The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1902-12-11
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF lNTEMPERANcE.
The Question OF Tnebriety as the New
York Sun Secs 1.-THE saloon Exists
Becsuse n rrovides Qualification For
the Appetite FOR Alcoholic Stifn n iation

The Question Of Inebriety as the New
York Sun Secs It-rb- saloon Ex,sts
because ~ rrovides Qualification For
tho Appetite ror Alcoholic Stimulation
At a discussion ot the question OF "Thc
Saloon. Its Function and Peris.' hv cleri-
cal and lay nhilOsoDhers. in New York. n
clergyman of Pttsfeld in Massachusetts,.
the Rev, Raymond Callsins. is reported to
have made these rather surprising re-
marks:
"Thc saloon is ministerine to the social
instinct of the people and that is why it
exercises its mysterious and powerful in
Huence in every community. II is an in
formation bureau, it is labor bureau. a
postofficc. a place OF recreation. amusc.
mcnt and fellowship.
picture the condition OF a young labor
ing man alone in the city. As he goes To
his room in his boarding house. past dark
and gloomy churches. he finds one door
opens TO him. and he finds Justification for
seeking his amusement IN the saloon in
the cold and uninterestcd attitude OF onr
Christian society
The influence exercised by the drinking
saloon in every community is not at all
mysterious" Mr.. Calkins, but is due to a
cause which has always been apparent.
The saloon exists because it provides graft
fication for the appetite for alcoholic
stimulation, an appetite which has been
powerful from the time when Noah after
landing from the ark. began TO be hus-
bandman.' planted vineyard" and
drank of the wine and was drunken
Neither in Pittsfeld nor in New York do
people go TO a saloon TO get information or
to obtain labor. 60 post their letters, or
simply for recreation. amusement and fel-
lowship. They go to it to get drink. At
n great part of the bars the customers
tarry only long enough to pour down their
nj tl.,l
n spirit of sociability may prevail. The
great and primary attraction at all is the
stimulant.
Neither is the Rev. Mr. Calkins justified
in attributinP the tendency to frequent sa
looms to the default of churches and Chris
tians. No young laboring man alone in
the city is driven 20 the saloon by their
neglect to exercise the influence proper to
them, and none will make that excuse for
going to drinking place unless he is seek
ing TO manufacture DreteXt for crafty
ing his appetite Nothing except his de-
sire for a drink is responsible for his
course.
How to find "a substitute for the sa.
loon was a question much discussed at
this conference. Such a substitute. it
seems from statistics gathered by DR.. Gro
theirs. has been found by great numbers Of
people in the secret use OF morphine. and
We are receiving letters from victims Of
lne naDlt Wnlch cOnflrm ms observation
and conclusion that it is widespread. all OF
them being from men far above the aver
age in intelligence. 1t is demonstrated
that when the appetite for artificial slim
ulation is thwarted in one direction it may
be diverted to another and a still more
dangerous and pernicious form OF indul-
gence; that frequently men and women
who detest alcoholic drunkenness fall a
prev to an infinitely worse intoxication.
The cure for the influence OF the saloon
which seems so mysterious" TO the Pitts
field clergyman is not in improving drink.
ing places so as to make them more desir-
ably efficient in "mnistering to the social
instinct of the people" but in controlling
the appetite for stimuants to which they
minister, first of all. So long as that ap-
petite is left unrestrained the evil results.
whether there are or are not saloons at
which to crafty it, A drunkard does not
need TO go to a saloon to get drunk. He
can keep the stuff at home. The strictest
abstainer from alcohol may secretly keep
a hypodermic syringe with which TO inject
morphine into his system to his utter un-
doing. The question of inebriety is very
much larger than the saloon question:
New York Sun.