Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-10-05
VICE AMONG VIRTUES
Appalling Degree of Intemper-
ance in Pious Edinburgh.
CLERGY ARE Indifferent
Irish Policeman Begs Ministers to
Call q Halt.
BLACK BOTTLE AND THE BIBLE
Good Folks Build Churches and Give
Charity, But Manufacture
Booze.
CLERGY ARE Indifferent
BLACK BOTTLE AND THE BIBL1
RY WILLIAM r. CURTIS.

III WILLIAM CthliS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.
EDINBURGH, September %, 1908.
II is a common saying that the princi-
pal products of Edinburgh are whisky,
Bibles and theological books. Those are
the largest articles Of manufacture and
trade The richest people in the city are
distillers and printers. 1t was distiller
who gave s5O0,OOO for new city hall. 1t
was a printer who founded the National
Portrait Gallery. Other evidences of the
generosity of both classes of producers
may be found. Edinburgh has fallen off
as a producer of Bibles, however, be-
cause mpch of that business has been at
tracted to London, but the mechanical
work is still being done here to large
extent The British Encyclopaedia. which
was founded. edited and printed here for
a century, has recently been transferred
to London also, but the distillers remain
and there is more drunkenness in Scot
land than in any other country.
Deplorable Scotch Drunkenness.
Notwithstanding the profound religious
sentiment and the high standard of NOR
ais among the Scots. they consume more
whisky and there Is more public drunken
ness and more habitual drunkards, with
a greater indifference to that vice, than
anywhere else on earth. In Ireland it is
bad enough, but in Scotland 1t Is many
times worse One may see many drunken
women staggering through the slums OF
Dublin, but he can see ten times as many
in the streets Of pious Presbyterian Edin-
burgh. Cowgate street and Cannongate
street, in Edinburgh, and Argyle street
{<xkt,
the evening following any holiday, come
nearer pandemonium than any other To-
calities in which human beings exist.
Scenes occur there weekly that are not
even approached by the orgies of the
most depraved denizens of the White
chapel district Of London.
Less than three blocks from the home
Of John Knox. less than two blocgks from
the tomb of Thomas Chalmers. on any
Saturday night: any one who cares to
do SO, may see hundreds of women. crazy
with drink, some of them with babies in
their arms and children hanging to their
filthy skirts. fighting. clawing one an
others hair. scratching one another's
ing language. and drinking more and more
vile whisky until they fall helpless upon
the pavements and lie there until their
friends or the policemen carry them away.
No we'll dressed man can pass through
Cannongate or COwgate street on Satur-
day night or on the evening Of any holi-
day without being insulted and perhaps
beaten. No carriage can drive through
those streets after dark; no decent woman
would be safe there among the hideous
furies of her own sex.
And yet these scenes are regular week.
ly occurrences to which tourists are
taken just as they visit the cathedral
which is only three blocks away. or the
Royal Art Gallery or the Museum They
are one OF the features of Edinburgh life
and cannot be seen in any other city, not
even in Naples, Constantinople or Port
Said.
The Clergy Are Indifferent.
The people of Edinburgh. the Presby
terrain clergy, and the officials. regard
them with Indifference. When I asked
a celebrated divine If the descriptions 1
had heard of the drunkenness and de-
pravity exhibited publicly every Saturday
night in Cowgate street were accurate, he
replied:
~ dare say: have never been there: If
you want to see the shameful sight, you
had better call on the chief constable and
ask for a police escort
But Is no effort made to stop it," l
asked.
It's an old custom. Everybody down
in that quarter Of the city gets drunk the