The Portland daily press., 1893-03-03

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mainly and Practical Craftsmanship May
Mitigate the Evils of His Condition.
Especial Correspondence
erosion, Ia, Feb. 25.-I venture the
assertion that every police magistrate in
the country who has spark of human
ity in his breast is firmly convinced that
our present legal system Of treating
drunkenness is not only entirely inetfec-
tual as corrective, but grossly unjust
and uncharitable.
From an experience on the police court
bench of nearly seven years have wit
messed some remarkable phenomena IN
the conduct of men who have been ar
rested as criminals and arraigned for in
toxication. This observation and ex-
perience has led me to quite radically
change the views formerly held on the
subject of drunkenness and it's proper
treatment
I once entertained the opinion that
drunkness was a voluntary and vicious
habit, and so repulsive in the individual
that very severe punish1nents and re-
stsictive penalties should be melted out
in strong doses to the offender 1t
seemed to me that the man who, from a
mere wanton desire to indulge his gross
appetites, deliberately became drunken
and an offensive object to his fellows
was not only undeserving of the much
mistaken sympathy which his neighbors
bestowed upon him, but rather deserved
the infection Of punishment severe
enough to forever deter him from rope
tition of the offense.
am not familiar with the statutes Of
all the states and the police ordinances
of the different cities regarding drunk
enness, but I presume they are much
like the Iowa statutes and the ordinances
of the Iowa towns. The Iowa statute
prescribes minimum fine of $40 or
maximum term of imprisonment of 80
days, at the discretion of the court. If
the court administers the fine, and the
offender is unable to pay and is commit
ted in default of payment, he is impris-
oned three days, the statute computing
the value of one day at 1888.
There is one singular feature of the
Iowa statute. It provides that if the ac-
cused will turn informer and prosecute
the person who sold him the liquor ille-
gally he can in that manner escape the
penalty for his ofense. Although have
offered hundreds of men arraigned for
intoxication this opportunity to avoid
the penalty, in but three instances have
the accused filed the complaints, and
afterward they refused to continue the
further prosecution, preferring to take
the punishment. have noticed another
trait common to all men arraigned for
intoxication. They seldom reproach the
liquor seller for his instrumentality in
producing their unfortunate condition.
The average man who comes into the po-
lice court shoulders the entire RESPONSE
bility upon himself.
There are three Glasses of men ar
raigned in the police court for intoxica-
tion-the periodical spree men, the habit
ual drunkards and the occasional drink
ers. The latter almost by accident gets
into the lookup while indulging in a con-
vivial bout with associates. This fellow
very seldom appears twice in the police
court. Indeed he is generally some well
to do young man, whose humiliation is
SO complete that he does not appear in
person, but hands over the amount of
his fine to the good natured policeman,
who enters for him plea Of guilty I'M
der an assumed name.
The man who goes on a periodical
spree is one of the greatest sufferers.
After long debauch. in which he be-
comes unruly and ungovernable, the po-
lice, after exhausting every means to get
him home, are compelled to ta@7 him to
the station. When arraigned in court
the next morning, he is physically and
mentally sick, and protests that he will
reform if the court will extend elem
ency. In many of these cases the police
judge is sorely perplexed to know what
to do, especially on the first arraignment
of the offender, when he is unacquainted
with his character and habits. The low
est fine is generally given in this case,
and the prisoner admonished that repe-
tition of the offense will result in an in
creased and much more severe penalty.
It isn't great while before this man
again appears in court, and often his
friends quietly request the court to re-
strain him by Imprisonment for week
or two in the hope that he will have am
pie time to sober up and become repent
ant. I can recall several cases where
prisoners themselves have asked to be
sent to jail to protect themselves from
the indulgence Of their terrible appetites
for liquor, but such cases are rare. Very
few men will voluntarily go to jail, and
there are few men, no matter how de-
graded, that do not feel the disgrace of
a Jail sentence.
The habitual drunkard has a somewhat
different experience in the police court.
He is repeatedly arrested, repeatedly
fined and repeatedly imprisoned.
There is not a more pitiful OF more re-
pulsive sight than a morning in the po-
lice court, with its grist of ''plain
drunks," to be facetiously commented
upon by the evening newspapers. Poor
fellows, with bloodshot eyes and aching
heads and throbbing temples, with
parched Threats and burning stomachs! l