Connecticut western news., 1893-05-18
THE MODERN SALOON.
REV. THOMAS DIXON CONTINUES HIS SERMONS ON THE GATES OF HELL.

SERMONS ON THE GATES OF HELL. He Maintains That Very Few Saloons Ob-
 ItscH Is Organized LawIessness-The
 Vices of Civilization.
 NEW YORK, May 14.-Rev. Thomas Dixon, Jr., delivered today the fourth sermon of the series on the "Gates of He'll In Modern Babylon" The subject was ''The Saloon In the City" The text chosen was from Habakkuk ii, 15, Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink"
 The problem of the saloon is so old and yet ever new. It is scarcely possi- ble to treat it thoroughly without re- beating what one has said again and again. And yet it is subject upon which repetition is needed. Truths are never learned until they are dinned into the ears of the minimizing multitude. They must be repeated thousand times before they are even recognized. Orig inality is not much of force in reform work. The secret of success is, after all, repetition. The curse of drink seems to be commensurate with the progress of the pressure of life. In our advancing civilization the more intense our life becomes the more deadly be- come the power of the saloon and the ravages of intemperance. The modern city has brought men into closer rela- tions than ever before in the history of the world. It has quickened our rate of living. Methuselah lived in years, but L "A l. with the modern man. Everything tends to stimulate and to intensity life in the city, even to the point of insanity, in the reaction of nerves, and the result is the debauchery of drink.
 The paragrapher was wiser than he dreamed when he recently made an other joke on the Indian and his prog ress. A leading citizen of the village had returned from trip to the great west and asked by one of the company, "Did you see any signs of civilization among the IndiansY' "Why, yes," re- piled the leading citizen hopefully; mighty nigh all of them drink whisky and smoke cigarettes" The intenser the civilization of today the higher these evils rise and the greater the consequent curse.
 The use of alcohol on the nervous sys- tenn has not been understood in the past We are gaining light. Dr. N. s. Davis has called attention recently to the illu- dons that have been imposed upon the human mind by the use of alcohol in both health and disease. He has shown that by it's ansesthetic effect on the nerve cells of the brain the consciousness of the individual is lessened, and he is de- luded with the idea that he has been re- heved of the suffering-for instance, of cold or heat-when, as fact, he has not been relieved at all, but his power to perceive has been deadened So in the progress of disease it's use has the same anmethetic effect. It does not remove the exciting cause nor increase nutrition. It has proved curse in 8 thousand in- stances, even in it's use from medicinal point of view.
 The enormous extent of the drink evil Is impossible for the mind of man to grasp. It is the one deadly shadow that overspreads not simply the life of the people in the city, but in the whole na- tion. It is the one curse that touches us financially, socially, politically and mor- ally. It has concentrated its forces of late in the cities as never before. It has been shown that the city of Chicago alone consumes $40, ,0O0, ,0OO worth of beer in a single year. Pittsburg spends SIS .00O, ,000 for drink. New York spends not less than $80 ,OO0, 900 to $7O, ,000, ,O00 for beer alone. We have about 5000 licensed drinking places and about 5000 illicit es- tablshments where drink is sold with out license, and the drink establish ments swing wide their doors day and night and seven days in the week. As compared with them the church cuts an insignificant figure in the life of the peo- pie.
 On Fourteenth street there is a his toric saloon with it's outfit of evil ad- venturers and adventuresses who daily and nightly throng it. It is fitted up in magnificent style. Its chandeliers fash with beauty. It's brilliant light invites the passerby to the late hours of the night, and even in the morning. Thousands upon thousands of hurrying feet cross it's threshold daily. Its busi- ness never ceases day or night. By its side stands church, silent and grim and unlighted save on special occasions. Below Fourteenth street there are Ill churches; there are 4,065 saloons.
 The saloon ds an institution s,cings open more doors to hell than any other posUer i1a the modern city.
 BUCHANAN-HARRIS.
 First-Because the staple of it's com merce, the commodity in which it deals, h deadly poison. The principle of it's fascination over man is the principle of it's power to poison those who consume 1t. It kills man physically. It makes him the prey to every disease that may attack him in the first place. The man whose system has been broken by the power of drink is the first victim of ev- cry pestilence that af1icts the race. A young man suddenly died with pneumo- mia next door to me the other day. The and the doctor added, "A man who drinks has no chance of life in fighting pneumonia" It not only makes a man the easy prey to every disease that seizes his body, but it produces 8 disease of it. selN Medicine lne demonstrated that alcoholism is 8 t611ible physical disease, and drunkenness is physical disease. Theestablishment of the Keeley institute and its cures wrought througha physical process have demonstrated the fact of tho terrible extent of this physical evil and of it's power over the body.
 Not only does it damn the body of the man that uses it, but it blasts the life of generations unborn. It Is handed down as heritage of death from man to child. A Philadelphia surgeon recently had curious experience. A lady brought her child to his office and asked him if he could get an orange seed out of the child's throat. He found that the seed had lodged in tho windpipe and was unable to get it out. He thought that it would come out naturally, and as it would cause no inconvenience would do no harm to remain day or two. Some time afterward he was called to see the child, who was found to be sufocating. Tracheotomy alone could save the child's J-9 A.