The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-06-26
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF INTEMPERANCE.

Alcohol Docs Not Reveal the Real Man
drunkenness Simply Destroys
What Centuries Have Built Up,
and. That is Human Decency. ..
A German gentleman, of the pains
taking kind, writes a book on alcohol.
Drunkenness shows mems real char
acter, says he. He thinks it good
that men should be drunk occasional
ly, in order to understand one an
other thoroughly.
The idea that drunkenness reveals
the real man is false.
AS we'll say that insanity reveals
the real woman, as you go through
the violent wards and study the un-
happy creatures.
Drunkenness does for men what in
sanity does.
The best elements in human beings
are the things most recently acquired.
For instance, men gradually re-
place brutality with kindness, and
blind superstition with intelligent
thought. They are slowly replacing
moral baseness with aspiration to-
ward truth and purity.
Those forces or characteristics Of
the brain acquired most recently in
human history are destroyed most
easily.
The longer any feeling has been in
the human mentality, al the way
back in history, the stronger it is.
For instance, the instinct of self
preservation, the desire to save
own lives, has been implanted in all
animal life since the beginning of
time. In case of accident, sudden
fear or surprise, nine times out of
ten that ancient instinct Of self-pres-
ervation comes to the top and takes
absolute command, wiping out the
others.
To say that drunkenness shows the
real man is stupid. Does a fire that
burns off the roof Of a house show
the real house? 1t simply takes off
the best part, the necessary part, the
glory of the structure.
The best woman in the world, the
noblest, most clean-minded, may on
becoming insane lose all moral char
acter, descend to the most shameless
depths of degradation.
1t is not her fault, 1t by no means
shows the real woman" 1t simply
shows that the disease causing insan-
ity has deprived her of her real char
acter, destroyed the moral beauty
gradually built up during centuries.
And alcohol, attacking mems
minds, destroys first Of all the best
qualities that he has-decency, peace
ableness.
If alcohol makes a man a vicious
fighter, it doesn't show that his real
character is that of a vicious fighter.
It simply destroys the mental quality
that had conquered his fighting in
stinct.
If drunkenness makes a man brag
and boast and lie-as it usually does
that doesn't mean that the real
character Of the man is that of a liar
and boaster. 1t means that alcohol
has destroyed the self-respect, the
sound judgment and the modesty &C
quired recently.
So it goes with all the Characters
tics Of human beings. Alcohol show
ing its victims as d~espicable does not
show the real man at, all. 1t simply
shows the man as &c would be with
out the years of development of edu-
cation and of relative sobriety that
have lifted him from savagery into
civilization and decency.
When you see a drunkard you do
not see the whole man. You see what
is left of that man after the alcohol
has first burned away and for the
moment destroyed the best, the con
trolling part of him.-Editorial by
Arthur Brisbane, in the New York
Evening Journal.