The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1908-01-10
SLAVES OF THE STILL
PitiabIe Condition of the Victims
q ''~ohol.
THE B0NO1u1 Is ABSOI-U {.

WY ' "S ~''S
Place as a D~estroyer-It Creates
Strife and Leads to Crime, Destroys
Ambitions and Wrecks Homes.
Courts deal with crimes after they
have been committed. 1t is for the
people to do the preventive work.
Whisky means danger. and the
degree of danger depends on ones
susceptibility to the poison of alcohol.
Two young men may begin to take
an occasional social glass under pre-
cisely similar conditions. After a few
years one Of those men may be a mod
crate drinker. The other may be a
drunkard. But which one will become
the drunkard2 There is no way to tell
save by making the trial. 1t may be
h one of greatest natural ability. 1t
may be the one of seemingly strong
est will. But it must be the one who
was most susceptible to alcoholic
poison.
There are characteristics which indi-
cate a pre~disposition to certain dis
eases so that the cautious may avoid
them. But there are no such alarm
signals so far as drink is concerned.
1t is this element Of uncertainty as
to its results that gives whisky the
chief place as a destroyer. If it af-
fected all people alike there would he
only one method of dealing with Il
But it does not. Whisky is a seeming
ly harmless stimulant to the few. But
1t brings Indebtedness and misery to
the many. 1t plants suspicion where
there vas trust. 1t creates strife and
leads to crime. 1t destroys ambition.
ruins happiness and wrecks homes.
Even that somewhat limited and al
ways uncertain class who think they
have proved by years of example that
1t Is possible to drink moderately
would be much better off if they did
not drink at all. Systematic poisoning
by small doses does not promote health
or prolong life. The moderate drinker
Is laying the foundation for physical
suffering later on. He is weakening
his resistance to disease and making
himself an easy victim to maladies
that a total abstainer would easily
overcome.
But the other class of drinkers are
the ones who rouse people to action.
These slaves of the still stand for just
what they are. There Is no deception
about their condition. They have long
since passed the point where it was OPP
tional whether they drank or not.
They drink because they must. ami
their pitiful struggles and useless at
tempts to break their bondage are a
constant appeal for effective measures
in dealing with the liquor problem.
Every crime that is committed on
account of drink is an argument
against the sale of whisky. Every
home that is destroyed by drunken
ness is a plea for total abstinence.
Preventive work Is good, but ii
should not stop with the young. There
Is no age limit in the question Of drink
ing. One of the most able and sue
cessful lawyers in a great eastern
metropolis had been brought up with
the idea that if he let drink alone un-
til he was twenty-one he might take Il
little socially after that without dan
ger. He drank the first glass at twen-
ty-tlree. but before he was forty he
was compelled to take treatment to be
cured Of alcoholism.
An exemplary oma in a western
city. living a quiet home life. with none
of the trials Of business or the allure
ments of society. commenced taking a
little liquor as a medicine when she
was ~thirty-two years of age. She
thought it made her feel better. But
at forty she was a drunkard.
These are only two instances of an
experience that is true Of hundreds. 1t
is a common error to suppose that ma
turity brings control Of appetite. The
action of poison is not bounded by per-
sonal judgment.-Banner Of Gold.