The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-07-08

Workers in Temperance Fields View
with Disnay the Coming OF the
Absinthe Factory.

| with DiSmay the Coming OF the
Absinthe Factory.
The announcement that the trench
absinthe manufacturers nave DECIDED 70
push the sale of their product in the
United States and that factories are al
once to be established in New York, ST.
Louis San Francisco, and other large
cities of this country, Is the chlel TOPIC
of conversation i'll temperance circles
For years it has been matter ior COL
srat,1Ia ton that the drinking OF absinthe
was a vice TO which the great majority
of Americans were not addicted, but II
is now felt that if the French manutact-
urers are permitted to carry out their
plans il will not be long before the people
of this country are closely bound IN .he
coils Of the Green Monster" condition
that may well be regarded as the begin
ming OF the end of Americas greatness
as nation
The natural result of the feeling OF
dismay at the horrible prospect that Is
threatened has not beeIt confined to thal
class Of people often known as temper
ance cranks'' Total abstainers and work
ers In the temperance fields have httsd
up their voices in protest, it is true, put
their arguments have been no more
emphatic in character than those of the
medical fraternity, while men of foresight
In nearly every walk of life have united
in a general demand that the government
take some steps to prohibit the french
business men from carrying out thelt
plan. They feel that it is the duty oil
the authorities to take these necessary
steps at time when the mass OF the
people s yet free from the clutches of this
terrible demon, and not wait until the vice
has gained such g foothold that 1t VIII De
impossible to stay its ravages.
AS an illustration of what harm may
be done by absinthe they point to the
history of this drink cruise in France, and
thev demand that some action be taken
10 prevent the United States from follow
ing the footsteps of the republic across
the water.
APPEAL TO WASHINGTON
OF course il is a question whether the
government can be persuaded to take the
matter in hand, but strong light to
bring about such a result will surely be
made. and when the facts about the
nature and effects OF the drink are fully
known there will. undoubtedly be raised
such a storm of protest that Washington
will be compelled to listen, if not to heed
it.
The first argument that will be used
against the manufacture and sale Of
absinthe in this country will be taken
from the researches of the French ply
sicians whose experience has brought
them into close touch with the worst
effects of absinthism.
For instance. DR.. Jacquet. one OF the
most eminent physicians in Paris. recently
reported to. the medical society of that
city that the nation was being ruined
by absinthe. He said that while the use
of that liquor had formerly been confined
TO the idle classes, the working people had
now fallen victims to the vice, and that
their use of the poison had increased 10
such an appalling extent that they now
required il with their meals, as we'll as
before lunch and dinner, and he did not
hesitate to say that he believed that it
was the absinthe habit that was respon-
sible for the morbid irritability which.
he claims, is so rapidly becoming one OF
the characteristics of the French people.
DR.. Larcereaux, another prominent
French physician is just IS confident that
the use of absinthe is one OF the greatest
dangers that threate the nation, and,
in fact. one might go on almost indeti
nitely- in quoting from the medical men
of France as to the evil effects of this
seductive ard Notwithstanding drink.
Some idea if the increase in the use Of
this beverage may be gained from the
statistics in the hands of the French tax
authorizes, for it can then be seen that it
increased from $4,000 gallons in 1888 TO
an estimated consumption of 6,32o,Go0 for
last year, or, in other words, more than
four times as much absintte is consumed
to-day as was drunk about ten years
ago, and when it is remembered that these
figures represent the amount Of pure
alcohol in the liquor, and not in it's bulk.
it will be seen that the actual amount OF
liquor consumed must be much greater.
A GROWING HABIT.
In 1883 the absntlTe drinker, either in
the fashionable cafes or in the wine-shops
frequented by the working classes, was
the exception. Now he is the rule. and
the idle pronlenader who. Just before the,
dinner hour takes the trouble to FOLLOW
the boulevards from the Opera-House to
the Place de la Republique. distance OF
a mile, will see all the seats occupied
before the cafes. and half these people
will be slipping that liquid whose greenish
hue is unmistakabie. Then, if he desires
to extend his investigations and enters
one Of the so-called bars, where bad
liquors of all sorts are sold from half
a different class of people-o!d men, poorly
clad. who earn few sous day by selling
newspapers, or perhaps, beggars but,
instead of. buying food, all buy absinthe
which serves them in the place of food
and clothing.
UP TO a few years ago the use of -absinthe
was practically unknown in England.
but its consumption has now increased to
such an extent that a league has been
formed with the object of prevailing upon
the government to prohibit the sale. of the
poison. Five years ago the French poi
son. as 1t was, called, was sold only; in
the cafes OF the French quarter, but
to-day 1t is dispensed by the wholesale in
every public house, and. dealers who for
mery disposed of some ten dozen bottles
a year now get rid of from five to six
hundred dozen AS, the result, one-tTnird
OF the people arrested for fntoXication in
london last year were abstnthe drinkers,
and the last reports from the Committee
on Lunacy and Charity show that many
OF the inmates of the insane asylums have
been brought TO that condition by the use
of the French beverage
In New York the demand for absiHthe
has increased to an alarming extent