The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-08-02
BABIES IN
LONDON PUBS
Phases of the Drink Evil That
Give Alarm in
England.

alcohol on the human system. In tht
London Lancet a few weeks ago z
number of the best known British
physicians published a manifesto. ex-
pressing their opinion that in certain
circumstances, and when used with
due discretion, alcohol was beneficial
to man.
This statement came somewhat as a
bombshell and has given rise to an
acrimonious discussion among some of
the leaders of the medical world. 1t
may he asserted nevertheless that the
trend Of scientific opinion is in favor of
total abstinence and that the greatest
authorities now hold the view that
there are few cases of disease in which
the employment of alcohol is service
able.
| AT any rate, opinions are altogether
unanimous that excess of alcohol is
| injurious to man in the highest de-
gree and that much of the physical
and moral degeneration and degrade
ton to which civilized races are SUBJ
| ject is due TO the abuse of spirit drink
ing.
Unfortunately Great Britain occu-
pies an unenviable position so far as
the consumption of alcoholic beverages
is concerned. Perhaps the people of
this country are not so greatly adj
dicted to strong drinks as was for
merly the case, but the situation in
this respect is still melancholy.
The report of DR.. Brathwaite. in
spector of inebriate homes for part
of England, which was issued a few
weeks ago, affords a striking confirm
alton of this statement. To such
homes are committed for term of
years, as a rule for not less than two
years, those persons who have shown
themselves to be incorrigfble drunk
ards. Individuals, too, who are con-
scious that they lack the self-control
can commit themselves to these homes.
The report of DR.. Brathwaite testi-
fed that drunkenness was Iamentably
common in Great Britain and that on
the whole the vice exhibited few IL
any signs of decrease. The most pitt
full and in many respects the most
sinister and ominous part of the report
was that which referred to the female
inmates of inebriate homes.
Female inmates at the time the re-
port was issued outnumbered male in
mates in the proportion of more than
three to one. Further, it was shown
that alcoholism began at a much earl
Ter age than formerly and that many
of the members of the female sex who
had been sent to reformatories were
but girls. The fact that it is far more
difficult TO reclaim woman from her
drunken habits than it is to reclaim
a man is too well known to need en-
phasis here.
Persons who have had considerable
experience in the. poorer localities of
London as well as in the tenement
district of New York and in the work
mems sections of other American
cities and who are therefore able to
give a comparative opinion in respect
to American saloons and British public
houses say unhesitatingly that in all
respects the saloon on the other side
of the Atlantic is superior to the Brit
ish public house. 1t is cleaner and it
seldom, if ever, presents the grimy
appearance which characterizes the or
binary public house in the poorer dis
tricts on this side of the water.
The best time to view the London
public house in all its glory, or its
shame, is on a Saturday night. Both
men and women are then more or less
we'll supplied with money, which
large number of them freely distribute
at the particular public house which
they affect. Such a place is crowded
TO suffocation with a motley and it
must be said a generally uncleanly
throng of men and women and even
Of boys and girls.
The so-called private bars are a dis
unctive and a peculiarly Objectionable
feature of the London public house.
The bars are merely narrow boarded
partitions opening to a common coun-
ter and afford excellent facilities for
women to drink, to some extent shield
ed from the public gaze.
The ventilation of these bars is in
adequate, indeed execrablc: the heat
is very great, as the poor insist that
the temperature should be high and
proper sanitary arrangements are con-
spicuous by their absence The result
is that the atmosphere Is stuffy and
almost suffocating. which combined
with the crowded state of the bars
is especially conducive to the contract
ing and the spread of disease
English women. and perhaps London
women more than women in any other
part of the country, are probably the
only members of their sex in the world
who will shamelessly and unblushing-
ly stand at the bar of a public house
and drink. OF course. Americans who
have visited the districts of London in
which the poor most do congregate
have been greatly struck by this faa