The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-03-11
STATE AIDfOR DRUNKARDS
The Economical Method Of Handling
the Drink Problem.
MERITS OF THE KELLEY CURE
Statistics Show That es Per Cent. OF
Those Who Take 1t Remain Cured.
Why Not Assist Poor Iuebriates
to Recover Frcedom2
Written for The Tribune.

The evidence of oft repeated failures
in the old method of establishing total
abstinence in the lives OF men who were
victims of the drink habit impressed
the famous Dr. Leslie Il. keeley OF the
inadequate power of thousands or men
to extricate themselves out OF the terri
BILE maelstrom of drink IN whicn tney
unfortunately had been caught. DIR.
Keeley's cure as a scientific discovery
is conceded to be by prominent physi-
clans and teachers in medical colleges
A. handmade for the amelioratiOn and
restoration of the drunkard from q ca
reer of shame, whether 1t be brought on
BY Intermittent or continuous debauch-
cry, to life of hope. health and
strengthen the happy restoration OF
manly confidence and self respect.
Many eminent sociolOgists admit that
inebriety is more prevalent today than
ut any preceding time. To suppress
this mighty evil that spreads dishonor.
dismay and destruction everywhere the
Christian philanthropic thought and
endeavor Of the century have been IN
adequate. Hence the old methods up
to date demonstrate their inadequacy.
DRUNKENNESS A DISEASE.
The cause Of inebriety Is disease. The
medical profession asserts that from a
physiological standpoint 1t Is dis
ease. Moralists who look at 1t from
q moral and social standpoint pro.
nounce 1t an evil. Magistrates ana
custodians of law and order look upon
inebriety as a flagitious violation OF
law, punishable by fines and imprison-
ment. Penal treatment does not reach
the seat of evil at all; II does not mitl-
gate the evil i'm the drunkard, but
rather intensifies it, because the evil.
the appetite, the disease IL as deep
seated as ever. To this unhappy con-
seriousness of degeneration, morally and
physically, when liberated, Is added the
stigma Of being cut off from the asso-
ciations of respectable men.
In the dark ages gross ignorance con-
sldered insanity II vice and thrust into
prison or banished into exile victims
who suffered from what we call today a
disease of the nervous system But as
the light of civilization dawned more
and more the humane voice OF medical
science pronounced insanity u disease.
and today it Is treated as such by the
medical profession.
This mode of treatment which was In
vogue in the dark ages in connection
with insanity Is analogous to the p~"s-
.ent indiscriminate method OF the day
in trying to cure or reform an inebriate
by imprisonment and its adjuncts, iron
bars, bolts, stocks and manacles. Does
~
the drunkard demonstrate that such
system Is utterly. impotent for good and
tremendously potent for evil, In perpet-
uating social evil in the victims pro-
eny, such as insanity, mental imbecility
and criminality, besides filling peniten-
tlaries. jails, warehouses; and millions
OF unknown, uncared for dishonored
graves?
MISGUIDED ZEAL.
Penologists, criminoligists and sociol-
ogistS Of the present day, In their ef-
forts to arrest this terrible evil In the
land. lay hold of the effect and not the
cause, a task as hopeless in this case
as an attempt to arrest the course of
river at its mouth instead OF at its
source. When q man Is under the in
fiuence of liquor he cares not what he
does; he IL as wild beast; his passions
are beyond control; he knows not what
he does: wholly obliviOus Of conse-
quences he goes on, his reasoning pow
ers overbalanced by his impulses and
passions. Drink Is the most prolific
source Of crime. Then the associations
of the drinking man are of degrading
tendency, and many evils that lead to
crime spring from this source. ! be-
lieve that three -fourths of the crime
committed in Scranton comes originally
from the drink habit.
We know that from physiological
standpoint dissipation from drink af-
fects the vital organs of the body. the
brain tissue, the stomach, the liver. the
kidneys. BY autopsies that have been
performed on men who have died
drunkards 1t has been demonstrated
that certain changes have taken place
in their organisms by the action of al
cohol in their stomachs. 1t has been
proven that the drink appetite is a
disease. 1t is true that great good has
been done on moral grounds for the up
lifting OF men to better lives. But how
ever mush can be done for men by NOR
al and religious means, we know that a
new set of vital organs can never be
talked into q man, however much ne
may desire to reform morally. The
only proper thing that can be done for
such a man Is to reform him physically.
We know that can be done in the case of
q drunkard.
WHAT OF THE POOR?
Since such a great discovery has been
made and such cure established
ought 1t not to receive welcome in all
lands? For it has on it the mark Of
the approval of the Lord God AL
mighty" We know that 1t will eman-
cfpate the slave of the drink habit
But this new method Of treatment. the
Kelley cure. based on scientific prin-
ciples. is only within the reach of the
fairly well to do. those who can pay.
There Is no opportunity for the poor to
receive this new treatment; there Is not
aplace in Scranton where the drunkard
without money can be treated with this
great discovery of the age and sent out
into the world a man again. What a
grand good thing II would be II the
poor people who suffer most from the
drink curse, but are helpless to free
themselves from it. could. by signify
ing their willingness to be treated, be
made physically as IL they had never
been drunkards.
1t would be their own responsibility
II they again forged the chains to en-
slave themselves by diseased appe-
tite. We have proof that of the thou
sands that have been treated by DR..
keeley's cure SO per cent. of them have
not again bartered away their regained
freedom and manhood for whisky. Men
are cast into prison for months for
crimes arising directly or indirectly
from the drink habit, and they go out
into the world again no better morally
than when they went in, but worse for
their experience In some respects. Since
this is the condition Of things, that
penal treatment does not reform the
drunkard. for 1t will be only question
OF time before he, owing to the diseased
condition OF his body, again becomes a
menace to the peace and order of the
community he lives In, suppose the
state or city should take the matter in
hand and say, For our own we'll being
this is our opportunity. We have men
who are diseased inebriates; we have
medical facilities and proof that the
diseas sed criminal can be cured The