Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-30
PUBLIC DEMANDS INQUIRY
Scots Ought to Be Better Than
Neighbors.
FOR LAWS SEEK TO AID THEM
But It's No Use-More 'Drunks" in
Night Than in Month
Here.

tNlIcHc type III othSco"
and other cities of Scotland is increasing
with startling rapidty. If people could
b. made exceptionally temperate by par
i,@;nentary experiments, the people OF
rr0tland ought to excel all their neigh
- but VIGOROUSLY this is far from
~ the case.
he American speakers at an inter-
!onal council of Congregationalists held
! Edinburgh a few days ago said they
al seen more drunkenness in one night
in that city than could be witnessed In
an American city of similar size In
month Sih Andrew Reed, late inspector
general of the royal Irish constabulary
is equally emphatic. He visited Glasgow
in August 1905. and walked about the
principal streets at night to see for him.
self what was to be seen. Il found ne
saws. toward the closing hours of the
public houses some of the streets crowd
ed with drunken men. In no city IN Eu-
rope. the United States. or Canada l have
ever visited did l see such number OF
drunken persons. 1 thought the scene
i witnessed was most dissraceful to any
civilized place.
The facts submitted by the chief con-
stables of Scottish towns and countries
and by the prison commissioners. year
after year represent condition OF things
which is not only startling, but is going
from bad to worse. In the year 1904
Scottish temperance reformers of the CO.
ercive type obtained the latest of their
cherished schemes-the closing OF all IL
censed houses at 10 p. m.-and since that
date. surprising though 1t appears, the
official statistics of arrest for drunken
ness in all the large towns show large
and continuous increase.
Worse in Glasgow.
Glasgow affords the most striking illus
tration of this growing decentralization.
In his latest annual report. issued in May
last, Chief of Constables Stevenson stated
that the number of apprehensions in Glas-
cow for drunkenness in 1907 was LOIS. or
26.1 per LOCO of the estimated population.
For an equal proportion of apprehen-
sions We must. says Mr. Stevenson, go
back to the years previous to 1900. OF
the 21.055 arrests, 1.706 were effected
Sunday. and that. too. in a city where
complete Sunday closing" has been en-
forced since 1853. Ten O'Clock closing
has been in operation in Glasgow since
May 1904. The movement was heralded
by Sir Samuel Chisholm, the leader of
that group of refOrmers. as the inaugu-
ration of new era in temperance re-
form. ST. Bungo was to be transformed
into a sober, God-fearing. Sabbath-loving
community. But what are the incon-
testible facts provided each year by the
chief constable? In 1903. with III
o'clock closing" lis per 1000 of Glas
cow population were convicted on
charges OF drunkenness.
In 1905, under the 10 o'clock closing"
the convictions represented 1928 per
1,000-the arrests being equal to 1873
per 1000. In 1906, when the 10 o'clock
closing" was admitted by all fair-minded
persons to have had fair trial. it was
found that the arrests on account of
drunkenness ran up to 1884. against
1909 in 1905, an increase from 1873 to
24.2 per 1000 of the population. The
chief constable in these annual reports
candidly confessed his inability to
count for the deplorable state of things
which his reports disclosed
Inquiry Demanded.
Very soon public demands began to be
raised for some inquiry into. or explana-
ton of, result SO disquieting and OPP
posed to the confident promises of the
reformers. In Glasgow a committee of
sixteen members of the town council was
reluctantly appointed, and in Edinburgh
the subject was as reluctantly referred
to the chief constable for report still the
question hung fire for many months.
The chairman Of the Glasgow commit
tee was asked what was being done, and
he had to confess that the members We're
too busy to be got together since Janu-
airy last, and he candidly admitted that
many members would like the inquiry
to drop altogether. Indifferent were
they to any further investigation. In
credible though this may seem, 1t was
amply confirmed when few days later
the minutes of the committee were pub
nshed. together with reports by the chief
the Utputy Town clerk ana the
police prosecutor. to whom the subject
had been submitted by the committee
as the best way Of shelving the bust
ness.
Bruce Murray. one of the magistrates,
submitted certain notes, in which he said
that 1t was clear they could neither con-
cur in nor deal adequately with the con-
clusions or recommendations Of the re-
port, which were mainly founded upon
personal opinion. without having before
them all the information and views OBJ
tainable from various sources bearing
upon the statistics. the report and the
situation generally. The causes that had
led to the increase Of drunkenness in
Glasgow, and. unfortunately. in other
Scottish cities also, such as Edinburgh
We're multlform and reconcile. Without
fuil and open inquiry. which would re-
quire time, patience and some expense. it
was unlikely that any results which
would command general confidence, or
which would be worthy of Glasgow. could
be arrived at.
End Is Not Yet.
1t was proposed in committee that the
report of the officials should be generally
approved and RENTED to the magistrates
Out this latter proposal was rejected by
fve to three-sO little desire did this spe-
cial committee manifest of probing this
social sore or in tracing the cause or
causes of all this drunkenness to its
source. The matter. however, can scarce
ly end here. for unwilling though the re-
strictionists are TO have the matter fur
fher ventilated the members of the liquor
trade are resolved thai the issue should
be kept before the public until the respon-
sibility for the admitted scandal is ascer-
tanned.
The leaders of the Glasgow licensed
trade have issued Il vigorous criticism OF
the official reports. In this report to the
special committee the chief constable
frankly admitted the evil and ascribed the
primary cause TO the inability of the ar
tisan and laboring classes to make q good
use of money IN excess of their ordinary
requirements" Why these classes in
Glasgow should thus be singled out is not
explained. II is fact that general holt
days. the payment of army pensioners
and payment to militia on DISARMAMENT
cause excessive drinking and an imme-
date rise in the number of apprenensions
The licensed trade makes a strong point
of a matter which is avoided by the Off
cial reports-the tendency of restriction to
curta.l tie use of food by people who are
drinking. Where Scottish cities present
an unhappy contrast TO English and con-
tinental CT les IS in the almost entire alb
sence of restaurants or hotels catering
for either visitors or residents in the ma
ter OF food at night. In no Scottish city
is there any social life such as exists in