The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-05-20
| THE GREAT. DESTROYER
some STARTLING FACTS Aeou1
THE VICE OF INTEMPeRANcE.@


The New York Evening Journals Answe,
to a Pathetic Letter-who Teaches
Women to Drink: A Man Usually
and Monotony Helps Also. -.
Editor Evening Journal - For reasons
which, hope you deem sufficient -and. re
spect (being myself the responsible editor
OF a newspaperj, l cannot sign my name to
| this communication, whose purport is to
secure the aid of the New York Journal in
re-establishing home whose ruin was
practically accomplished through whisky.
| In this case, it is woman's unfortunate
habit, the result primarily of heredity, that
I chronicle. Your paper has had many edi.
torial sermons directed against the awful
male offender has invariably been the OBJ
| ject of attack. Their directness has at.
tracted me, their sincerity encourages me
| to this Won't you direct your batteries
| against the spreading habit of whisky
drinking in the ranks Of weil-bred, we'll
ucaSed women, many of whom are to-day
making wanderers from home of the men
who are only too eager to aid in their res
| toration?
I write this under restraint No man,
even under a nom de pace, can put on
| paper the secrets of his sorrow. Suffice to
say that l have held high public office and
| am we'll known in the circle most fire.
| quent 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 che divorce courts, and am
thankful indeed for that, though the strug.
gle scared my soul. The unfortunate one
in this case lost a father, a mother and two
brothers directly through alcoholism. At
the present time sole surviving sister is
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
public or private, when indulgence was pos
sible: From that. it spread to private
drunkenness, aided by her associates, until
my, rome was hell, my work impaired
and my ambitions killed.
Won't you take up the question, and
from my standpoint direct it to women? I
am a strong man, but you can help me.
Will you do it, for Lam only one of,many?
SUFFERER.
We have given thoughtful consideration
to this very pathetic letter, and to the
problem which the writer presents. In
writing about drink and drunkenness we
have purposely refrained from referring to
the matter from the point of view of wom-
en-. Excessive drinking by women is most
oIloShHS duu ulQSI pdlulul W CLe
We shall treat OF it to-day, in response to
our. readers. request. But we shall deal
with the subject from one point of view
only-the mans responsibility.
Many homes are made miserable, unfor-
tunately, by drinking, public or private.
by women. And many>men suffer humilia-
tion and the worst and most hopeless
agony through the excessive drinking Of
their wives. g."
But who is it that causes women to drink
at first? We do not refer now to the case
of he husband whose letter we print, but
to the generality of cases.
Invariably it ls some man who induces
the woman or the young girl to begin. And
only too often it is the husband himself
ton. ..T ...
In every restaurant you may see men Of
fering deadly concoctions, cocktails or
whisky in some more or less open disguise,
to 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 too
well to fear that she will ever take too
much. She is too refined for that. But it
is the women of refined and highly strung
nervous systems that are most easily inau-
CuSCo Wy ulluh, duS IudI SuCCumU uiOSb
easily to the habit. Their nerves, once ac-
customed to the poison, crave it, and will
have it, when the mans tougher and
coarser organization makes an easier fight
against the temptation.
There are in America tens of thousands
Of homes made miserable by the drinking
of unhappy women. And in every single
case some man is originally responsible.
The customs of rich and foolish soeiet,
are responsible to some extent for exces-
sve drinking among women. The fire.
young girls are supplied with champagne
and other drinks to strengthen them for
the social campaign" turn out each year a
certain number of victims and supply the
most profitable of inmates to the many re-
treats for wrecked women
But the evils Of that thin social crust
called society are relatively unimportant.
The drinking by American women is due to
the stupidity of hundreds of thousands of
with no evil intent induce women to drink
cocktails or other deadly poisons.
Nearly all men agree in looking with
very. great scorn upon the woman who
drinks too much. A man may drink to ex-
cess regularly and publicly, yet continue
to be highly. respected, especially when he
happens to have money. But there is no
indulgence or forgiveness for the woman
not the slightest. This undoubtedly is
just as WELL since the injustice that it
causes is more than Offset by good results
neral reprobation of woman's excessive ,
drinking.
Yet, as between men and women who
yield to drink, the women, although inf
nitely less numerous, are far more desery-
ing of sympathy
Among men who drink there are two
classes whose excess does not surprise US.
OF the young drunkard in the fashionable
club we say:
"His father left him much money and
nothing to do. What else can you expect
Of MIN? He has no real interest in life"
And of the overworke man, door'cd to
E.. continuous round of uull drudger. we