The evening world., 1911-04-07
DRINKING HUBB|ES
NEED HOME CURE,
SAYS CROMWELL
Wives Should Use Effort to
Check Desire for Drink, Not
to Forbidding It.
NAGGlNG WILL NOT DO.
City lnebriety Commissioner
Says Craving for Liquor Is
Disease, Not Crime.
NAGGlNG WILL NOT DO.
- woman viii have mueh bst-
tsr Q II she tries 70 prevent
~ husband wanting drink than II
she txsss 10 prohibit IT,

~ 01eo 10 prohibit IL
That 10 the opinion OF President
George Cromwell OF the borough OF
Richmond. n OF the two members OF
the city's lately created Board OF
lnebriety. Mr.. Cromwell had been
shown a Pittsburg despatch describing
. weird new ordinance a temperance
society 10 endeavoring TO have passed.
II provides that a physicians prsscrip-
ton making It possible for the thirsty
10 set liQuor at drug stores must b
indoseeA By the mother or wife Of the
beaeF before Il 0an b honored.
Are 1hsy accustomed to gettanG thSF
drinks In that left-handed ann In
Pittsburg?" laughed Mr.. Cromwell. Z
don't believe thirsty New Yorksrs
bother the drug stores very much. The
corner saloon or the hotel bar 10 too
handy.
10 Foolish Suggestion.
But It's a very foolish suggestion.
When n mans physician tells him he
needs an alcoholic stimulant. he needs
II. that's all. Neither his wife nor his
mother nor even he himself has tho
knowledge or the right TO contradict q
doctors orders. No drunkards would
be affected by such q law. and the
only result would be that some silly
women would probably endAnger the
health Of their husbands by refusing
the required Endorsement.
The wise wife Inc mother prevents
her men folk from taking to drink
- the first place. She sees that the
home 10 cheerful and worth staying
In and. moro important, she sees that
the food 10 sufacisnt in quantity and
quality to satisfy . hungry man.
This ordinance 10 Just . part Of M
old hammer and tongs policy which
society In general has Tor Year,
adopted toward The drunkard. II 10
exactly this attitude which our Board
OF Insbristy Wishes to change.
Trsat Them - Sick Men.
"our hole theory - that ne
dsunkasd should - treated o. an
invalid ana not q . criminal
Comparatively few men become
drunkards because they are bad. They
drink because they're down on th>ir
luck. What these men need L. Q help.
ing hand At the FIRST step down hill.
and then they'll never tumble all the
Wy.
Just what will DO hasn't been de-
cided. Probably the FIRST time . man
is arrested for drunkenness he win be
put on probation. His wife win b I'd.
vised not 20 act like q sort OF home
policeman. continually hitting him over
the head with . verbal club. She win
be told her husband u really III, and
the cure. in large measure. rests with
her.
o course, II the wife proves a poor
doctor and the man repeatedly onends,
ins city Will have to take his case.
The plan OF . city farm where chronic
inooriates q be sent and treated,
meanwhile working at some healthful
occupation. a been already put before
the public. A hospital farm would cos.
no more than the Workhouse. and II
would turn out self-respecting, ply
sically sound citizens instead Of men
who are only 1T to come again next
time.
But the women OF New York can do
more than n commission. Not by
talking total abstinence or by making
home miserable when a man does In
dulge. but by keeping her husband
happy and strong in mind and body, 50
his own viii can keep him from being
a subject for a Board OF Inebriety."