Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-07-01
New Orleans is Said to Be the Hard
est Drinking Town,
San FRANCISCO NOT FAR BEHIND
Washington is a Comparatively
Temperate Town.
THE EVIL Is DECREASING

1 "A ~NlShy WHO never NdSttN
whisky in his life, but who has neverthe-
less been selling the product of one of the
largest distilleries in Kentucky all over the
United States for the past fourteen years,
was commenting the other evening to a
Star man on the scarcity of drunken men
| on the streets of Washington
| Il have spent from two to three weeks
| here every year for the past decade and
| half" he said, land l am pretty close OBJ
| server of urban populations. l believe
| am right in maintaining that Washington
| outwardly, at any rate. is about the sober
| est city in America. During all of my
| visits here l cannot recall having seen on
| the streets more than half a dozen men
| palpably under the influence of drink. and
| 1 have been in Washington at all seasons
| of the year. Now, l have told lot of peo-
| pie living in other cities of this and have
| usually been scoffed at by folks who have
| never been in Washington. Oddly enough
| the impression prevails very largely
throughout the country that Washington is
| wild, registering, carouSing city, where
| perpetual saturnalia reigns. This idea has
| probably been considerably fostered by
| persons who have visited Washington on
| big holiday occasions. such the inaUgu-
| rations of Presidents, when, of course, the
| visitors themselves make most of the hliaT-
| ity. Again, because most of the worlds
| capitals are what you might call swift
| any better take it for granted that Wash
| ington must be the same way. As mat
| ter of fact, Washington is decidedly the
| soberest of all the big capitals, and l have
| visited many of them
| What American city stands at the top
of the list in the quantity of liquor it con-
sumes?" inquired The Star man.
| Drinking in New Orleans.
New Orleans, undoubtedly was the re-
| ply. Il say it off-hand, without any idea
| of knocking for | believe that l am right.
| The men down in New Orleans drink an
| enormous amount of hard liquor. They do
| not however, show it very much. They
| are skilled in the fine art of carrying liquor.
Up in this section of the world the drink
| ers don't spread out their drinking so
| much-that is the 'toot habit, so to speak,
| prevails more. The average New York or
| Philadelphia or Baltimore or Washington
| man who drinks takes it out in an over
| night jamboree, and then he wakes up dis
| gusted and doesn't drink a drop until ne Is
| due the next time.
| 1.-THE New Orleans drinkers on the con-
| trary and in fact. the drinkers of many
of the larger southern cities, make drinking
a somewhat steady game and pasdme-
| They rarely get entirely loaded and IN
capable. but in New Orleans there are thou
sands of men who drink practically all the
time they are awake. OF course, there are
steady drinkers of this sort everywhere, but
they have the biggest call, as l say, in New
| Orleans in proportion to the size of the
| town. New Orleans man who doesn I
drink is looked upon as something of
| curiosity by his friends, unless they happen
| to know that the non-drinker has been a
| former drinker on heavy scale, and that
| having had a serious time of 1t owing to
| mis- overindulgence in liquor in the past, ne
| has knocked it off The average New Or
| leans business man is able to stand an
| amazing amount of hard liquor. L know
! whisky drummers who aTe pretty good
themselves in the matter of sampling their
| own samples, but most of them tell me thai
| at their best they cannot keep up with the
New Orleans procession. know any mum
| Der of high-grade men down there who gel
| away with their two quarts of rye every
| day without ever becoming enthusiastic or
linking ii anything unusual Maybe the
| damp. soggy climate of New Orleans has
| something to do with the ability of its citi-
| zens to punish the red-eye. I've noticed
| nat the drinkers who live in damp climates
| can do a longer route with the stuff thar
| the men who live in dry. crisp climates.
| | am told for instance, that one drink of
| whisky in Denver does the work of three
drinks in cities situated on lower, damper
| levels.
Begin Early.
| Another p liar thing about New Or
! leans drinking-about drinking, in fact, in
| many of the larger southern towns-is the
| early beginning of the game. Now, up in
his part of the world the man who drinks
| hardly ever thinks of drinking in the morn
ing. There is, of course, a large class of
morning cocktail people up this way, but,
| fortunately | think their number grows
smaller the viciousness of the practice
| becomes better known, The WashingtoI.
| man who would, for instance, be seen talk
ing drink of whisky an hour, say. after
breakfast would be very likely TO be looked
| at askance by his friends. Tney would i'm
nediately conclude that the morning drink
er was being downed by rum, and they d
probably shake their heads over it. Bust
ness men up in this tier of cities who drink
very rarely drink during business hours.
| We'll, down in New Orleans drinking be-
gins at any time within an hour after
breakfast. 1t always makes me shudder
to see a man throwing a big gulp of
whisky, on top of good breakfast.
| but that is the real and approved
thing down on the gulf In fact, l know
| lots of New Orleans men who only seem to
eat for the purpose Of laying good founda-
ton for liquor. Now. in one respect, it IL
| the very best thing in the world for tbs
| steady drlnker TO eat his meals regularly
and plenufully, but the steady drinker up
! this way gives his stomach a chance to as
| simulate dts food before he pours any fiery
| liquids on top of it. I'll BET there are very
few steady whisky drinkers in Washington
| who can take big drink of whisky imme-
| diately after breakfast without becoming
| bit qualmish over it. But it's all in the
| training and in the environment as il
| We're The New Orleans man argues tina:
| it's the man who waits until his stomach
| becomes empty before he begins his daily
| drinking who finally gets downed by hare
| liquor, physically and morally, and in
| truth, the New Orleans man who tells YOU
| this seems to prove his contention in his
| own person.
before and After Meals.
| 1T is of course commonly known that the
| man who forgets to eat when he is drinking
| hard liquor is the poorest kind of a slayer
| in the game, and the New Orleans man
| builds upon this idea in that he begins
| drinking practically right after he takes his
| meals. The drink-before- breakfast idea
| however, prevails just largely down
| there as 1t does up this way. But the New
| Orleans drinker takes his getting-up nip
| three or four of 'em, generally, in fact
| straight and abjures the cocktail as poison
| Then he sits down and eats pound or SO
| Of steak, with trimmings, drinks two OF
| three cups of strong coffee, and within an
| hour ne considers himself ready to hold his
| own with anybody when 1t comes to the
| regular daily joy of absorbing the red stuff
| While, as l say, you don't see very many
I drunken men in New Orleans, you're liable
to hear more high-flown poetic sentiments
| expressed during the hours of the working
| day by the men you meet there than else
1 vhar Ntn