The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-03-02
ETGREAT~ DESTR0KK
SONS STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE! OF INTEMPERANcE.
The Drunkard and tho Law - The Inn.
menso Majority Of Topers Have
Walked With Open Eyes Into . Trsp
g Already Crowded by Victims.

"ohs0 DAaJorlty OF IOpcfu lave
Walked With Open Ego, Into Trsp
3 Already Crowded by Victims. :,
The State Commission of Prisons is dis.
posed to,'take a partly medical and q
largely charitable view of drunkenness. In
its annual reporte.the Commission shows
that neariy one-thjrd of the commitments
to jails and penitentiaries in New York
during the past year were for the offence
of intoxication, and says: ..,,
eIhis offence should not be treated
strictly as crime. Drunkenness has la II
no element of malice-ons of the usual and
necessary elements of crime. Habitsal
drunkenness arises largely from mental
weakness, and its treatment should par
take of the characteristics which the State
has deemed wise to use In other cases OF
mental alteration There 10 large dis
tinction between the man who cannot
control his appetite for drink and the man
who wilfully and maliciously commits an
offence against the person or property OF
another. The law should recognize this
distinction. The present practice Of send
ing him to Jail OF to penitentiary, brand,
only depraves and discourages him, and at
the same time inflicts punishment and pri-
walton upon his family. Some wiser method
of dealing with this offence. should be as
certained and adopted"
There is lot of truth in all that. OF
course, but there is also dangerous docs
trine. ~ ..t.;;
A man may not know what he is doing
when drunk, but he knows what he is do
ing when he begins to drink. II he is .
lunatic in his cups and commits crime, it
is the laws theory that, as he is Q volun-
tary lunatic, he should be held responsible
e. ~ Il~aL = q
No doubt In some cases drunkenness -
. disease-in the case of the born dipso-
maniac, who periodically yields to the i'm.
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-
Ecanan. . 49,. ,1,.;.
But it is also true that the dipsomaniac
who has a really" ,"uncontrollabl impulse"
to drink; is rare. Ihe average dipsomaniae
is paralleled by the man who knows that
he has a hereditary tendency to consump.
ton. In each instance the duty Is imposed
to the encouragement of the tendency
Forewarned should mean forearmed.
The immense majority of dTunkards ara
| men who have simply acquired habit
that has strengthened into vice. They
have walked with open eyes into o trap
already crowded with victims. .yi
The drunkard is to be pitied. but pity.
given in too generous measure does harm.
It reduces the mans sense Of responsible
ity for his sins. It obscufes the truth that
/ in all save one case in hundred the drink
er is suffering from the weakness of will
that follows upon habitual self-indulgence.
Every man who controls his appetites, or
has lost control Of them, knows az q fact
of experience that, the will can as readily
be made strong BY exercise as the muscles
or rendered fabby by disuse.
The State Commission of Prisons means
we'll. Its spirit Us kindly. We believe it
is right IN holding that the State should
make distinction between the man With
| whom drinking is disease, and the wilfnl,
sensual drunkard. The place for the first
is the hospital, the place for the latter, as
now, Is the jail. ....
But when all is said this great fact il
! true:
A 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 if he honestly
tries. = -.
Let us be just to the drunkard, and mer-
ciful, but for his own sake. and the sake
of his family and the community, don't
coddle him.-New York American. p.
| ~