The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-09-16
DOMAIN OF TEMPERANCE.
INCONSISTENCIES.

nent reformers and sociologists ne
elect to pay any attention to the
drink curse, one is often moved to
infer that majority of educated peo-
pie are SO liquor-blind that they can
not see the most gigantic evils in the
modern world Here, for instance,
is a recent editorial in the Outlook
(Oct. |, 1910) on Literature of Crime
in Russia" which calls attention to
the great mass of common crime
which is rolling over the dominion of
the Gar, and claims that it is largely
due to the wide circulation of cheap
but vile literature nearly 100000
copies of penny dreadfuls" (stories.
of criminal careers) having been sold
in that land in 1909 The situation is
certainly distressing, because such vi
cious books must have very injuri-
Gus influence. We are glad that the
Outlook has called attention to the
matter.
But why pass by something that is
far more productive of crime and
more destructive of human life in that
country-the drink habit and the liq-
uor traffic? The Gar is the biggest
liquor seller in the world. He has a
monopoly of the business in the ma
ton, from which he annually derives
an income of over $400,000,000, large
ly from peasants who on an average
receive daily wage of only Is or 20
cents! It is difficult to tell what the
common people really pay out for
liquor Chiefly vodka), for the i'm
mense sum of four hundred millions
of dollars a year only represents the
profits of the trade.
The cheap criminal literature
100000 copies) costs the people
less than 100000. The same people
probably spend over $100,000,000 a
year on vodka-three hundred times
as much! The three cents for the
vile story is not felt; but the SIS a
year for vodka is from a third to a
fifth of the peasants annual income!
And this financial waste keeps him
and his family in a state of hunger
and squalor which alone probably
produces more crime than all the lit
erature to which reference has been
made.
But consider the other more seri-
Gus elements of the problem. This
| liquor induces disease and prevents
recovery when sick, and all this
means not only pain and sorrow for
the family, but financial loss to the
individual and economic waste for the
nation: millions of days labor are so
lost during the year. The drinker, on
this account, is also poorer and a
more quarrolsome workman. The eff
fects upon his children are harmful,
as we positively know, both upon
their bodies and their minds. Then
there are the crimes which come di-
rectly and indirectly from the use of
such strong drink. The offenses actu-
ally instigated by liquor, the quarrels
incident to drunkenness, the evil pas
sions unnaturally aroused by stimu-
liant and the deranged and depraved
inheritance in children, which later
prompt a criminal career. These are
only a few of the more obvious evils
due to the wretched habit. So that
it is probably true that where the
penny dreadful" may cause one
crime, the bottles of vodka cause a
score So that the alarm of the Out
look over the criminal literature in
Russia is a grievous case Of straining
at gnat and swallowing camel!
i This editorial is significant and
alarming, because SO typical Of the
mood of the hour, fighting a lot of
secondary consequences and paying
no attention whatever to the chief
source of misery and crime.
This liquor blindness" is an ap-
palling symptom of the age! We may
look over a score of programmes of
popular conferences and conventions
4 devoted to the social uplift of the
community, but we will find in them
hardly a remote reference to the
! cause of drink, which is doing more
harm in our land than all the other
causes" that bring our reformers to-
gether! What are the evils of child
labor, the loss of life from consump-
j ton, the expense of war preparation,
i the financial waste in forest and water
power, in comparison with the de-
struction of home and childhood by
beer and whisky the deaths due to
diseases and accidents arising from
intemperance; the waste in manhood
on account of the use Of liquors; or
the loss of wages i'm saloons? All this
ruin goes on from day to day and
il hardly voice is heard in protest. The
suspicion that few railroad presi-
dents have undue influence upn legis-
lation inf1ames the public mind to the
point of political anger. But the fact
that brewer and distillers have a
more despotic influence upon both the
press and the legislation OF our land,
does not seem to alarm anyone.
] Surely, the time must come when
the scales will fail from the eyes OF
the American people; when the "liqu-
or-blindness' will pass away; when
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