The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-01-03
A BISHOPS VIEW OF PROHIBITION.

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dress in New York the other day on our
methods OF dealing with drunkards,
drunkenness and the liquor traffic. Re-
ferring to the legal view that a drunken
man who commits q. crime Is not respon-
sible in the same sense as g. man who is
sober. no said he believed that, the at
titude of the law In regard to the drunk
ard was vicious. 1.-The drtlnkard drinks
the liquor to make hin. drunk de taxes
the thing which destroys him for the
moment, which Is nobody's act but ms
own, and for what he does while IN that
condition he should be held responsible.
There ought to be no two opinions on
that proposition. If a man deliberately
DESTROYS his reasoning power he should
certainly be held to account for the re-
suit of such a reckless act surely ma
tire does not excuse him. When he
violates one of natures laws. no matter
how irresponsible he may be, he must pay
the penalty.
But there is another phase Of this ques-
ton to which Bishop Potter did not re-
fer Because men are held to DO IRE
sponsible while in liquor many Of them
take ADVANTAGE of that fact to get drunk
and commit offenses which would not De
tolerated in a sober man. Many of US
have in our experience met men who
filled I'D with the deliberate purpose OF
having it out with some other man OF
men whom they did not like. and SO save
themselves from punishment, yet know
ing full well all the time what they were
about IF the law should ceal Win
drunken criminals as it deals with soper
criminals, there would be fewer drunk
en- criminals TO be dealt with.
Passing on from vicious law" on this
subject, the Bishop next spoke of vi
cious sentiment" you will remember, :"
said he, that the picture by John G.
Cough was that Of man who was
victim to the vicious rum habit. He was
not vicious himself, but practically a
martyr to the sale Of liquor. L believe
this just as false a sentiment contin-
ued the Bishop. cas- the other is a false
law. I believe that a drunkard should
not be treated or regarded with compass
sion. or differently from anybody else
who has committed a crime The whole
theory of John B. Coughs teaching, to
my mind, was false and rotten" The
fact Is we have been too much in the
habit of coddling men who are addicted
to drink. 1t is true that some men VINO
have become thoroughly enslaved to the
habit are unable Of their own will to
break away from it, but if we are going
to excuse such men. then we ought to
deal with them as we deal with idiots
and lunatics-take them up and confine
them in an asylum until their reason and
sense of responsibility have been re-
stored.
trary to the fundamental principle Of
modern civilization to teach a man that
somebody else and not himself is respon-
sibIe for his misdoings. The distinguish
Ing characteristic of this age Is indi-
vidual responsibility. Men arc not to be
coddled like children, and to be saved
from the drink habit or any other bad
habit by statutory law. Under our law
we do not permit liquor dealers to sell
to children: but children are not men and
women The child is under authority
and under discipline until 1t attains the
age of responsibility; after that each
and every person is responsible for his
conduct and must make a character for
himself IF the lawmakers of the land
undertake to make men and women good.
and keep them out of mischief by pater-
nal laws, they must not stop at the rum
traffic. They must see to it that all
temptations are removed They must
treat the men and women of the country
as so many children to be kept always
under authority. But such a system, even
IL it should be successful in this respect,
would be worse than failure in other re-
spects, for it would destroy the last YES
tige of manhood and wonanhood.
There was no iron fence around the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil in the
Garden of Paradise Our first parents
were warned against eating of the fruit
of that tree, but they were left absolutely
free to eat Otherwise they would not
have been free agents.
If the Scriptures teach anything. it IS
that there are temptations in the world
on all hands and that men and women
must do right IN spite Of temptation I.
is only by the exercise Of resistance to
temptation that character is developed.
Once more we say that the human family
is not to be coddled into virtuous living.
MURDER AND ATTEMPTED MURDER.