The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-06-11

Switzerland gave out their secret for
brewing drink of rare quality from
the little absinthe plants growing only
in that locality, but now absinthe is
known around the world Nowhere
has its sale grown to so great or threat
ening proportions as in France. where
it's excessive use annually drives thou
sands to wild insanity A friend of
mine here in Paris had an English
cOachman who was a model servant
for years, but who was noticed as be-
coming triffe erratic. One day he
was driving out with two of the chill
dren when a sudden frenzy seized MIN
and he attacked them to do muir Ter.
1t was only by help being at hand Inat
he was overpowered. and he was led
away, a raving maniac 1t was found
he was an absinthe drinker in secret,
and had gotten up to eight glasses
day. Such is the effect of this insid-
ious craze upon those who follow 1t
far enough.
In the last stages of this form of
suicide the victim sometimes drinks
sixteen glasses of absinthe in a day,
and is the most pitiable of all the types
of drunkard.
In the better cafes it costs 80 cent
lines. or 10 cents. but in the dives it
is only 8 sous a glass. AS such it is
little less than a deadly poison. es-
pecially when a dash of vitriol is added
to give it an extra bite" Vitriol IS
regularly used in many of the cheap
drinks, and even in the better ones.
Fighting Absinthe In Belgium.
Last week / had an interesting talk
with Senateur Jules lie Jeune, secretary
of state in the Belgian cabinet. who is
pushing bill to prohibit the sale of
absinthe in Belgium
1T is doing much the same for us as
it is here in France" he said Il also
have d bill before our parliament TO
gradually decrease the number of pub
lie drinking houses throughout the
country in the next ten years At
present we have 29S.000 of these to a
population of but 100000 of people, or
one to every twenty-four persons. My
plan is to make the proportion one
drinking place TO every 200 people. but
the proposal is too radical to carry
without material amendment.
Some of the continental governments
are posting temperance autographs IN
public places as a warning to the peo-
pie on the effects of intemperance, and
the temperance societies in France dis
play posters labeled '.Absinthe-Poi-
son. with a skull and cross bones
Not alone are the present French
efforts educational, but they are aim
ing at national legislation as being the
only permanent cure. There is a coter1e
of temperance legislators in the cham
Der of deputies and in the senate. who
are pressing for constitutional relief
from the present desperate conditions.
Senateur Siegfred will shortly present
a bin to reduce the number of drink
ing places in the republic, as the be-
ginning of an extensive Legislative re-
form. There are over half million OF
public drinking houses in France, and
in some of the departments the con-
sumption of alcohol now amounts to
twenty litres per person yearly
Legislation Against Drink.
The influential daily. Temps. this
morning contains ong article calling
upon the government to pass the Sieg-
fried bill TO abate the public peril, and
saying that the present liberty to drink
is simply license to poison the people.
The Temps calls upon the French to
learn the lessons of regulation as
taught by the United States, and IT
cites the city of Boston as a model in
this regard where there is but one
drinking place to $50 inhabitants, while
in France there is one to every thirty
adults One to every 800 persons is
what the editor thinks a correct pro-
portion for this country
A redeeming feature of French in
temperance is that next to no drunk
enness is seen upon the streets Prac-
ticalIy everybody drinks. and rich and
poor alike take the little glass. or its
multiple, with every meal. and between
meals. Only among the poorest do they
follow the barbarous American practice
of bracing up against bar and drink
ing on an empty stomach AS it is.
they may be in continuous fuddle,
but never drunk.
An unexpected endorsement of the
temperance movement has developed
since the first of the year in the friendly
attitude of the socialist press of France