The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-28
SOCIETY AND THE DRuNKARD.
Rev. =. NJ. williams Holds Society
LARGELY RespOnsIbIe.

/
Rev. A. NJ. Williams preached last night
at Wesley Monumental church on so
ciety and the Drunkard."
! Mr.. Williams took his text from Gene
sis 4: 10: The voice OF thy brother
blood crieth unto me from the ground
1t has been declared, he said, that So
ciety is down on the drunkard and that
the way he is to be reformed is by crush
ing him to the earth in his disgrace, pow
erty and ruin. If this is true, said Mr..
Williams, shame on society and it's efforts
TO shun the responsibility of its own
work, and shame upon 1t for its drunkaTd
making. Society must bear the RESPONSE
| pity for drunkenness, for 1t lends its
aid to his weakness and desires, by cOuH-
tenancing the sale of liquor and Its social
drinking. The hereditary thirst for
liquor, he said, may be considered as a
result of past society's forbearance
with the evil
The system of treating was condemn
ed by Mr.. Williams, and to it he attri-
Duted the making of many drunkard.
He deplored the custom that demands a
man popularity to be acquired or his
reputation for liberality to be maintained
by the necessity of inviting his friends TO
stand with him at the bar and call for
are compassed by young mans inability
to say no to the opportunities of a friend
when asking him to drink.
The wine cup, when brought into a
social gathering of any kind, he called
society's endorsement of drunkenness,
since the making of a drunkard often re-
suits. When one IS about to enter new
relation in life and the fact in all of its
solemnity and Importance, should present
itself before him the wedding feast must
have its punch bowl.
Military hospitality has made artillery
punch household word in all the social
world, he said, and clubs are formed for
retired drinking and entertainment with
the beverages that intoXicate. Society
thus makes its drunkards
Mr.. Williams said society stands behind
bar rooms for it issues their licenses and
authorizes them to compete for the SCI
curance of men to drink at their bars
by their free lunches, their attractions,
their red lights, and their gilded magnif-
cence. Their licenses give them the en-
dorsement of society in their efforts to
make the human race one of drunka rds
one of the chief industries of Savan-
nah, said Mr.. Williams, is drunkard-rnak-
ing. He compared the serpent-compassed
bodies of LAGOON and his sons as sim
liar to Savannah within the grasping
folds of the liquor traffic The principal
streets, dotted with their saloons.
were named, and their industry
upheld by society is making its
drunkards of both sexes, all classes, occu-
pations, races and professions every year.
Then after society has thus made ats
drunkards 1t spurns them, spits upon
them and throws them to the dogs.
Mr.. Williams then drew picture of So
ciety as it should exist in it's relation to
the evil of intemperance. The society that
is based on the teachings of the gospel, he
said, believes in the strong bearing the bur
dens of the weak, and it's motto is: "It is
good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink
wine, nor do anything whereby thy broth
er stumbleth or is offended, or is made
weak" That doctrine, said he. is grow
ing and its mission is to change the tenn
per of society. When it prevails society
win seek to remove the curse of drunken
ness.