The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1902-06-11
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE Of NTEMPeRANcE.
Ninoty-nine Out Of hundred Suicides
Result From Excessive Drinkins-Ths
so-Calied Moderate Drinker u . 6aA
SIsht--A HIdsous Ambition.

hundred result from excessive drinking.
The hundredth case il very often that OF
some miserable woman driven to suicide
| by poverty or abuse-tco much whisky
drinking by some man usually causes tho
| poverty and abuse.
When You see q lot Of young men gamb-.
ling away their money, sleep. future and
II one OF them is not drinking, he is tho
sharp-eycd, clear.headed swindler engaged
in robbing the others.
That swindler among gamblers knows
better than anybody else that his ablest
ally, his most cunning assistant, il alcohol.
Il 10 the clever swindler who most ener.
gctically urges drinking among his victims.
In every prosperous gambling house in
| America the players get all they want to
drink for nothing.
Champ ,gne, whisky, brandy are offered
freely to all who come, whether they play
for big or little stakes.
Many a mau ruined by gambling has been
made q gambler and captured for life by
the drink offered him at the door,. just 40
| he has made up his mind not to gamble, or
to stop gambling and 60 home:
A young man made notorious through
inherited money recently squandered
large fortune at gambling in one night.
His friends could only say for him by way
Of excuse that he drank too much.
It will be admitted by the sober man
drunkard-that whisky adds strength to
every vice, to every harmful inclination.
At the same time It weakens every good
| resolution, every one Of the forces that
work within US for our betterment.
These editorials on whisky drinking arc
not written especially for the man who by
actual experience knows the results OF cx-
,cessivc drinking. They are written in ths
hope that they may promote serious thinlk
ing among men whose habits are not yee
formed. that they may awaken keen
sense Of .espon;SSsy ,Ssr among .psrs those VINO
To-day let US briefly discuss the case Of
the so-called moderate" whisky drinker.
OF moderate" drinkers at least half arc
struggling against the temptation to drink
excessively. OF the moderate whisky.
drinkers, Of those who pride themselves
on their self.restraint. a great majority do
drink to excess occasionally, and every
time they make this mistake their modcf-
alton diminishes and their self-eontrcl 10
weakened. |
called moderate" whisky drinker.
He takes a drink, then takes another
then uses up his best energies and strength
Of will in the attempt to keep from taking
a third. BE was, technically. "moder-
ate" drinker last year. and considers him
self q moderate drinker this year. But
what be takes to-day he would have
looked upon with horror q year or two
years ago. :
The moderate" drinker, gradually drift
ing toward excess, suffers more keeniE
The drrnkard takes his heavy dose OF al
coholc poison. He wipes out utterly his
selfrespect, his strength Of will. every de-
sire to be decent man. While the alcohol
lasts his moral sufferings are over. he suf-
fers physically the next day. then drinks
again, and so on until the end.
The moderate drinker struggles constant
ly with himself. II he is an intelligent
man, he constantly mistrusts himself and
fears his growing inclination. :
If he has the power OF selfexamination
he knows how much his success is hurt By
his drinking, he knows how much harm
it does to those who blindly rely on hin
statements of his moderation. he knows
what a lie the talk Of moderation is. .
The hard drinker goes to destruction:
be travels quickly over his hideous journey.
The so-called moderate drinker strug-
giles, md deceives himself more or less.
Sometimes, If he is fortunate and not over
driven by cares and failures, he gets
through life in more or less respectable
fashion. More often he fills up the place
II some confirmed drunkard who has gone
to his grave by one OF the whisky routes.
The drinker who foolishly talks, at home
and abroad, Of his moderate" drinking
and its harmless character, is among the
most harmful of men. During his brief Pc
Rod of life he makes whisky respectable.
He is the recruiting sergeant who adds to
the army Of drunkards. !
Another dangerous, and at the same
time preposterous. creature is the besotted
fool who boasts of the amount that he can
drink. .
In every bar.room, in every club, you
meet a poor, befuddled, weakened creature
Dragging abou. his capacity This same
man sneers at the respectable human being
who cannot drink much. ::
It is actually fact that the drunkard,
who boasts OF the quantity Of alcohol that.
he can put into his System il often ad-
mired by other men. He never Is com
pared, as he should be compared, to hog
with tuberculosis. .
When you next hear q man boasting OF
what he can drink and filing the minds OF
young men with hideous ambition to bs
brutes, give the hard drinker few facts. =
Tell him that the capacity, to drink .
great deal means a weakened, degenerate
heart. It does not mean strong head.
Take q young man in normal health
with a strong heart and good supply OK
blood-his system is at par. II you add Q
little alcohol you overdrivc his heart, and
food the brain tissue with alcoholic blood,
causing drunkenness This drunkenness,
easily caused, proves physical superiority,
not inferiority 49,. =,
An athlete in perfect condition is made
drunk by an extremely small amount OF al
1al af II Irvtt.I I'D IN
the street would take five times as much to
stop the shaking OF his hands and get HIM
self in condition to beg. That does not
mean that the athlete Is inferior to the
yutter drunkard.
The child fifteen or sixteen years old IN
the last stages OF consumption is sometimes
kept alive by the Use Of alcoho!-such q,
child can absorb without intoxication three
times as much as the strongest man.
These facts may convince the man VINO
boasts of his capacity that his boast Is sim.
ply a confession OF weakness, OF physical
decay. !:
If you think anything said here has truth
and value. repeat it to those who will be
benefited. II you think the points made
are weak and ineffective, think u other
| and better arguments. Remember that, so
far as example and talk 60, you are respon-,
sible for other men, especially for those
about you. ,
Do what you can to promote the develop
ment of a race free from alcoholic poison,
its crimes, cxcesses, miseries and failures.
New York Journal.
| Alcoholic StiInulnn Discarded.
The Massachusetts, State Sanitorium at
Rutland. where consumptives are sent and
given the out-of-door treatment: has prae,
tically discarded the use OF alcoholic stim-
| ulants. Expert opinion, expressed at
L A. a.,horn,,loais in mn