The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-11

3 sous a glass. AS such 1t is little less
than deadly poison, especially when a
dash of vitrol is added to give it an extra
bite" Vitriol is regularly used in many
of the cheap drinks, and even in the bet
ter ones.
Fighting Absin the in Belgium.
Last week I had an interesting talk with
Senateur Jules lie Jeune, secretary of state
in the Belgian cabinet who is pushing a
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 II also
have a bill before our Parliament 20
gradually decrease the number of public
drinking houses throughout the country
in the next ten years, At present we
have 29S.00O Of these to a population OF
but 6OO00oO 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 publio
places as a warning 10 the people on the
effects of intemperance, and the temper
ance societies in France display posters
labeled ABS nthe-Poison!' with a skull
and cross bones.
Not alone ore the present French efforts
educational. but they are aiming at ma
tional legislation as being the only perma-
nent cure. There is a coterie of temper
ance legislators in the Chamber of Deputies
and in the Senate, who are pressing for
constitutional relief from the present des-
perate conditions Senateur Siegfried will
/ shortly present bin to reduce the num-
/ Der of drinking places in the republic, as
| the beginning of an extensive legislative
| reform There are over 100000 pubic
] drinking houses in France, and in some
of the departments the consumption of al
cohol now amounts 10 20 litres per person
I yearly.
Legislation Against Drink in France.
! The influential daily. Temps, this morn
/ ing contains a long article calling upon
/ the government 10 pass the Siegfried bill
/ TO abate the public peril, and saying that
the present liberty to drink is simply liz
cense 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 thir-
1 ty adults. One to every 800 persons is
what the editor thinks correct proper
ton for this country.
/ A redeeming feature of French intern
perance is that next to no drunkenness
is seen upon the streets. Practically ev-
erybody drinks. and rich and poor alike
take the little glass" or its multiple,
with every meal, and between meals. Only
among the poorer do they follow the bar
barous American practice of bracing up
against a bar ana drinking on an empty
stomach. AS 1t is they may be in a
continuous fuddle, but never drunk
An unexpected Endorsement of the tenn
| perance movement has developed since
the first of the year in the friendly atti-
tude of the socialist press of France and
other countries. These papers, as the or
gans of the powerful workingmen's socie-
ties of the continent, say then can Co
| operate with this propaganda as tending
to lessen the opportunity to drink, which
they plainly say Is the workingman's
| greatest enemy.
The widespread interest in the temper
ance movement on the continent was well
shown by the International Temperance
Congress. held in Paris in April Twenty
one countries were represented by the
more than 1000 delegates, and official rep
resentatives were present from the gov
ernments of France, Germany, Austria
Sweden and Norway, Denmark Switzer-
land, Belgium, Holland and Roumania
These will all make official reports to
their governments on the problem of drink,
and che methods proposed to abolish in
temperance.
Crusade in Austria.
The next congress viii meet at Vienna
In 1901, where the Austrian government
has assured a welcome through its repre-
sentative, DR.. de Zebra, who was at the
Paris convention. DR.. de Hebra tells me
there is a remarkable movement among
the young medical men and scientists of
his country since the first of the present
year and that he as a teetotaler is finding
numerous recruits, not alone for temper
ancc, but for total abstinence.
Royalty That Abstains.
The King of Italy is a total abstainer. as