The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-11-09
What He Says of Their Bestial Orgies on
Return of the Troops from
the African War.
Drunkenness and Concomitant Vices Hold
Sway Over the People in
England's Capital.

In an article of several columns in
the Irish World, Mr.. j. Grattan Grey.
author of "Australasia, Old and New"
describes some scenes of degradation
which he witnessed in London during
sojourn in that modern Babylon. lie
says in part:
l know a good deal about so-callcd
British civilization" in the distant
lands of Australia and New Zealand
and other islands of the Pacific, and
declare most cmphatically that what
British civilization" has accomplished
In those ATTITUDES is the decentralization
Of the native races, whose misfortune
it has been to be brought compulsorily
under the protection" of that power.
Morally and physically, it has ruined
and decimated them, for the merchant
has always been close upon the heels
of the missionary, and drink and other
vices have been the neverfniling re-
suits For these foreign missions vast
sums arc collected annually. whilst in
the very heart OF the nation in its own
capital, u condition of things exists far
worse than Savagcry. The vast field
for missionary enterprise at home is
, neglected, its own millions of s,lvagcs
left uncarcd for, in order that the
llyrM-rtical prctelsc of "civilizing" na-
tive races a long way off my be at
tended to. And while enormous sums
of money arc spent in this way, tl,ou-
sands Of starving poor in London cry
! aloud for bread, thousands of young
Lives are prcmaturcly sacrificed, ana
thousands live under conditions that are
unfit for swine to herd in This is no
mere picture of The Imagination but
downright solid facts. based upon an
unfortunately too solid foundation.
What Tbscrvant man or woman is
there who passes through the streets
/ of London today without being shock
Nl at the state of degradation to which
. the human race has fallen? Drunken
ness nbolnhs everywhere, and what is
most lamcntablc is the enormous pro-
i portion of girls and women who are
| addicted to drink.
/ The licensing laws of the country
glve encouragement to this vice. If
one wants to realzc the terrible havoc
! which thc drink curse is making upon
| the middle and tho poorer classes In
i London, let him 20 through and around
, the city by day or night, but the latter
csptrially. Let him take his seat upon
: the top Of an omnibus. from which he
can obtain n full view into the glitter
ing bars and gin palaces along the
route. Every bar is crowded with
noisy men and women, youths and
girls. drinking and mauling each other,
shouting. dancing and qnarrcling as
though hell had been let loose, chill
drcn hanging on by their mothers
skirts. and these degraded mothers in
various stages Of intoXication. That
could from personal observation de-
scribe things as I saw them. ] have
often seated myself upon the top of
an omnibus and have Travelled in all
directions. cncountcring the same dis
gusting exhibitions rvrrywhcrc-wom
en- rcclng with drink. with blcarcd
eyes and damaged faces. uttcring foul
language anh generally conducting
themselves more like fcnds than hll-
man beings.
The police court records supply
abundant evidence of the utter dcgra-
dnti0n into which large proportion Of
Lon1On's wOmAniind has fallen. and
whilst l was in London the Morning
Leader published the particulars con-
ncctcd with the arrest of n drunken
woman and her three -ycnr-old child.
The paragraph stated that when the
child woke up in The police cell next
morning its first demand was beer, and
the child became very abns:ve When
It's request was not complied with.
The vice has become so great that a
husbands protection society has ac,