The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1904-02-10

mcuse 01tOrity OF ICperh hbvW
Walked with Open Eyes Into TrsR
Already Crowded by Victims. -,
The State Commission Of Prisons is dis.
posed TO take q partly medical and -
largely charitable view of drunkenness. In
its annual report the Commission shows
that nearly one.third of the commitments
to jails and penitentiaries in New Yor8
during the past year were Tor the onene@
OF intoxicatlon, and says;
This offence should not be treaties
strictly as Il crime. Drunkenness has in ~
no element Of malice-one of the usual anq
necessary elements of crime. Habitus4
drunkenness arises largely from mentsa
weakness. and its treatment should par
take Of the characteristics which the STATE
has deemed wise to use in other cases a.
mental alteration. There is large dis
tinction between the man who cannoS
control his appetite for drink and the man
who wilfully aud maliciously commits an
offence against the person or property %
another. The law should recognize this
distinction. The present practice OF send<
ing him to Jail or to a penitentiary, brands
ed as a criminal. to consort with thevest
only depraves and discourages him. and al
the same time inficts punishment and pris
vation upon his family. Some wiser method
OF dealing with this offence should be az
certained and adopted
There il lot OF truth in all that. oH
course, but there is also dangerous doe
trine.
A man may not know what he is doing
when drunk, but he knows what he is dou
ing when he begins to drink. Ii he ia g
lunatc in his cups and commits crime. IL
is the laws theory that, as he is volunS
tary lunatic, hc should be held responsible
for his acts And that is common sense.
No doubt in some cases drunkenness ia
3 disease--in the case Of the born dipso7
maniac. who periodically yields to the inns
pulse to cast aside all self-restraint. and
also in the case of the man who has drunk
steadily until his whole system is poisoned<
Both need the doctor more than the po<
hceman.
But it is also true that the dipsomaniao
who has a really uncomfortable impulse"
to drink Is rare. The average dipsomaniad
is paraleled by the man who knows that
he has a hereditary tendency to consumps
ticn. In each instance the duty is imposed
to seek conditions of life least favorable
to the encouragement OF the tendencys
Forewarned should mean forearmed.
The immense majority of drunkards are
men who have simply acquired a habit
that has strengthened into a vice. They
have walked with open eyes into q trap
already crowded with victims.
The drunkard is to be pitied but pity
given IN too generous measure does HARM
1t reduces the mans sense OF responsible
ity for his sins. 1t obscures the truth that
III all save one case III u uunuTeu inc
er IL suffering from the weakness OF will
that follows upon habltual self-indulgence.
Every man who controls his appetites, on
has lost control of them, knows as a fact
of experience tnat the will can as readily
be made strong by exercise as the muscles,
or rendered flabby by disuse.
The State Commission Of Prisons means
we'll. Its spirit is kindly. We believe ID
IA right III holding that the State should
make distinction between the man with
whom drinking is a disease, and the wilfuls
sensual drunkard. The place for the first
il the hospital. the place for The latter, az
now, is the jail
But when all is said this great fact IL
true:
man should be master of himself. and
every man who has not something fatally
the matter with his makeup to start with
can be master OF himself il he honestly
| tries.
Let Us be Just TO the dTunkard. and mer-
ciful, but for his own sake. and the sake
OF his family and the community, don't
GOddle him.-New York American.