The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-07-03
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT!
THE VICE OF INTEnIPERANcE.
Alcohol Reveals the Beast in Man
= p, Learn the Truth From the Vic.j
Tins of Drink T~henselyes--
..r. q jority Call 1t Curse.

r. Majority Gall 1t curse.
"A German scientist has written =
book on alcohol, in which he sets
forth the novel claim that intoxica-
tion brings out the real characters OF
men, and hence Is an excellent thing
A London paper, in reviewing tng6
work says:
The very fact that alcohol has the
effect Of arousing the natural IND
pulses, as opposed to those habits
engendered by business training, is
an argument of the authors in favor1
of it's use; he recognizes it as a good
thing that men should occasionally
see n another as they are, unen-
numbered by the armor OF business
and social conventions. Alcohol
makes all unmask at the properih hour
In the carnival Of life. h
Does alcohol bring out b real
character Rather does 1t not send
the real character into eclipse q
stimulate the lower and more bestial
impulses? Is a man balancing him
self ~unsteadily, upon the pavementr
or lying stupeied in the gutter, ex-
hibiting his natural proclivittes? is
1t necessary for him to paralyze his
reason in order that he may reveaEl
bis normal self? Must he rob him-/
Jelf Of all except a maudltn sentt-
nentalism, or a brute sayagery, Tor
The purpose Of showing himself as
he is? Does not such a supposftion
imply that the virtues are arttfictalj
while the vices are inherent? II thesl
drunken man is the real man, Is not
the reverse true, that the sober man
Is a counterfeit To justtswhats2
depths Of absurdity does this sort Of
reasoning lead US?
What of the kindlyahusband and
father. who under the influence OF
drink goes home and beats his wife
and children? What of the success
full business man who goes into pro-
tracted debauchery and squanders his
all, leaving those dependent on hind
to starve? What Of the youth OF
sunny natures and high ambition-j
who drinks himself into tm~elancholia3
and commits suicide? What of thes8
one of gentle demeanor who erazeHSI
himself by alcohol andpkills his best
friend? Which is the true c~haractert8
of the typical men, and which the
false? q
Take the case chronicled In yester5|
DAYS American OF eighteen-year-oldI
Patrick McAvoy, who went on asde-5]
bauch, of twentysfours hours, then
Just for practice, shot several times 4
at a veterinary surgeon, spread e
ror through the streets, went lone Tor
find his father walking the floor with 4
the baby, sent a bullet crashing
through his shoulder. and wound up
the night by resisting the officers till&
he himself was fatally wounded. orr
dinarily this attempted parrtcide was
a worthy, Woodworking a d Whfcna
was his real nature?
What is characters. is it not most
truly seen when at its best? Is 1T
not the result Of training, OF eiViltzas
ton, Of development, Of infinite cul-
ture? Is the thing that strikes down
all the finer, higher, saner, better
part of this product fof toll, sacrifice
and evolution the only thing that
truly reveals it? Would it not besass
sensible to say that a city is revealed
only by the catastrophe that over
whelms it, or a nation by the famine
that lays it low?
The German scientist, for the sake
of creating a sensation or, making
phrase, has sacrificed, common sense
and truth. He has used his learning
to advance not the better but the
worse cause. He should learn Wis
dom from the victims Of drink them
selves. n their hearts they DO not
believe such fustian. They do
defend alcohol. For the most part.
they frankly admit it a curse.-NeW
York American.