The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-05-18
DONALD RHUE'S LETTER.
CONTINUED from Page ~


Methodsts who for $50 years are total abs+ainers
and whose "Disciplin" will not admit TO member,
ship in their churches any man who deals in in
toXicants ought to- physically and mentally. ont
class those around them, whereas, it is notorious
! they have not produced a solitary man who in
mind or body has reached the plane of greatness
or with the solitary exceptions of Morley pm
shaw, the eloquent divine, and Dr. Clarke. thto Ri
bic commentator, even the level of distinction
Third-They contended that no vounp man
should touch hard liquor till he had entered upon
! his twenty-tifth year. That at this age the will
ought to be able to control the natural desires and
force the natural appetltes to rational obedience
! They drew a distinction between the natural the
| acquired and the habitual appetites holding that
| the habitual appetite may develop into a cravino
and at times an uncomfortable passion dominating
the will. That for pathological, psychical pbvsi.
cal or for other conditions of the mind or body or
for all together liquor is poison to some men and
their experience and good sense ought TO prevail
upon them to abstain before they become victims
to the drink habit" or wreck their constitutions
That as some stomachs cannot digest certain
foods condiments and the like some systems can
not assmilate whisky, even when plentouslv ii
luted with water That some men may drink freely
for thirty or forty years and remain healthy and
that others have to be careful even in their mode
ration That, compared with the population. and
considering the high wages and salaries paid the
opportunities and temptations there are few drunk
ards, but that there many who drink That an
occasional "drunk" the result of convivialty good
fellowship a might with the boys" does not CON
stitute drunkness or slate man with drunkarcs.
That the who drinks in secret and before
breakfast is in the rapids and had better strike for
the shore.
Here sir, displayed for the approval or con-
demnatlon of your readers, are spread out the sam
pies of the conversations and the opinions of these
men of experience and of matured Judgment.
Allow me now to trespass little more on your
indulgence. Back in 1863 Fitzhugh Ludlow wrote
the 'Hasheech Eater" book describing the raw
ages the mind and body of the habitua user of
the drug Cannabie lndica. Ludlow was a hasheech
fend, incurable, whom the habit DESTROYED at
the early age of "a. His suferings were pitiable,
till death, in mercy called off the hounds A few
years before Ludlow's time De Quincy wrote the
Dreams of an Opium Eater" in which he de-
scribed his own agony and remorse, and his futile
efforts to strange the hydra headed monster to
which he was chained. Then a few years ago Fran
les Wilson publisbstkfs book the Needle and the
Flesh" giving his experiences with the drug
his sleepless nights his demoniac Visions his weird
Authorizations, his moral and physical decay Viii
son Is still living, in London, prematurey old
man. These books with the poet Coerdges essay
on Opium and Its Effect on the Human System"
ought to- be in every library especially in the
youths department. Strange is it not that calling
omemory the names of the brilliant men who
shortened their lives, and imperriled their reputa
lions by whisky, there is novel, auto-experience
or book describing the campaign of the periodic
drinker, the Chronic soak" or. the alconeuresthe
mic the with whose nerves and brain whisky
plays the mischief. The English magazine writer
hernochau, tried to picture the degradation of
London drunkard of the curbs, but failed, because
he was concerned more for his reputation as de-
scrptive writer than for the interests of truth
Ii L could brace up my old friend, Joseph Null
haitian who when | last heard of him was arrested
for stealing an overcoat and occupied cell in
CO., LpO,,
ton and induce him to record his career his sue
cess, his popularity his convivial nights his grad
ual decay his awful sufferings of soul and body.
his degradation and his ruin, | think the record
would outclass all the preachments of John Cough
or Francis Murphy. When | knew Mulhattan he
In receipt of salary of $4,000 year and
travelling account almost as large He was swell
dresser noticeaby well groomed and one of the
most brilliant and best natured men on the road.
Whisky robbed him of his $4,000 salary and his
position. | met him year ago in San Diego fire.
quenting back alleys and cheap saloons in the Chi
nese quarter. His clothes were soiled and of cheap
material he emaciated bleared and hollow
eyed. shook hands with him, talked over old
times, loaned him few dollars and babe him good
bye. Mulhattan was "all in" If the sincere and
honest resolutions, the pledges promises determin-
atoms he had made and broken in the past ten
years were soldifed into bricks, they would build
another Horton House in the city of San Diego
Too much whisky will pervert the decentest man
alive into common "bum" or a stable swab and
will ruin the brightest hopes of the most promis-
ing man on earth.
And now, sir, while am not a prophet or the
Of prophet, let me make prediction. Some
day the great heart of the people will go out in
sympathy to like Joseph Mulhattan Some
day the people, who contributory agents. in the
degradation Of the drunkard by licencng the man
ufacture and sale of intoxicants, will commission
every legislature in the union to build at their ex-
pense homes for the detention and reformation of
men, who after heroic efforts to save themselves
have lost heart and foated with the drift If there
be anything in the "Keeley Cure" let the state pur-
chase the cure and let the home and cure be open
to every who, voluntary or involuntary, goes
is committed to the institution.
Again, let us be patient and forbearing with
the men in the drift" The other day niclSed up
in my daughters sewing room and snuggery a
book which was given to her by one of the nuns
of the convent. When | married her mother TWEEN
ty-fve years ago | gave promise to allow the is
sue of orr marriage to be brought I'm in the Roman