Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1905-01-11

no ieglllmate demand Tor the OuSl-
ness, growing out of any natural
appetite, or physical necessity,
found in the individual; but on the
contrary, this lsw-protected BUSH
ness, creates and perpetuates the
appetite, even through heredity,
and hence creates the illegitimate
demand for the traffic.
We judge as to whether the tide
on yonder beach is rising and fall
ing by its relative height at the
end of hours and not of minutes.
So, in battling with a curse as old
as the race, decades and centuries
are the grade marks to be watched
on the barometer of reform. A
hundred years ago practically all
farmers used liquors in theirhomes;
now comparatively few use it,
though possibly One-third of their
number occasionally patronize the
bar or the saloon. Then sailors,
sOldieS and travellers used LIQUOR
almost universally; now it is ban
ished from the navy, and though
tolerated in the army for time, it
has at least temporarily departed
thence. Then three-fourths of the
clergy drank habitually, and, l
state it on the authority of f. c.
De Lavan of New York, many
clergymen died from its objects;
now, not one-tenth drink even oc-
casionally, and then in secret and
under the ban of public opinion.
Then the jigger-boss on public
works carried and dispensed whis-
dey at the expense of the employer.
now the employer dismisses the
regular drunkard and distrusts the
tippler. One million of the 1 POO
600 railroad employees are under
prohibition. Then there was the
almost universal belief in the
healthfulness of liquor; now the
schools everywhere-except Pro-
fessor Atwater at a school bearing
the name of a pioneer abstainer
named John Wesley, and perhaps
few others-teach that it is detri-
mental to the health of the body.
of the mind, and of the morals.
Then, it was beverage par excel
lence at ministerial ordinations. at
funerals, at weddings, and at
chriStenings; at barn raisings. har-
vestings, apple-cuttings and corn
huskingS; now it is almost inter
dicted on these occasions. Then
the use of intoxicants as beverage
was largely confined TO the home
and the village tavern bar-roOm,
the latter of which were few and
far between: now the principal
drinking is done in saloons and
clubs, which crowd business CEN
ters and the poorer residence CEN
ters alike, and outnumber frequent
ly the churches, schools, and busi-
ness houses combined.
Among the great middle classes
Is found the largest percentage of
abstainerS, while the spiritually
dumb four hundred up yonder and
the morally slum ten thousand
down yonder nearly monopolize
the tipping, and seem proud to
have corner on the drunkenness.
This is only another evidence of
the ethic and esthetic kinship as
well, of the safe-aSsumed highest
and the generally conceded lowest
stratas of society.
The population of this country
has increased in one hundred years
from five to probably eighty mil
lion, or fifteen fold. 1t is not
capable of proof, but it is estimated
by statisticians, that pauperism,
insanity, imbecility, and crime
have increased more than thirty
fold, or nearly double the ratio of
increase in population. 1t is
matter of proof, however, that at
least twO-thirds of the poverty, in
sanity, imbecility and crime of 1900
was chargeable to strong drink.
Of the 1886 prisoners charged
with homicide in that year, 5.O96
were drinkers, and a large proper
ton of them were known drunk
ards.
The amount of liquor consumed
In the United States in 1888 vas
$40, 1917 76 gallons. In 1898 il
was 1,26S, 1876, 173 gallons, an in
crease of nearly one-half, but the
increase of population during that
ten years was less than one-fifth.
The increase of pauperism, insan-
ity and crime is shown by the
census of 1900 to have kept pace
with the increase of drinking, for