The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1912-08-01
Drinking and Drunkenness.

| Among the many radical changes OF
theory. sentiment and action in progress
among US, some of the most marked and
beneficent are in connection with the
use of liquor as beverage. There is
surely need in this direction, for there
is no greater problem pressing for solu-
ton than that presented by the saloon
and the customs which centre in it. The
evils are numerous and virulent. Drink
represents menace to the human race
that cannot be exaggerated. 1t is the
taproot of many other evils, which would
disappear if it were destroyed. 1t
strikes at the welfare of home and
school, of church and State. 1t wastes
wealth, and corrupts the commonwealth.
1t breaks the laws of God and man. 1t
is the great enemy Of women and chill
dren. In incites to crime, produces dis
ease, overwhelms in poverty, and
spreads insanity. Extreme measures
are necessary in dealing with the liquor
problem, because its evils are extremely
great and numerous. No half measures
can ov rthrow brewery and distillery,
because their power is so vast, their
organization so complete, and their
policy so vicious.
But hopeful. progress is being made
toward sobriety and abstinence. Never
before in the history Of the world were
there so many and so powerful agencies
at work for temperance as today. The
attitude of the common mind toward
liquor is everywhere changing, and, on
the whole, decidedly for the better. The
extraordinary efforts made by the liquor
men to advertise their goods land this
billboard profanity ought to be prohib
ited) are themselves clear evidences that
they realize the strength of the tide that
is rising against them. But one Of the
most hopeful signs is the spreading con-
viction that the evil lies, not so much in
drunkenness, as in the habit of drinking.
Formerly only the man who got drunk,
who made beast of himself, was con-
demned. Simply to drink liquor in ''mod-
Grafton was an innocent pleasure. In
deed, it was generally held to be real
necessity, as it was thought to be need
ed stimulant, veritable '1ife giver
There was no vice or harm in merely
drinking reasonably; it was a part of
good manners and an aid Of digestion.
The passing cup meant good fellowship.
The man who did not drink was held to
be mean and selfish. There was no dis
grace attached to the use Of liquor until
the point of excess was reached. Not
until reason was actually dethroned, and
the brute became master, was the drink
err put to shame and visited with condem-
nation.
The ancient error is still widespread
among US, doing vast injury, especially
to the young but public opinion is fast
turning toward the position that the evil
lies chiefly, not in drunkenness, but in
drinking. 1t is seen, for one thing, that
if there were no drinking, there would
be no drunkenness. 1t is also clearly
realized by an ever-increasing number,
that crime, pauperism, and insanity are
produced, not by few drunkards, but
by the common habit of drinking. What
supports the saloon, the foul source of
numberless ills and woes, are not the
few drunkards but the many drinkers.
| What imprisons women in poverty and
robs children of blessings is not, as a
rule, drunkenness but drinking. We are
coming to see clearly that there can be
no wise moderation in the use of what
is wholly and always injurious. All use
is abuse. The point Of excess is passed
when drinking is begun. The real dan
ger lies, not in the third glass, but in the
first. The railroads do not say to then
men: You must keep within the limit
VI AlOdci c1IIod, OuI CHeJ w Soi1ltiollei
You must not drink at all. The trainer
of athletes does not tell his men: You
must refrain from drunkenness, but he
does lay down the stringent rule: You
must wholly abstain. For every rea
drunkard there are thousand drinkers
who feel sure that they never took {
drop too much, never having been In
toxicated, and yet, they have lessenec
tha cir industrial canacitv aXnoSaa them.
selves to disease, cut down their chance
of recovery, and multiplied mistakes
and accidents by their so called moderate
use of liquor.
In view of these facts, the time has
come to teach that the evil lies, no
chiefly in drunkenness, but in drinking
We must make tt e moderate" drinke
realize that he is doing himself great in
jury, and bringing serious evils upon hi
neighbors. And, above all, we mus
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