The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1895-06-05
APPALLING.


is appalling From this point Of view the
Prohibitionists do not in the least exagger-
ate the facts. In England, for example, the
enormous proportion Of the national earn
ings expended on strong drink Is attested BY
the imposing contributions to the imperial
excheouer derived from excise duties, and 1t
is certain that by far the greater part OF the
stupendous outlay for drink represents q
consumption Of alcohol which even the de-
fender Of moderate and careful drinking
would admit to be excessive. Hundreds OF
millions Of dollars which, if invested in the
necessities Of lie, would materially promote
the well-being OF the English community,
are wasted every year upon strong drink.
The direct relation Of excessive indulgence
in alcohol to crime, and especially to crimes
of violence, is notorious fact In medical
jurisprudence. It is now about hundred
and seventy years since the pernicious habit
Of gin drinking struck root among the
lower classes of English society, and the
social and moral devastation which has been
caused by it is incalculable. The historian
place which the introduction of a
taste for gin occupies in Eng.
lish history, it was probably, If
we consider ali the consequences that have
flowed from it, the most momentous event
Of the eighteenth centurr-imcompara
more momentous than any incident in the
purely political or military annals OF Great
Britain. The medical faculty were not slow
to perceive that with the increased use OF
gin the growth Of poverty and disease Kept
pace among the poor Of the capital. The
Bishop OF Gloucester. writing In TO, attrlo-
uted to the immoderate and almost unlver-
sal drinking of Geneva the fact that there
was not only no safety in the metropolis, but
scarcely even in the country, robbery and
murder had grown 80 frequent. He declared
that the English people had become what
they never before were, cruel and lnhuman,
their very nature having been changed by
the accursed spirituous drinks, which, to the
shame Of the Government, were so easily to
be had and were consumed in such vast
quantities. The Bishop predicted that, II the
habit of immoderate drinking continued, 1t
would annihilate the race itself. 1t was we
may remind the reader, the horrible effects
of gin which he beheld everywhere around
him that furnished Hogarth with the revolt
ing details brought out in his picture OF
"Gin Lane" Fielding, the novelist, in
pamphlet disclosing the increase OF crime,
published about the middle OF the last CEN
tury, declared that gin constituted the
chief sustenance of more than one hum
dred thousand people in the British capital
alone and said that If the habit OF drunken
ness continued for twenty years longer to
increase at the same rate, there would be
few left among the lower classes to drink at
all. What was true in Fielding's time Is
true to-day. 1t is, to be sure. no longer
considered the acme of good breeding to be
cole to drink SIX bottles at sitting, as it
was hundred years ago; but the figures re-
Gently submitted to Parliament by Mr..
Goschen showed that there never was such
excessive indulgence in strong drink among
the masses Of the English people as there IS
now. Nor is the curse Of drunkenness con-
fined to the British Isles. Itproduces effects
equally widespread and calamitous in Den
mark, Norway, Sweden, Russia, the e3-
treme north Of Germany, and in some parts
of the United States. The number of places
licensed for the sale of spirituous liquors in
the city of New York alone would astound
those unfamiliar with the statistics, and 1t
isnotorious that the unlicensed sale Of drink
is carried on upon an enormous scale. The
amount of poverty, wretchedness and crime
which in the American metropolis can be
traced Immediately to drunkenness,is is almost
beyond belief. ef.-Once-a- Weak
TEMPERANCE NEWS AND NOTES.
There is no surer way to get behind the
bars than to stand too much before them.
Chicago has 5000 saloons, one for every 200
people. Chicago has a church for about
every 1000 people.
George Stevenson. inventor Of the rail.
road, for twenty-five years would not allow
liquors to be sold on the Darlington and
Stockton Railway.
John Morris, q wealthy butcher OF Mis-
souri,, who has lately diel, left S3O,OOo by
will to Mrs. Anna Brown. the leader OF the
Lathrop crusade against saloons two years
ago. He had never seen her, but admired
her pluck.
Francisco Crispi, the foremost statesman
of Italy, has just passed his seventeen olrGn,
day. He still speaks with all the fire and
force of forty years ago He drinks no wine
| or beer nor does he smoke tobacco. and lie
| abstains from all luxuries.
Ten OF the 1l5 counties Of Missouri are
| shown by the census 90 have decreased IN
population from 1850 To 1899. Or these ten
| counties eight were rum couutes. Inere
| were III the State, in 1890, thirty-sN Fro
| hibition counties, having al aggregate
population OF sos. lis, whicn was an increase
| OF 15 1l3, or 1853 per cent. upon the popu'
| latiou OF 1890 This is the way "Frohloltlon
drives away population"
The following startling statement as tc
! how ordinary beer is made is contained IN
circular issued by the so-called "Pure Beer
Association of England. Here are some Oh
| the ingredients: Sugar, black sugar, burnt
| sugar, Egytian basIaius, gelatinized rice
| bi-sulphate OF line, calcic sulphite IA .glutln
| GUS, mucous, repulsive-looking substance
made from fish, sulphurous acid, salicyile
acid, tannic acid, sulphats OF lime, salt
-four, maltopeptone."