Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-08-23
What Man Of the World Thinks Of the
Drink Habit,

Magistrate deuel., Of the New York
City police court, recently said in an
swer to the question, What do you
consider the chief cause of drunken
ness?"
'The chief cause in this country is,
without the slightest doubt, the Gus
tom of treating. That custom has pro-
duced more drunkards, ruined more
homes, blasted more lives, and sent
more men to drunkards' graves than
any other custom that the mind of man
ever conceived. When it shall come t.
DE considered in this country a mark
of good breeding and good fellowship
for each member of a drinking party to
pay for what he himself drinks and no
more, then you will see much less pub
lie intoxication than now.
DO you know, though, that publl;.
intoxication is diminishing rather thar
increasing, and that, too, in spite If
the increase in the popula ton? That
statement surprises you, Ell? Well, it is
fact, and 1 could hardly believe it
myself at first. 1 have given a good
deal of thought and study to this Ques-
ton of drunkenness, in connection with
the question of excise laws, and l to ok
occasion not long ago to find gu.
whether public intoxication was in-
creasing as rapidly as some persons
would have us believe For my in
formation 1 consulted the records OF
the police courts of this city. l went
carefully over the records for nearly 20
years, from 1875 to 1895. and this is
what l found: In 1875 the number oe
drunk and disorderly conduct cases
that came into the police courts was
1920. The population of the city in
that year was 1,041 1856. In 1880 the
population had increased to 1,2O6, 29a.
and the number of drunk and disorder
ly cases had decreased nearly $4,000 or
to 44,292. l haven't got here the exact
figures for 1885, but the number OF
these cases, in proportion to the pop;.-
lation, had decreased .0oo4 per cent. In
1890 the percentage of decrease in the
cases was .035 and in 1895 the popula-
ton had increased by .776 while the
number of cases mad only increased
055 per cent"
When asked to what he attributed
the decrease, he replied as follows:
Well, there may be, of course, mar;
AN"oNAiS' IL my oplIiioLl tilC Culel Tel-
son is to be found in the increased and
constantly increasing general senti-
ment against public intoxication, and I
believe this general sentiment grows,
not so much because our standard of
morals has been SO much raised as be-
cause of the constantly increasing re-
quirements of ell business and all pro-
fessions. Years ago a man who go.
publicly drunk once in while, or twice
in while, was not SO greatly frowned
upon. His ability to do business or
practice his profession was not a ques-
ton on that account. Nowadays 1t l.:
very different. Let it be known that q
man conducting large business is dis
sipated and mark how quickly his
business goes to the dogs. We had an
example of that not long ago. There
was firm that carried on a very large
business in this city. Rumors went
abroad that members of the firm were
Incorporate and otherwise dissipated.
What happened? The firms credit be-
gan to decline, although it was gen-
orally known that there was a grea,
fortune behind them. Things con-
tinued to go from bad to worse, until
the great house went down. Let an
employer hear that one of his enl-
ployes is drinking and that employee is
served with his dismissal, without a
letter of recommendation, SO quickly as
to take his breath away. A profess
sional man known to be heavy drink
err, finds himself in very short time
without any clients. So far as the
social side goes, let man appear on
the streets, or elsewhere, in the sight of
his fellows, in a state of intoxicatioa,
and from that moment he loses caste.
even with those who drank with him.