Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1899-11-18
LOT OF TIE DRUNKARD
Man Who Drinks Too Much Finds Ne
Sympathy for HIS MisfOr-
tune Nowadays.

The regular, well-established drunk
ard should consider, il would seem, in
some of his lucid intervals, that he is
about the most troublesome individual
at present making struggling and irreg-
fular tracks on the surface of the earth,
BY the word drunkard is understood
the variety to which the word habitual
( is prefxed. There are other varieties o.
drunkard, or rather drinker-as the
moderate, the occasional, the spasmodic
but the drunlxard about which the
world is concerned is the regular. or the
sot. Compared with him inebriates of
a less degree inspire but languid and
intermittent interest. The habitual
and hopeless drunkard is the sort upon
whom the mass Of his fellow-citizens
sbestow 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 for
something over half a century.
The controversialists have not yet ar
rived at an agreement as TO what the
drun1ard is. is drunkenness a disease
or only n vice? Should the drunlard be
treated as n moral or physical invalid
Should he be given moral suasion or a
hypodermic injection? Is he a 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 drunlSard is still
with us, just as he was when described
thousands of years ago in the series o.
interrogations: ''Who hath woe? Who
| hath redness of eyes?" and so on.
In the meantime, while the world Ii
discussing his case, the lot of tn
drunkard, the all-the-time drunkard
grows worse. He is no greater nuisance
than he was 100 years ago, but he il
not as tenderly and tolerantly REGARDED
as he was then. Courts and the genera
public do not care as formerly for tn
plea that he is a good man when he i
sober. The unfeeling answer is re
turned that his spells of sobriety shout
come nearer together and his interval
| of drunkenness farther apart. His OF
Tense is not condoned by society, as
was in the days when drunkenness
once religious, became a social rite
Habitual drunkenness is a bar to en-
ployment now. The drunl1ard Is blacl
listed and boycotted without any fo1
malities. General and collective symps
thy may be expressed for him, but IL
dividuals do not treat the drunkard @
well as they did in former age. TIL
man or boy who is getting himself int
line to become common drunlSaI
should understand that, notwithstan,
ing all the benevolent and sympathet
talk he may hear, human society is in
measure hardening its heart against I'll
drunkard.
1t is coming TO be acknowledged th'
the treatment accorded drunkards /
law in our cities, as Chicago and Kal
sas City, does no good. Drunk and di
orderly" marches through the pole
I court as he has marched always, and
is expected that he always will marc
In England they are trying somethir
else. They have established reform
d tories, quiet places remote from elite
q with ground enough for exercise al
d amusement. The discipline is n
e harsh. The officers must be total a
] stainers, and no liquor is allowed abo
e the premises. To these institution
e habitual drunkards may be committ
d for three years. And will this plan
3 any other plan work? It may be 81
d emily and reverently said: only G,
knows. kansas City Star.