The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-08-18
TEMPERANCE IN FRANCE
DRUNKENNESS IN ENGLAND
AND SCoTLAND-A SATURDAY
NIGHT IN GLASGOW.
By Rev. Thomas H. Malone.
lEditorial Correspondence.D

>
one class alone. such as the dominan
class in Paris but I saw the peopl
Of Normandy and Brittany and all tn
way from Paris. eastward to the Ger
man Avricourt. and then again north
ward from Paris to the coast. l say
the French people in cities, towns an
villages. l observed them in thei
hours of work as we'll as in those o
recreation. And I must confess tina
more temperate people, as far a
strong drink is concerned, it has neve
been my fortune to see.
The Puritanical reformers. who vain
ly imagine that temperance should b,
legislated into the individual, may FIND
a salutary lesson to the contrary il
the life of this people They drink
wine freely. men, women and children
in fact, it may be said they drink moth.
! ing else, although l am told that the
! drinking of absinthe is working dis
astrouS results in some of the larger
! cities. But. Notwithstanding the uni
versal wine drinking that exists, ex-
cess rarely found. There is absolute
freedom, too, in this respect, for the
law does not step in and forbid the
sale or use of wine on certain days
or periods of days. In this respect, in
dividual liberty finds fullest play in
France. What is the consequence?
Drunkenness, as 1 have said, is a
rarity.
During my stay with the unlimited
powers of observation at my disposal
l never saw one drunken man in
France. The Catholic Church teaches
the virtue of the proper use and the
Nervousness of the abuse of all things
created by Almighty God, and it must
be said that among the children of
France the church's doctrine finds
living, practical application. Just
think of it, Not one single drunken
person did 1 see in any part of France;
the land whose water is wine, and
whose people are free from all legal
restrictions and inibitions, such as sur
round the individual in many parts of
America, England, Ireland and Scot
land
But what a different story 1 must
tell of England and Scotland. The first
three days 1 was in London, 1 saw nine
women arrested for drunkenness, and
the number of men was too large to
be reckoned. If the total number of
men and women arrested for drunken
ness each day were known it would
stagger the most incredulous
Hermanns of the West Denver High
school, he told me that he was simply
at the number of intoxicated
men and women he had seen in the |
London streets. Like myself he, too,
had not seen one man in France under |
he influence of liquor, and, in passing, |
may observe that my experiences in |
Germany were similar to those in
France.
But to return to London. Recently
he Pail Mall Gazette took exceptions
o certain criticisms made by an Amer
can clergyman, whereupon a well-in-
ormed Londoner wrote as follows to
he Gazette:
You accuse an American priest of
in calling London the
lirtiest and most immoral of cities l
IN acquainted with most of the Eu-
opean cities, and with many beyond
europe. I see no eXaggeration in the
description. Last Saturday week l ar
ived late at Kings Cross, and walked
rom there to Great Portland street.
met, / suppose, about 1000 persons.
500 We're under the influence
f drink, and at least 200 women ap-
cared to me TO belong to the unfor-
innate class. In a side street against
ONE ratings l saw several women ly-
lg in the road dead drunk. The men
-ere shouting and the girls were
making scene which has
o parallel either in civilized or un-
ivilized communities. l have no par
bout Hyde Park, because no one need
o to such a place after dark; but
uston road is necessary thorough
are, and its condition, at least on Sat
rday nights about midnight, is dis
race to Londoners.
l do not intend, in this article, to
cal with the phases of abject poverty
nd consequent squalor, such as exists.
OF only in the Whitechapel district,
ut in many other parts of the British !
Metropolis. That is a subject too vast
II a newspaper article. Suffice it here
} say that the degradation of the con-
asted centers in London surpasses
nything to be found in America.
But bad as is the intemperance in
ondOn it is quite overshadowed by
lie conditions existing in Glasgow.
ere drunkenness, both in men and :
omen, obtrudes itself more than in
ondon, or perhaps, than in any other A.,
ty or place in the world. Much. of :
'urse has been written about Glasgow T
this respect, and a great deal of it +
doubt, appears to be exaggerated. !;
found the city libeled, in one mat :,
r at least. The story that they keen !.
heelbarrows on the street corners to 8
heel the intoxicated to their homes :,
not true, or rather it was not prac- :
ced last night l will not saw that
ley were not needed, for in a drive =
bout the city for an hour last night ;,
saw numberless arrests for intoxica-
on. Men, women and boys were stag
ring along the streets in a pitiable =
ndition. Their number was legion, .
Id gentleman said to me: 1T was :,
It good night, either" meaning IT
at as there had been holidays in the