The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-08-10
THE GREAT DESTROYE
SOME STARTLING FACTS AsoI
THE VICE OF lNTEMPERANcE.
What is Killing England is, Drink-Ist
Family Spends About s12S In a Sin
Year-What the Hard Drinkers Cr'
and What They Get.

What is Killing England is, Drink-Ed
Family Spends About S125f in a Sin,
Year-What the Hard Drinkers Cri
and What They Get.
1.-The chief cause of our industrial.
cav" writes Margaret Poison Murray,
the Contemporary Review, "the real ghI
in the cupboard, IS, without any dol
whatever, our great national hobby, drlI
enness-the one; national and Inlye4
panacea for the ills. of men and women,
and young, high and low, rich and poor
"On this hobby our direct eXpend.tI
last year was $50 millions, about t25
family ($l25), plus the cost in poor raj
homes, refugees, police, prisons, hospiS
and asylums, for the devotees of the hal
But what is the cost to the country FIJI
an industrial standpoint, in brain and M
Gle, in the deadened mind, the blunted
t~ellect, the unsteady hand, the unrenaI
ity and unpunctuality of a habit lnvIncJ
established beyond centuries of tradit1
and winked at by employer as well as
Men at the head OF orr large industl
may drink if they will. No temporal
erusades invade their sacred precincts
in an industrial competition which is u
IDLY becoming an industrial warfare 4
weak point in their armor is the iirstl
reveal itself. The, two generations. II
shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves are aired
telling their tale. The middle clasi
speaking industrially and not socially,
low the example with which they haye1
come so familiar.
1.-THE artisan, the backbone of the cd
try, is in a plight still worse, for in al
ton to his general ignorance, his nard
horizon, his antiquated tools and methd
his unalterable conviction that he has nd
ing to learn, he must meet the bruntI
the warfare handicapped by his intema
ance.
And worst of all, we are in very ac5
possession of l2,000, 900, about, one in a
of our population, who are in AFFECT n
erty, too incapable for anything, even
anarchy; men and women who st5
around the streets of our large citiesl
the hundred thousand, bold, bloated, |
so!ute, black-eyed, sinful, dishonest, |
graded, debauched, never sober except
accident, incapable of se;Ss.respect, and 4
tent to dwell in filth and rags indescIj
bic.
"When a man spends childhood, I'd
and manhood in refining surroundings
anticipate a certain result the natl
outgrowth of such conditions. Whe5
man passes his entire life in an atmosplI
more debasing than pen can portray
are surprised at the natural outgrowtl|
the conditions. We expect q miracle, |
in our chagrin we organize a rigorous
SADIE against the man-not against the
ditions-and we maintain the crusade
til we secure phiianthropic relief
sweeping the man up into a statistic
arranging him alphabetically In a blue
for reference.
"In common with humanity this
has cravings. So have we all. l do
believe that these 100000 crave
whisky. They crave for something
do not possess. So do we all. But
hunger must be for something cyl
ours for good.
ut may, indeed, be for food, cloth
rest, warmth, three square meals a dat
warm sleep, a cozy fire, some human
the charm of a home, the true delight
work, the glory of independence, the
manhood of useful citizenship. Instead
an incubus, the man may be a comme1
asset. and the thought is enough to lid
our philanthropy for the rest OF its hfe.