The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1899-11-23
LOT OF THE DRUNKARD.
Man who Drinks Too Much Finds No
sympathy for His MisfOr-
tune Nowadays.

The regular, well-established drunk
ard should consider, it would seem, in
some of his lucid intervals, that he is
about the most troublesome individual
at present making struggling and irreg-
ular tracks on the surface of the earth.
By the word drunkard is understood
the variety to which the word habitual
is prefiXed. There are other varieties of
drunkard, or rather drinker-as the
moderate, the occasional, the spasmodic
but the drunkard about which the
world is concerned is the regular, or the
sot. Compared with him inebriates of
a less degree inspire but a languid and
intermittent interest. The habitual
and hopeless drunkard is the sort upon
whom the mass of his fellow-citizens
bestow their time and money. 1t is for
him that all the "cures" are opened and
all the asylums are provided. To him
all the thrilling appeals to reform are
made. What to do with the drunkard
is the main question, and has been fer
something over half a century.
The controversialists have not yet ar
rived at an agreement as to what the
drunkard is. Is drunkenness a disease
or only vice? Should the drunkard be
treated as a moral or physical invalid?
Should he be given moral suasion or
hypodermic injection? Is he sufferer
demanding our sympathy or an Of
fender against society, to be restrained,
temporarily or permanently? All these
questions are still open, and as strenu-
ously discussed as ever and while the
discussion goes on the drunkard is still
with us, just as he was when described
thousands of years ago in the series of
interrOgations: "Who hath woe? Who
hath redness of eyes?" and so on.
In the meantime, while the world is
discussing his case, the lot of the
drunkard, the all-the-time drunkard,
grows worse. He is no greater nuisance
than he was 100 years ago, but he is
not as tenderly and tolerantly regarded
as he was then. Courts and the general
public do not care as formerly for the
plea that he is a good man when he is
sober The unfeeling answer is re-
come nearer together and his intervals
of drunkenness farther apart. His Of
Tense is not condoned by society, as it
was in the days when drunkenness,
once a religious, became a social rite.
Habitual drunkenness is a bar to en-
ployment now. The drunkard is black
listed and boycotted without any for
malities. General and collective sympa-
thy may be expressed for him, but in
dividuals do not treat the drunkard as
well as they did in a former age. The
man or boy who is getting himself into
line to become a common Grunkard
should understand that, notwithstand-
ing all the benevolent and sympathetic
talk he may hear, human society is in
measure hardening its heart against the
drunkard.
1t is coming to be acknowledged that
the treatment accorded drunkards by
law in our cities, as Chicago and Kan
sas City, does no good. Drunk and dis
orderly" marches through the police
court as he has marched always, and it
is expected that he always will march.
In England they are trying something
else. They have established reforma-
tories, quiet places remote from cities,
with ground enough for exercise and
amusement. The discipline is not
harsh. The officers must be total alb
stainers, and no liquor is allowed about
the premises. To these institutions
habitual drunkards may be committed
for three years. And will this plan or
any other plan work? 1t may ;,e SOL
EMMY and reverently said: "Only God
knows."-Kansas City Star.