Rocky Ford enterprise., 1911-08-18
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POVERTY NOT DRINK CAUSE
Prominent Writers Retard Temper
ance Movement by Theories-Di-
aenosis is False and Harmful.


aenosis is False and Harmful.
Some prominent writer's on social
science have seriously retarded the
temperance movement by teaching
that poverty. instead of being the re-
suit of the drink habit, Is more often
the cause of intemperance. They
claim that many people dring because
they are poor; they are not poor sim
ply because they drink. They point
to the human wrecks in the low sa-
loon, and tell us that these persons
are driven there by their miserable
condition to drown the woes of want
in the cup. They also tell us that the
family in the hovel or dingy tenement
is in distress not primarily through
intemperance, but that the parents
have been led to drink by their pow
erty.
The problem is complex. and no
single explanation will fit all cases.
But this theory advanced by some So
cial scientists is. in the main. griev-
ously false and exceedingly harmful
to the cause of genuine temperance.
writes Joseph IL. Covoker In the Ma
tional Advocate. These writer's have
mistaken the late and incidental con-
dition of these lives for the real cause.
which lies farther back and is radio
ally different. 1t is often true, that
later on in life people resort to drink
to drown their misery; at this late
stage they do drink because poor. But
this is not the whole story. nor is 1t
the important part of the story.
When, however. VIC go back to early
life. when we touch the formative
period and the determining factor. we
find that the young man did not begin
to drink because poor. He first drank
because 1t was the custom, because he
enjoyed the companionship and exhil-
aration-perhaps TO crafty an appe-
tite, though this probably plays a
smaller part than is generally sup
posed Probably ninety-nine in every
hundred of those who become drunk
ars start the habit without any ref
erence whatever TO financial condi-
tions. 1t is only late in life. when
want has overtaken them, that they
drink because they are poor.
The appeal 10 life at this point is
decisive. II any one will visit the
places where young men conGregate
to drink liquor he will realize at once
the obvious fact that practically none
of these persons are there because
they are poor. They are not even
there simply because drinking Is the
cheapest form of amusement. The
time will come when some VIII con
tinue to drink because In want: but
even here the poverty is only the in-
cidental factor. and at this stage more
result than real cause. A person win
wide acquaintance among the poor
and the Incorporate would have TO
search a long time to find an indi-
yidual who began to drink solely be
cause destitute. There are such. nut
they are very rare. But those VINO
are poor because ley drink crowd
upon us at every corner. Again, let
any one investigate the history OF the
score of drunkards whom he may
know. Probably not in single case
did poverty have anything TO do with
the beginning OF the habit. Still
again. how many cases have any OF
us known where loss of fortune has
driven men to intemperance? Very
few indeed. But we do know very
many instances where too much
money has made young men drunk
ards. who long afterward probably
drank because poor, although theif
poverty really came as direct result
of using liquor.
These social scientists stop short
with the wreckage late in life. but
they fail to go back to the real cause;
their diagnosis is false and harmful.
The drunken parents do today send
ont for liauor to down the woes OF
poverty Speaking specifically you
may say that they drink because they
are poor. But when we go INTO the
life history and look back far enough
and penetrate deep enough what we
really find is this: Originally 1t was
not poverty that led them to the drink
habit, but 1t was long-continued IN
temperance that has brought them TO
this sad condition. The score of work
men lining the bar OF the obscure sa-
loon are not there because poor. not
because they have no other enjoy
ments in life; many others wh0 are
poorer and who have fewer pleasures
are not there. A determining factor
largely influential In causing their
presence there is the ancient super
stition that liquor is lifegiver-a
superstition which science has shown
to be utterly false. While 1t Is not
true that poverty of things Is the chiei
source of intemperance, II is true
that poverty of life" largely causes
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