Rocky Ford enterprise., 1912-05-17
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VICE is CAUSE OF INEBRIETY
Alcohol 10 Loss Of seIf-controI-
Analogous to Insanity.

Alcohol 10 Loss of Self-Control-
Analogous to Insanity.
In an article on "Inebriety," pub
iished in the Outlook. the writer has
this to say:
"Inebriety, though a disease, has
been produced by vice and leads to
crime.
THE appetites and passions should
be under the control of the will, and
80 guided and directed by the reason
as to promote physical. mental and
moral health. When they are not thus
under the control of the will and are
not thus guided by the reason, the re-
suit is intemperanoe. There may be
an Incorporate eating. as well as an
Incorporate drinking; an Incorporate
use Of coffee. as well as an intemper-
ate use of beer or wine. Such yield.
ing to the appetites. such allowing Of
them to escape from the control of
the will and the reason, iB vice.
Gluttony is as truly vice as drunk
enness. though not vice which pro-
duces anything like as seriously inju.
rious results either to the individual
or to society. Gluttony is a sin and
the glutton Is a sinner. He IL not
to pity himself as a victim, but to con-
denim himself as a sinner. This self
condemnation is the first step toward
reform. So drunkenness is a sin and
the drunkard is sinner. He also
is not to pity himself as a victim, but
to condemn himself as a sinner. This
selfcondemnation in his case, as in
the case Of the glutton, is the first
step. and an indispensable step,
toward real reform.
But while intemperance In all its
forms is a sin, the disease which 1t
produces is not a sin. Gluttony may
produce dyspepsia; dyspepsia is not
sin. though 1t may be a result Of sin.
Excessive drinking Of tea may. and
often does, produce serious nervous
disease; nervous disease is not a sin.
though It may be a result of sin. Ex-
cessive drinking of alcohol produces
a disease known as inebriety; that
disease is not sin. although 1t is al.
ways a result of sin. One of the ef-
fects of this disease is a loss of self
control. He who is afflicted with this
In Its most serious form is as unable
to control his appetites as q man af-
fiicted with locomotor ataxia is to
control his muscles. To put a man
afflicted with this disease in jail until
he has recovered from the immediate
intoxication, and then send him out
again into temptations which he IL
powerless to resist. is inexcusabls
folly. II a man has brought insanity
upon himself by vice. We do not pun
ish the insanity. We set ourselves to
cure it. Inebriety is. In this respect,
analogous to insanity. 1t is not to
be punished; 1t is to be cured This
Is none the less true because inebri-
ETY. is almost always, as insanity is
frequently. the result Of vice. Society
should distinguish between these
three-vice. disease, crime-which II
often confounds. The remedy for the
vice of intemperance is largely moral
and Intellectual, or. in the broad sense
of the term. character building The
remedy for the disease which that
vice produces is partly moral and part
ly physical. For the crimes into which
the vice often leads the Incorporate
person, society must. in self-proteo-
ment
But, in our judgment. punishment,
whether for the vice which produces
the disease or for the crime which
follows, should always be reformatory,
not vindictive, in Its character. The
distinction between sin and disease is
not easy to draw. Jesus Christ habit
ually treated sin as disease which
he had come to cure. When he was
condemned for associating with pub
licans and sinners, he replied that
they which were whole needed not a
physician. but they which were sick
1t has been well said that, II drunken
ness produces poverty, 1t is equally
true that poverty produces drunken
ness. How far the boy who has
grown up in a family where there Is
no control of the appetites, who has
inherited from the father and mother
a diseased appetite, who lives in an
atmosphere which intensifies the crav-
ing for stimulants, whose Inadequate
or improper food further intensifies
that craving-how far he is a guilty
person to be punished, how far a dis
eased person to be cured. is a ques-
ton to which no definite and final an
swer can be given.
What is true of drunkenness is
true of other sins. They are partly
the result of deliberate, Intentional
violation Of law. They are partly the
result of ignorance. ill-breeding, bad
Inheritance and almost irresistible So
cial forces. Society has tried for
many years the experiment Of curing
sin by Furnishing it. 1t is high time
that society tried the experiment of
curing crime by removing the causes
which produce 1t and by treating the