The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-05-07
The GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
tbs VICE OF lNTeM9ERANcE.

| he New Yori. Evening Journals Ansu ei
TO a Pathetic Lcitcr-who Teaches
Women 10 Drink? A Man Usually
and Monotony Helps Also.
Editor Evening Journal -- For reasons
which ! hope you deem sufficient and re.
spect tbeing myself the responsible editor
OF newspaper. ! cannot sign my name to
TINS communication whose purnort is to
secure the aid OF the New York Journal in
re.establshirg home whose ruin was
practically accomplished through whisky
N TINS case, 1t is a wOmans unfortunate
nabit, the result primarily of hercdity. that
chronicle. Your paper has had many cdi.
torial sermons directed against the awful
results OF too much indulgence, but the
male offender has invariably been the oh
lect of attack. Their directness has at.
tiacted me. their sincerity encourages me
to this. Won't you direct your batteries
against the spreading habit of whisky
drinking in the ranks OF wcll-bred. wcl-ed
uca;ed women. many of whom are to-day
making wanderers from home of the men
who are only too eager to aid in their res
.oTatipnI
| write this under restraint. Nn man.
even under nom de pace. can put on
paper the secrets of his sorrow. Suffice Ia
say that ! have held high public Office and
am well known in the circle / most frc
1nent as a devoted home lover. For my
child's sake. as well as from sense of my
responsibilities as a husband. | hid the
freedom OF the divorce courts ard am
thankful indeed for that though the strug
gle scared my soul The unfortunate ono
IN thus case lost a father. Il mother and two
brothers directly through alcoholism. At
the present time 4 sole surviving sister il
rapidly following the rest. The habit grew
On my wife, a beautiful young woman. to
such an extent that only humiliation fol-
lowed her attendance at dinners either
)nhjc or private. when INDULGENCE was DOS.
slb'c. From that it spread to private
drunkenness. aided by her associates. until
my. rome was 4 hell. my work impaired
md m" ambitions killed
Won't you take IN the question. and
from my standpoint direct it to women? |
am strong man but YOU can help me
VIII you do it, FOR ] am only one Of many:
SUFFERER.
We have given thoughtful consideration
to this very pathetic letter, and to tho
problem which the writer presents. In
writing about drink and drunkenness wc
have purposely refrained rom referring TO
the matter from the point of view OF won.
en-. Excessive drinking by women is most
shocking and most painful 10 the mind
We shall treat of il to-day, in response 10
onr rend"r's request. But we shall deal
with the subject from one pont of view
my ''lI HAL Ich!)pn>'DlIlly.
Many homes. are made miserable. unror.
tunatcly, by drinking. public or private
by women. And many men suffer humilia.
ton and the worst aud most homeless
agony through the excessive drinking OF
their wives
but who Is il thai causes women to drink
at iir5ty We do not refer now to the case
oi he husband whose letter we print. but
70 the generality OF cases.
Invariably it is some man who induces
the woman or the Young girl TO begin. And
only too often it Is the husband himself
whose blind folly leads his wife to destruc.
lion
In every restaurant you may see men of.
terIng deadly concoctions. cocktails OF
whisky in some more or less open disguise.
20 women with them.
The husband takes his cocktail and he
offers his wife one. One can do no harm.
he thinks, and anyhow he knows her toe
well 10 fear that she will ever take too
much. She is too refined for that But it
is the women OF refined and highly strung
nerv2uSS systems that. are most easily inhu.
enced by drink, and that succumb most
Easily to the habit. Their nerves, once ac.
rustomed to. the poison, crave it. and will
have 1t, when the mans tougher and
aoarser organization makes an easier fight
lgainst the temptation.
There are in America tens OF thousands
u homes made miserable by tine drinking
Of unhappy women. And in every single
ease some man is originally responsible.
The customs of rich and foolish society
are responsible to some extent for eXces.
ave drinking among women. The frc.
luent, iatigulng enterto ;nmerts mt which
youag girls are supplied with che mpagne
ird Other drinks to strengthen them for
The social campaipn" turn out each wear
certain number of victims and supply the
most profitable of inmates to the many re.
treaJs for wrecked women.
I'm the evils OF that thin social crust
,,nled society, are relatively unimportant
me drinking by American women is due TO
he stupidity of hundreds of thousands of
american men who criminally. although
with no evil intent. induce women to drink
cocktails OF. other deadly poisons.
Nearly all men agree in looking with
rerV, great scorn upon the woman who
1rinSs too much. A man may rink to ey.
9ess regn9riy and publicly. vet continue
TO De highly respected, especially when he
hanpens to nave money. But there is no
ndl.Pence or forgiveness for the woman
not the slightest This nndoubtrdlv il
Just as well, since the injustice that it
,sauses IL more Than Offset by good results
y general reprobation OF womans excessive
drinking
N"t. as between men and women who
y.eld to drink. the women. although inf.
nlteiv less numerous, are far more deserv.
nr OF sympathy
AmonT men who drinl; there are two
classes whose excess does not surprise us.
oi the Young drunkard in the fashionable
',uh we sav:
"His fathe- LEFT him much money and
no.hing 70 d., What else can YOU oxnect
u ril9F Ito has no real interest in life"
And Of the oyerworled man. doomed to
continuous round of dull drudgery. we
say that his life is 81 dull that il is
'ennngh to drive anybody to drink
Millions OF women NAV be included in
one or other of these classes. The rich
young mar. with nothing to do. CORE.
sn,,onds to the wife of 1 rich man. She has
all he monev she wants. nothing to do. no
responsibilities, no real interests. Her
dailv routine includes the usual procession
Of hotties a. luncheon and dinner. She
1rinks like the young man in the club be.
cause sho is bored. and because she finds
That alcohol supplies a temporary, false ex.
?itrment
,Aad thini; Of the millions OF poor women
whose daily lives are dull and monotonous
beyond the life OF any man. Think OF the
women who work from morning until
night, and ALWAYS go 10 bed leaving some
work rndone. Think of the women who
ire cooks, nurses, housemads seamstresses
.t.Nt Nt.n,-.