The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1902-12-11
INEBRIATEs' PROMISES.
A Few facts About the Hospital a.
Good Place 10 Cure Drunks.

m E0W ldCt0 nDeuI the hospital as
Good Place 10 Cure Drunks.
A letter written by an inmate of the
Cherokee hospital to Judge Burnham at
Marshalltown has been made public. The
writer is citizen of Tama county and
an old-time acquaintance of the judge
before whom he was brought recently
for sentence as dipsomaniac. The man
begged and promised so earnestly that
the Judge gave him thirty days. suspen.
sion of sentence is which to reform.
Before the time had expired the man
was brought before Judge Burnham,
protesting that he had not touched a
drop, although he was even then in an
Intoxicating condition. He was given
two years at Cherokee and was carried
away fighting and struggling in resist
ance.
Now he writes to Judge Burnham
that he is cured. He admits that his
experience has been good thing for
him; says he is "bleached out" and that
his appetite for liquor is gone; that he
will never touch it again as long as be
lives, etc., etc. In conclusion, after
citing his good record in the institution,
he asks Judge Burnham to use his inhu-
ence in securing him a parole which he
promises to observe sacredly. Judge
Burnham, in replying, warned the
patient not to be in too big hurry,
lest he be unable to withstand tempta-
ton when released.
Che letter is published in full in the
Msrshalltown Times-Republican and
tn t paper finds in it much to encourage
friends and families who suffer in sor-
row and sympathy for some patient in
the inebriate wards of the state hospi-
tails. 1t says among other thing that
"The letter suggests many points of
merit in the new system, but the priEci-
pal significance in it is the fact that q
man, once supposed to be hopeless
soak, has been put upon his feet again
and is ready to admit that he has been
made a new man."
That is an exceedingly hopeful view
of the matter, and the friends OF all
such men are entitled to the encourage.
ment it affords them, but it cannot be
accepted as safe working basis in deal
ing with the inmates of the inebriate
wards. Judge Burnham was evidently
mindful of this when he advised the
Tama county patient not to be in too
big hurry to get out. The MARSHALL
town paper is also impressed with the
same thought for it is careful to add
that "there is danger of his being re-
leased before the cuEe has had time to
become permanent in character.
There is danger-real danger-that such
a mistake will be made in numerous in
instances 1t is the experience of all
who have had the cure Of confirmed ine-
briates or drug habitues or have had to
deal with them in any way that their
most solemn assurances of reform, pres.
ent or prospective, are in practically
every instance, worth about the breath
that utters them or the paper on which
they are written, and nothing more.
This does not imply lack of sincerity on
the part of those making such promises.
they are never more in earnest about
anything in all their lives. They promise
in utmost good faith and with full in
tent to be as good as their word. Nor is
their detection and penitence when
they have failed miserably to justify the
confidence reposed in them at all
teigned. They invariably feel worse
about the matter than anybody else.
The physiological, or rather pathology
cal, fact is that the agentlused, whether
it be liquor, or morphine, or cocaine, or
chloral, or any or all of the drugs that
enslave, produces paralysis Of the will
and rend ers the unfortunate victim of
the habit practically as powerless as a
babe. Such unfortunates are, there
fore, legitimate subjects for the broadcast
charity in thought and Judgment. To
deal With them intelligsnaly and justly
it is necessary to know AID resognize
their limitations as well AZ their hopes
and aspirations. The Tama county man
who wrote to Judge Burnham had been
in the hospital only thirty days. 1t
need not be said that such a brief
period is entirely inadequate to undo
the changes in mental and physical
structure that have been wrought by
many years. liquor addiction to excess.
The Charlton Herald Says:
The Herald editor is esrious to know