large cx-
tent to the absence Of the social COM
forts aud agreeable surroundings which
arc enjoyed By persons in bottCr ci:cuEl-
stances. Our tenement house system i
Internationally responsible for q great
deal Of drunkenness. Int this Is not 90
Lc attributed 20 the fact that the occu-
pants of these homes are poor. Nor GO
think that yOu can draw IL sharp line
and say. with some modern philosophers,
that poverty is the cause OF drink, or
vice versa. SucHlling generally should
say that drink was the cause of poverty.
Want &C comfortable surroundings
and unhalliucsj in domestic life is one
Of the prolific causes Of ovcrinddlrencc.
Among women it is caused very largely
by laziness. y certain class Of The fe-
male sex are full Of vanity and The do
sire to make display, and that hind Of
life leads ,hcm iHto All kinds of bad
company and czcesscs, which invariably
end, in tho becoming incbriatcs.
At the New York TCmLs police court
there are brought every year from 5000
to 1909 women who have been arrest
ed for Gisordcrly conduct, which, in
most cases. includes drunkenness. From
1900 20 4j.CJGlacH appear for The Same
cause. As rule, the women VINO are
arrested are women Of III reputc. There
are arrests for disorlcrly conduct, how
ever, which 90 not involve intoxiCation;
but in the great proportion 81 arrests i'll
toEicGtion l. included in the charge. he
caase the parties accused OF disorderly
conduct aye also intoxicated.
In regard TO hcredity as being the
cause Of iUcbricty my Judicial cype-
rieuce would not lead ne to say any
thing Tor or against Inc theory. IL@va
had great many cases where it WAS
| shown that the habit was not hereditary;
and have had great many cases
where the children have followed tie
parents IN habits Of crime or inobriety.
In considering this subject it should
be remembered that the liquor saloon or
the beer saloon is the poor mans club.
It is largely due to their lack Of social
opportunities that such people patronze
those places. Take my own case, for
instance, representing the social condi-
ton of u large number of my fellow cit
liens. have a comfortable home to
which l can come after the work Of thc
day. / can enjoy the society of my
family. and can retire to my library
and quietly read Iay newspaper or a
| bool; while asn smoking n cigar.
Here again is Il nottingham living in
the fourth story Of a tenement house.
he has Il wife and half dozen children
! huddled iato one sitting room. he comes
home from his days work and finds.
maybe. that his wife has iecn washing:
possibly she is drunk, having made a
social call upon some of her neighbor5
and INDUCED III too much beer. The
! man finds no attraction at home and
wants TO 20 out. Even If his room is
| pleasant and lis wife Is sober, yet there
are q dozen other families in the house
that are making such.a racket-figh,;IE,
quarreline and swearing-that he wants
to 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 cf liquor,
/ in the first instance, from pleasure.
Drinking is an acquired habit. The tes-
timony is universal that the taste Of
hcuor is at first distasteful, the same as
| tobacco.
What Is the remedy for iMtoxication:
/ is n question that has puzzled the wiscst
minds fo- centuries; and it is very diff
cult. in my judgment, to devise any
/ scheme which viii cure the evil. | think
everything that can ought to be done to
furnish rational enjoyment for the peo-
pie. particularly where thepopulation is
! crowded.
To open the Metropolitan museum on
Sundays would, think. be a great
stimulus in checking fhe indiscriminato
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
| I 4 u,