The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1897-06-24
Written for The Prison Mirror,
RUM VERSUS WILL-POWER.

RUM VERSUS WILL-POWER.
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Every day we may take up news
paper and read where some man has
committed crime while under the in
fiuence of liquor. The crimes are vari-
Gus. Here we see where man has
committed forgery, another has stolen
something, another in fit of passion
has killed somebody. If you ask him
why he did so, he will say he was intox-
icated and was not responsible for his
actions. According to the newspapers
there is not an offense on the criminal
calendar that has not been committed
at some time or another by somebody
while under the influence of liquor.
Now, / believe about one-third of
the reports of that description that 1
read; the other two-thirds 1 question.
There are lot of people in this world
who are so disgustingly pessimistic,
that they are always complaining
about something or other-always look
ing for something to find fault with,
something on which to vent their in
dignation or lay the blame of their
shortcomings. And there is very
large class who can find no other cause
for their not prospering, so they say it
is rum. They work all year for good
wages and at the end they find nothing
laid by and are probably in debt to the
grocer. What is the cause? Rum, they
claim.
A little higher up the scale is man
who has thriving business, doing
nicely, laying by something for rainy
day. Pretty soon the customers begin
to drop off, business begins to fail, by
and by he sees a few more empty
shelves around the room. In a few
days more we see a notice on the front
door, notifying the public that the
business is in the hands of the sheriff.
Why so? Rum.
Here is man at the head of a great
financial institution. He is noted for
his shrewdness and ability in finan-
cial way. The firm he represents has
unlimited confidence in him. He is in
his office at the appointed hour
promptly every morning, and does not
leave it until the last bit of the days
business is disposed of. BY and by he
begins to get down late in the morning.
His brain becomes muddled. He emakes
bad deals, involving heavy losses. The
bad deals continue; the losses grow
heavier; and as last resort he is COM
PEELED to falsify his accounts to cover
up his shortage, thinking as he does so
that something will turn up to enable
him to square accounts; but he miscal-
culates. Finally the crash comes and
he either finds himself in Jail or fugi-
tive from justice. What started him
on the downward road? people will
ask. Some wise head will find out
that he has been patronizing swell
saloon in the other end of the city.
Then comes the chorus: another victim
of rum.
We are all aware of the enslaving
influence of rum. We know to what
paths of degradation it will lead man
when it gets him in it's power. But
why does it get such firm hold on so
many? Every man has in his mental
and moral makeup, two qualities
which will resist the advances of any
degrading influence of whatever na-
ture, if he will bring them into action.
One of these two qualities is will
power and the other is a sense of honor.
Every man has them both. There is a
large class of people in which the for
mer is so weak that it can hardly be
called will-power, but it is there. All
it needs is little developing to make
it one of the most destructive agen-
cies that rum and vice ever encoun-
tered. There is another class who are
said to be absolutely devoid of sense
of honor. His or her actions may indi.
cate such to be fact but it is mis-
take; it is there. 1t may lie buried un-
der the crimes and dishonor of a dozen
generations but it is there just the
same. If he or she will put forth an