The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1911-09-14
POVERTY NOT DRINK CAUSE
Prominent Writers Retard Temper
ance Movement by Theories-Di-
agnosis Is False and Harmful.

| agnosis 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 howell 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 II. 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 it
the important part of the story.
When, however, We 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 it was the custom, because he
enjoyed the cOmpanionship and exhil
aration-perhaps to crafty an appe-
tite, though this probably plays
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-
tons. 1t is only late in life, when
want has overtaken them. that they
drink because they are poor.
The appeal to life at this point is
decisive. If 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
Gil ,1yr haNq-1ca ri L inc &c 10
cheapest form of amusement. The
time will come when some will 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 with
wide acquaintance among the poor
and the Incorporate would have to
search a long time to find an indi-
vidual who began to drink solely be-
cause destitute. There are such, but
they are very rare. But those who
are poor because they 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 a 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 their
poverty really came rs a 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
out for liquor to drown 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 it was long continued in
temperance that has brought them 10
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 who are
poorer and who have fewer pleasures
are not there. \ determining factor
largely influential in causing their
presence there is the ancient super
stition that liquor IS a life-giver-a
superstition which science has shown
to be utterly false While it is not
true that poverty of things is the chief
source of intemperance. it is true
shat poverty OF iHe" largely causes
the drink habit.