The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-07-16
DRINKERS ARE SCARED
Frightened by the Testimony of
DR.. Crothers.
DECREASE IN THE SALES
The Alcohol Expert Hit the Saloon Bust.
ness in the Solar Plexus - Eve
Openers and Night Caps
Knocked Out.

The saloonkeepers of Butte report a
perceptible decrease in their cash re-
ceipts since DIR. Crothers, the inebriety
specialist, gave expert testimony in
the Larkin case. They hold a grudge
against the doctor, and since he left
for his home in Hartford Conn, they
have said unkind things about him.
They declare that he is the cause of the
present stagnation of the saloon bust
ness, but hold out hopes of a revival of
old time trade, and predict that the
slump is only temporary.
The doctor testified for the intervenor
in the Larkin case, and his statements
have evidently caused drinking men to
stop and consider. The result is these
men have eschewed the mornings
morning and the proverbial and invig-
Grating nightcap. High balls have
hoated at half-mast and cocktails have
shed their brilliant plumage. Sugar
and whiskey have not with the custo-
mary frequency met in the seductive
toddy, and whiskey straight-that has
in many minds resolved itself into a
crazy cup of everlasting torture
The doctor stated on direct examina-
ton that the man who is drunk every
day Is insane; that after he has been
drunk there is fault in his general
makeup; that man who has once
taken an overdose of alcohol is never
of sound mind again, and in a general
way, the doctor gave out the impress
sion that a sane man is that one who
never absorbs alcohol and that the di-
rect cause of the majority of cases of
insanity is due to the use Of alcoholic
drinks. He said that the use of alcohol
as well as the desire for it is one symp-
tom of insanity. That assertion has set
the boys to thinking double shifts. They
wonder If they are insane and no Josh
They have thought it over and over
again, and up to date have been I'M
able to arrive at what they can con-
scientously term an intelligent conclu-
sion. If the doctor is right in his con-
illusions, they argue, they are all
wrong. Some of them have taken their
regular "jolts" for years and their de-
sire for the booze is responsible. TAX
ing the doctors word for it, they accept
the verdict and agree with him that
they are insane. Hence the wall of the
barkeep. But the doctor left behind
him one spark of consolation. In some
cases, he said, the subject has been re-
claimed. Restoration is possible. In
the early stages of whiskey decline, be-
fore the system is broken down, there
is a chance of cure. First is desire"
for alcohol; this is the first symptom of
insanity. Next in the process of de-
generacy is progress" then comes a
gradual breaking down of the system;
decline follows rapidly in the wake and
at last-collapse. This latter is demen-
tia. Once this termination is reached
there is no restoration.
All of these conclusions the whiskey
drinkers have digested, and as a con-
sequence there has appeared across the
horizon wave of abstinence.
The beer trade has not diminished to
any appreciate degree, however, for in
no instance did the doctor refer to that
beverage as an Alcoholic drink. But
beer does not satiate the desire for a
whiskey straight, and those consumers
of the real stuff are not satisfied with
beer as substitute. If they can't have
their toddy, they won't take anything.
Whiskey sells for a bit and beer for 5
cents. The dispensers of rye and Bour-
bon are the protestors.