The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1909-10-14
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DECREASE IN DRINK HABIT
Better Living Conditions, Increasing
intelligence and Diversion Of
People Some Of Causes.


1t is only proper and right that the
public's attention should be called
frequently to the evils of intemper-
ance. Few of us meanwhile realize
what immense strides humanity has
made In the course of the centuries
toward temperance.
AS late as 1896, we are told by Por-
ter in HIS Progress Of the Nation"
the favor in which intoxicating drinks
were held by the people had reached
such a point as to occasion continual
debates In parliament and to call for
remedies OF a very stringent charac-
ter. II was then the practice of some
keepers of liquor shops to entice Gus
toners with a notice to be following
effect. painted on a board outside the
tippling house: you may here get
drunk for a penny, dead drunk for 2
pence and have clean straw for moth
ing" The mere difference In public
opinion in our own day and in the age
which would tolerate such a vicious
appeal to the lowest OF instincts per-
haps is its own best comment.
When the legislators of that time.
thinking to correct the abuse by in
creasing the price of spirituous H.
quors. proposed duty of 20 shillings
($4S0) a gallon. the act led to riot
and violence on the part of the pop
ulace. The secret sale of gin went on
In defiance OF the law. Says the his
torian: The demand for penalties the
offenders were unable to pay filed
the prisons and by removing every re-
straint plunged them into courses
more audaciously criminal"
In March. 1888. a proclamation was
Issued to enforce the gin act, to pro-
tect the officers of justice in their
efforts to that end and threatening Of
tenders with punishment Within
less than two years from its passage
$4,000 persons had been subjected to
fines. The harsh measures failed ut
terly. as any measure. unsupported by
public feeling. always must fail
Nor were those habits of drunken
ness" Porter again remarks, con
fined TO the laboring classes. What
would now be called drinking to OK
cess was then so much the custom
in every circle that it was as uncom-
mon for any party to separate while
any member of II remained sober as
II is now for any one in such a par
ty to degrade. himself through intoxi-
cation. In those days 1t rarely hap
pened that men holding the rank and
otherwise bearing the character of
gentlemen rose from the table Of a
dinner party in condition to enter the
society of females. and thus all were
debarred from the sweetest hours of
rational enjoyment which now springs
from social intercourse" The con
temporary novels verify these words
With reference to this same period
another authority tells us: mo loss
of character was incurred by habitual
excess. Men in the position of gen.
tlemen congratulated each other upon
the number of bottles emptied: and 1t
would have been considered very
frivolous objection to a citizen who
aspired to the dignity of alderman or
mayor that he was a habitual drunk
ard"
II one seeks an explanation for the
great and most satisfactory decrease
in drunkenness which has come one
finds II not in drastic laws or COM
pulsory prohibition, but in the growth
of intelligence among the people, In
an enlightened public opinion, in the
spread of education. refinement and
sane living consequent thereupon.
writes |. X. Friedman in Chicago Dali
ly News. Better living conditions, bet
ter wages and shorter hours and the
diversion of the people from grosser
and crueler forms of sport to healthy
amusements have been tremendous
factors In the movement
Nor is It to be doubted that these
same beneficent forces, increasing in
strength as humanity increases in age
and experience. will lead to a greater
and greater decrease in the drinking
habit; for OF all methods of abolishing
an evil that of pointing out its bad
effects to those who indulge in 1t has
proved the best and the most lasting