Rocky Ford enterprise., 1912-05-17
w. c. T. U. NOTES.
ALCOHOL AND CRIME
Prize Winning Essay by GLADYS
Baxter

Baxter
Some men look upon the question of
temperance as narrow, fit only for weak
minds. On the contrary. it is one of the
greatest and gravest problems confronting
US today--this question Of alcohol.
Alcohol is powerful. aggressive and
universal in its attacks. Tonight it
enters into a home. tomorrow we find
this same home wreck. the husband
drunkard and criminal
But how. you may ask. does alcohol
make criminal? Let US consider first
the deadening powers which it has. tits
a deadly weapon from which there is no
escape after the first glass has touched
your lips. Then as its hold gradually
tlghtens you lose your sense of right and
wrong. Then it is that the victim be-
comes a criminal. He says and does
things, which, were he not under the
influence of alcohol he would never have
thought Of His ears are deafened to all
cries. that Of wife and her constant
prayers. or those Of children murmur-
ing for food. These he heeds not and
cares little what he does. He becomes
crazy with the drink and then he commits
the crime which ruins his life. his reputa-
ton. his ALL
1t is then when his reputation and his
money are gone that he is ostracized from
society and stamped as a criminal. Then
it is that he is led deeper and deeper
into vice until he is completely bound in
its iron bands. When once down he has
no ambition to rise again. He gets into
bad company. The tempter, alcohol.
tempts him and he yields to it. He takes
another glass. then another, until his
whole body and mind are deadened from
the drink. Then he looks for trouble.
Crime suggests itself to the already half
crazed mind and he grasps it as man
ready to sink. He thinks OF some foolish
plan to carry out his idea of being
criminal. He commits the crime and is
caught Ly the law.
This is the beginning. but the crisis
comes when the prison doors are closed
upon him and he is sentenced to the
gallows. Then he seems to hear the
music Of the home and sees its charm.
For moment he glances over his past
life and sees what miserable wreck it
has been since the first glass of alcohol
touched his lips. He unfolds the dark
records Of his past and realizes the fate
the tempter has brought to him. He
sees only the wrecks of what once were
| oro,k 0r.pd and rylor;o,,e
On yes. alcohol. because of your I'M
hallowed influence Jou are the maker of
criminals. 1t is your mission. filling
earth with woe and anguish. You care
not for the sufferings that are caused by
your influence. You look not at the man
to see that his future might have been
ray OF happiness. for you care nothing
for mere human beings and their welfare
Your duty is to degrade mankind. You
smile as you see the young man lift the
first glass to his lips for thed you show
your full power, for you realize that his
manhood vanishes with that first glass
and he is now your victim.
Peace. hope and love dwell not where
this desolating monster. alcohol abdes.
1t is corrupt, giving fire to the eye, mad
ness to the brain and ruin to the soul.
Alcohol is vile and deadly and accursed
everywhere. To prove this let US look at
report of the twenty sixth report of the
Bureau of Labor.
Here it is found that fifty-four per cent
of the criminal cases were committed by
drunkards. Does not this then prove
copclusively to you the effect of alcohol on
the most dreaded Of all evils. They can
profit no man. neither can they uplift no
industry revive no interest. nor remedy no
wrong. Instead they are the means OF
degrading man to drunkard and a
criminal
Alcohol; There is poison in that cup.
There is serpent in that cup whose
sting is madness and whose embrace is
death. There dwells beneath that sur
face fiendish spirit which is carrying
on war of desolation and destruction to
mankind. Gaze on it, But shudder as
you gaze! Those sparkling drops are
murder in disguise; so quiet now. but
widows groan. orphans tears and
criminals crisis are in that cup.
Shun it! and oh. alcohol, the murderer
Of mankind and the destroyer of immortal
souls. your power shall be dashed to the
ground. you lying helpless and your evils
vanished.