The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-05-08
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF lNTEMPERANcE.
There Are More Arrests For Drunkenness
But the Drink Nuisance is PerccptiblJ
AbatinG - The Big Corporations Are
Doing Good Work For Te1nperance.

There Are More Arrests For Drunkenness
But the Drink Nuisance is PerccptiblJ
AbatinG - The Big Corporations ARE
Doing Good Work For Temperance.
Are we in state of moral and social de.
cadence? 1t is possible just now to affirm
the most radical theories of degeneration
or to exploit the most optimistic prophe.
cIes.. and IN either case secure the attention
OF the public. Crossing the line from cen.
tury to century encourages US to make
much of the achievements of the past.
| Yet Nordau and Nietzsche do not, by any
means, comprise the list of those who be.
ileve the literature and life of the nine
teenth century closes in a state of degen.
Grafton. The daily press has taken up,
with special Zest, the question whether our
social habits have improved during the
last fifty years, and especially whether
drunkenness has been on the increase
The annual report of the Commission of
Prisons. for New York is quoted as evi-
dence that there has been no decrease in
our drinking habit, but an alarming in
crease. During one month of 1900 the
compliment to penitentiaries, .jails and
workhouses in New York State for drunk
enness reached the total of very nearly
$1,000, while for all other causes the COM
mitnoents were about 10000. Statistics of
other States are too generally of like char
acter to allow lis to call this an excep-
tional report. 1t is a fact that arrests for
drunkenness in the United States are on
the increase. Does it follow that drinking
intoxicants is not on the decrease? It is
within the memory of our middle-aged
men when railroad officials. from superin-
tendents to conductors. and even porters,
were accustomed to drink with freedom.
Now the least indulgence or the suspicion
of indulgence secures the prompt discharge
of such an employe, however valuable his
general services or experience may be held.
1t is understood purely as a business mat
ter that a drinking man cannot be trusted
question of morals or put it in, as you
please. It will not do. purely as a ques.
tion of risk, to have tippler as railroad
emDloye.
It is not an open question whether
drunkenness is treated with more severity
than formerly by the police. We know
this to be the case. Fifty years ago one
might meet men reeling along, at midday
or bowling through the streets at night,
condition, except to mock at them. There
are few precincts, even in onr larger cities,
where this would be tolerated to-day.
Public holidays invariably witnessed
drunkenness and drunken brawls. Elec.
tions were especially under the influence of
strong drink. Drunken men reeled to the
polls. 1t is no mistake when we assert
that drinking habits are on the decrease.
An easy way to settle the question is to
towns, and compare the habits of the in.
habitants, house by house, with those. of
fifty years ago. It will almost invariably
be found that. while the large majority of
homes were then touched in some way
with the manufacture, the sale, or the use
of intoxicating LIQUORS, the rule is now
very largely the other way. This is not to
deny that temperate drinking at social
gatherings is on the increase. We believe
is mostly in the way of cold business cal.
culation. Drinking habits are held to rem
der an employe unsafe. The railroad set
an example which has been felt every
where throughout the country. The deci.
sion is ir favor of abstinence. The com.
mercial man of to-day meets an intenser
and broader competition. He knows very
well that he must have the entire possess
sion of his wits, at least during business
the huge struggle that, involves millions.
You will hardly find drinking millionaire
in the United States. He may be. willing
that others should drink. may prefer that
they should. but during business hours he
never INDUCES. Most of these men are
total abstainers at all times. There IS a
Congressional bar, but there are no such
drunken orgies in the Congress of to-day
as used to occur frequently in the years
before the Civil War. We have no Gov
ernors in these days who are notorious for
their drunken sprees. This was not the
case fifty years ago. as we remember OF
Illinois and of Delaware AID of other
States. The men who give ofense to the
people as bosses are not drunkards. They
are very sober and clear headed. and gen.
orally highly moral in their habits. So
ciety has no reason for lamentation over
decadence in sobriety, so far as we men
see. The arrests for drunkenness do not
mean that our drinking habits are on the
increase. Most of this increase in arrests
must be set down to an increased regard
for the decences of society. Now here any
longer is it tolerable that drunken man
shall sleep off his intoxication in public.
We do not. in these days, speak of the
drunkard as having fallen in the ditch:
The figure as we'll as the fact are out OF
date. There is humaner social spirit
abroad that quickly removes him from
jibes and exposure.-Ch-is.ian Register.